Lost in Stereo

Jade's Point of View

“This is fucking ridiculous,” I raged at Alex a short time later. “I made ONE fucking comment. One! This did not need to get so out of hand.”

“I didn’t know she was going to leave!” Alex protested. “I mean, we fight all the time.”

“Well, this one really did it,” I sighed, running a hand through my hair. Flyzik had removed Alex and me from the group in an effort to try to get us to work things out. So far, all we’d done was yell at each other while Flyzik sat in the corner of the room, arms crossed, watching us.

“Are you just gonna sit there the whole time?” Alex demanded, turning to Flyzik. “Or are you actually gonna help?”

“I’m moderating,” he replied calmly. “I’m just here to make sure this doesn’t get stupid.”

“I think we passed that point already,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Look, I know we’ve talked about the fighting before, but we’ve gotta step it up.”

“Step it up?” Alex asked.

“Yes,” I nodded. “Step it up. Like actively try to be nice to each other. And not start bitching about stuff right away.”

Alex thought about this for a second. “So we try to be friends?”

“Sure, why not?” I threw my hands up. “We might as well try it.”

“Friends is pretty vague,” Alex said. “Before I agree to anything, I’m gonna need something more than that.”

“So what, you want guidelines?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, guidelines,” Alex repeated as he turned to Flyzik, waiting for the confirmation on this idea.

Flyzik nodded. “That would be helpful.”

“It’s perfect, actually,” Alex continued. “I mean, Flyzik’s here, he’ll know what we agreed to, and he can enforce it. Maybe if we can prove that we’re capable of getting along, we can get Skye to come back.”

“We already know we’re capable of getting along,” I told him. “We did it for about a day and a half, maybe, and for years before that.”

“Right,” Alex nodded now. “So, where should we start with our guidelines?”

I thought for a moment. “I have one. No one’s allowed to get jealous if the other person is talking to or seeing someone else.”

“There’s a good one,” Flyzik said. He’d pulled a notebook out of seemingly nowhere and started scribbling down our rules.

“Fine, I have one,” Alex volunteered next. “No name-calling. So you can’t call me a douchebag.”

“And you can’t call me a bitch,” I retorted. “But I think name-calling should be acceptable as long as we’re teasing each other.”

“All right,” Flyzik continued to nod as he wrote. “Next one?”

“If someone is bothered, we have to talk about it,” I said. “Without screaming and losing our tempers. That’s the only way that this is gonna work. Just no more fighting.”

“I agree,” Alex said.

“I think three’s pretty good for right now,” Flyzik commented, evaluating our list. “I think we’ve got the major issues down. If you guys think of any more, let me know and we’ll add it, as long as it’s agreed upon. But I’m gonna go call Skye and leave her a voicemail explaining this.”

Matt stepped out of the room to call Skye, leaving just Alex and I standing there. We looked at each other silently for a few seconds before I spoke. “Do you think this is gonna work?”

Alex looked desperate and anxious. “It kind of has to, doesn’t it?”