Splitting Pearls

Caleb’s party was postponed for a few days, since he missed his plane out and had to scrounge up cash to buy another. Honestly, that boy always looked so very put together, wearing crisp polos with khaki shorts, his hair combed neatly and his white tennis shoes that never had a streak of dirt on them. Caleb always looked so organized, but the way that he ran his life wasn’t. Oh, it really wasn’t. Not only was he incredibly bad at keeping things straight- things like appointments and movie times- but Caleb was forever coming up with schemes that sounded fantastically logical when he explained them but which, in practice, sucked.

Right, so Caleb’s dinner party was on a Thursday instead of on a Monday. Mostly people were so amused by his having pushed back his arrival for such a typical reason that no one except this girl Hailey complained, and she had never really liked Caleb anyway. That meant that we had the pleasure of completely disregarding her opinion. In fact, I would be lying if we didn’t kind of enjoy her complaining. It took me and Rhea back to what we liked to laughingly refer to as our Glory Days since that sounded way better than when we simply called it high school.

Well, absolutely everyone but Carson beat me to Caleb’s party, including the guest of honor, thanks to a mishap at work involving confusion between hot sauce and ketchup. As soon as I spotted Caleb, I flung myself at him. It had been ages, I thought, since I had seen him last. Over a year, since when he had visited everyone else around Christmas I had been visiting my grandmother, who lives in Rochester.

“Caleb! Caleb, you’re here! Why didn’t you tell me you were coming on time? I would have gotten home so much earlier if I had known. Caleb!” I rushed through a heap of excited babble-talk before I settled down enough to pull away from him a bit and take in the changes that the past year had brought him. His hair was cropped shorter and what was there was dyed blond. He looked more weathered but younger somehow. I suspected it was the glowing expression he wore. I had a theory about people looking younger when they’re happy. “It’s so good to see you.”

Caleb finally had a chance to speak and he took the opportunity. “Hey, Flo. I missed you.” I grinned and he grinned back. That was such a typical Caleb thing to say. He was the friendliest person I had ever met, but he was terrible at small talk. Another theory I had cultivated over the years was that Caleb was too interesting, too unusual for small talk.

“You’d better have missed me. How long are you staying? For that matter, where are you staying?” I happened to glance away from Caleb and saw a small crowd of people who were my friends, Rhea’s friends, Caleb’s friends. The apartment was small but we had our sparse furniture arranged so that our little bunch fit in comfortably, even if things were a little snug. I caught sight of Killian and gaped at him. I really hadn’t thought that Rhea would invite him. I knew that she wasn’t very fond of Killian and that he would probably be out of place at a party like this. After all, who did he know but myself and Rhea, a little? He wasn’t the sort of boyfriend you introduced around to all of your friends.

I waved at him and focused back on Caleb, who had waited patiently for my distractedness to fade before saying anything. Caleb and I, we understood each other extraordinarily well. It was the kind of understanding that came from years of on-and-off pretending to go out so that he would have a shot at getting to know your best friend. “You good?” he asked me now. “You seem a little... spacey.”

“Well, this is big! You’re back! I guess I just need to settle down some. You never did answer my questions.” But Caleb kept looking at me and I thought perhaps he could sense how unsettled I felt and had been feeling for days, ever since Rhea told me that Marcus was back.

Caleb knew better than to pry when I redirected the conversation. “I haven’t figured out how long I can stay yet. It depends on a lot of things. For now, Rhea has insisted that I stay here. Tell me, is the futon as beat up as it looks?” he asked, eyeing it dubiously from across the room.

“I promise, it’s perfectly comfortable. Besides, this will be great! Like an extended sleepover party, except that I’ll be nagging you into making me breakfast instead of playing the good host. After all, we’re doing you a favor.” I beamed at Caleb, and my smile was matched by a brilliant one of his own. For a moment, I wondered whether being separated from people you cared about wasn’t worth the hurting simply for the wonderful, heady happiness that came when you saw them again. I wondered what it would be like on the other end, to be the one returning. Gazing around the party and seeing so many smiling faces, it was hard not to yearn to experience a homecoming.

Rhea came over just then, grinning widely. “Alright, Flo, you’ve hogged the guest of honor for long enough. How about sharing for a bit? I think it’d be good if you introduced Caleb around.” To Caleb she added, “Conveniently, the single girls are all hanging out in a group just there. I recommend the brunette. The others giggle too much.” Rhea pointed to a nastily orange sofa that did indeed have a small gaggle of women perched atop it, all of them laughing riotously.

