Shattering Crystals

"I am so bored."

"I have to go home soon," Aaron says. "But if you're bored, Elise, do you guys want to go somewhere? I don't think you'll be recognized around here."

"Like where?"

"Not the park," Lorraine murmurs. "I'm never going to one of those again."

Life has been... normal. Boring. Predictable and all of those other fun words. We have to save up our money, but we're all afraid we'll go mad from boredom. What is there to do when you can't go out in public? Even if you're with your friends, who you get sick of every once in a while…

The setting doesn't help much either - the house is decorated in shades of brown and gray. There isn't much to spark anyone's interest, nothing to entertain ourselves with. Occasionally Aaron brings us things, like a deck of cards, but there’s only so many times you can play war (the only game any of us knows how to play).

"How long exactly are we going to be here?" Ashlee asks. "We don't need to do anything else here do we?"

"We should stay here until the people come back," Lorraine decides. She makes all the decisions these days, and hasn't talked to me at all since that day a few weeks ago. She hasn't even looked at me really. Her anger seems to be fading, but the silence continues. "I mean, we can spend time planning, can't we?"

"...you just want a bed."

Lorraine doesn't have a comeback for that one, because it's very obvious that what Cody said is true. With that, I decide that it's a good time to find out where we're going next. I get up off the old couch and into the second bedroom to find the map that Aaron had given us. I open the door to the small room and find Dean sitting on the bed, already looking at the map.

"Dean?"

"Huh?" He looks up, a glazed look in his eyes. He doesn't seem to register who I am.

"Something wrong?" I'm just glad he's answering to me. He’s started talking to us again, slowly, but it’s still not like before.

"Oh... nothing," he shifts around uncomfortably. "Just wanted to do something to help I guess."

I sit down next to him and smile internally when he doesn't move away. "Find anything?"

"Uh, yeah," he says, handing the map to me and rubbing his eyes. "We're going to California next, I think."

"Okay. And I guess you're finally talking to me again? Like, completely?" I ask hopefully.

"Yeah... sorry about that. Should have been a better friend, huh? It's just that... Elise wanted to go with what Lorraine was saying and... yeah."

"Couldn't say no, could you?" I feel can feel anger building up, but somehow, I can't be angry at Dean.

"I'm not really good at that." He shrugs and smiles uncertainly.

"Well, I see that now."

"Yeah I really am sorry. But you know... what Lorraine said made sense."

"What did she tell you? No one told me the whole story.”

"Well, I didn't actually hear it, but Elise told me. I wasn't really listening, but it was something about you stealing her boyfriend?"

"That's not true," I say defensively. "They weren't dating."

"But you know knew she liked him."

"No I didn't," I say automatically. He raises an eyebrow at me. "Okay, I might have had feeling that she did, but it's not like anything happened between them."

"I guess not."

"So," I say, in an attempt to change the subject, "is there something wrong?"

"No..." He runs his hand through his hair in that familiar way.

"I know there is. Tell me." Honestly, I don't know if there's something wrong, but asking isn't going to hurt.

"Okay... it's Elise," he finally says after a long pause.

"Something wrong with her?" I can see how much he really likes Elise - he always follows her, like he's guarding her. It might be considered clingy, but I know he means well.

"More like something wrong with me," he groans. "She's been kinda ignoring me."

"Talking to Aaron?" Even I had noticed this. But I didn't think that it was that bad. "Maybe Elise just wants to make some new friends."

"I don't think so... She's been talking to him more than she's been talking to me." Maybe it is that bad.

"Uh, well maybe she's interested in the phoenix thing?" I try.

"Maybe she's happy because Aaron likes his girlfriend, and so he will like her too. I mean, as in accept her as a friend. Not the way you think." I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. And I know that whatever I say, it's hopeless. It doesn't look too good for Dean.

"Yeah. Guess so. I'm gonna go see if I can convince Lorraine to talk to you again. Why don't you look at the map?" he suggests. "I don't know if I was right about California."

I look down at my hands. I had forgotten that the map was there. But I place my fingertips on California, the Golden State, and see that Dean was right. I trace the route a few times with my fingers and then carefully fold up the map and place it on the nightstand, too lazy to reach for my bag.

"Yes?" Lorraine calls impatiently from the doorway. I look up to see her with an impatient look on her face.

"I don't think we should fight anymore," I blurt out without thinking. I was going to start slow, but guess not.

"Okay..." she says. I can see that she's glad that I was the one who ended it, not her. "I've had enough of this too."

"So what? We're friends again?" I hadn't expected it to be this easy, but she’s not as predictable as most of the things in our lives are.

"Yeah. It's easier this way," She says, and I smile at her, relief flooding me. "But..."

"But?"

"You have to do something for me."

"Sure. Anything," I say eagerly. "I just want to be friends again."

"Break up with Cody."