Caleb rolled his eyes and offered his arm to me like the good sport that he was, and I walked him around, simultaneously showing him around our apartment and introducing him to absolutely everyone. I felt rather than saw the intensity of Killian’s gaze as he watched us. It would surprise me not one bit if someone had told him that Caleb and I used to be a couple. I avoided his gaze, not wanting to know whether he was upset with me for my obvious favoritism. He had to understand that I hadn’t seen my friend in a long time, right? Surely that knowledge would override any jealousy that he might feel over it?

Either that or I would be in trouble later. This was not a prospect that especially bothered me. I knew exactly the pouty face that would get me out of any nonsense Killian started.

Carson didn’t arrive for another half hour- something about having to take his little sister to her voice lessons. It took a bit of doing to pry Caleb away from Patricia and Julie, two girls we had graduated with who had always had a bit of a thing for him, but I did manage to finally get Caleb and Carson together so that I could introduce them.

The two shook hands and I waited, hands clasped eagerly, for some sort of reaction from them. All that I saw was politeness. I knew that it was silly, but I found that I had been genuinely hoping that they would have an instant connection. They didn’t.

“Oh, Caleb, tell him about your baseball playing!” I said after a long, desperate moment of silence. I was unreasonably tense.

Caleb shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. “Not much to say anymore. I haven’t played since high school.”

“Oh, a whole two years ago!” I huffed, crossing my arms too, though for an entirely different reason.

“Actually, two years is a lot in sport years,” Carson put in.

I glanced between the two of them and saw that they were wearing similar expressions of amusement. “No way. I object. There isn’t any such thing as sport years. I’ve heard of all kinds of other years- you know, cat years and dog years and leap years and lightyears- but definitely not sport years.” Neither said anything. They merely glanced at each other briefly before setting their gazes back on me. I shrank under the tension that sprang up in me from their lack of conversation making. “Fine. Carson, you and Caleb both have been to New Hampshire. Talk about that!”

Another glance was exchanged between Carson and Caleb before Carson reached out and put a gentle hand on my arm. “Florence, we’re big boys. I’m sure we’ll be able to manage a conversation without you. Meanwhile your darling boyfriend over there is moping.” He indicated Killian with a bob of his head. I glanced over and saw that moping was indeed the activity that Killian had chosen to engage in. I rolled my eyes and strode over.

“Killian, this is a party. You should be mingling!”

He scoffed. “I’m not the host, so there’s no need at all for me to mingle.” His sour expression quickly gave way to the soft one to which I was accustomed. “Besides, I was waiting for you to come. I don’t know these people, Florence.”

“It’s Flo,” I snapped. I wasn’t sure who was more surprised by my tone, him or me. I stared at him in horror for a moment before saying, “I’m sorry, I guess I’m a little off sorts.”

“I don’t see why. You looked pretty happy back there with your friends.” Killian said this not with his eyes on me like they should have been, but on Carson and Caleb. A glance at them on my part revealed that they were getting along perfectly well, after all, the dorks.

“I was. I mean, I am. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.” My thoughts drifted back to the incident at work earlier. That customer had gotten really, irrationally mad at me. My manager hadn’t been able to calm her down and finally she had stormed out of the place without paying. Even though it was acknowledged that she was the one at fault, that had still come out of my paycheck.

As much as I adored the pace of the restaurant and the ease with which I could interact with the regulars there, I was starting to get a little bit tired of it. Really, I was feeling pretty tired of a lot of things.

“Flo?” Killian sounded unsure. I glanced up at him. “You spaced out there.”

“Sorry. I’m going to go grab some coffee. I bet it will help.”

“What about me?” he asked. “I don’t know anyone.”

Oh, that look he gave me. It was a combination of need and affection, something that had always appealed to me before. I winced. It wasn’t something I wanted or needed just then. “Go up to someone and introduce yourself.” I walked away.

Rhea was in the kitchen, fiddling with several cartons of ice cream. “I’m making sundaes,” she said cheerily.

“I see that. Why was I not informed?” Instead of responding, Rhea held up a bowl of cookie dough ice cream smothered with peanut butter sauce. I took it gratefully.

“What’s going on?” Rhea asked me after I’d gulped down a few bites. She froze as she waited for my response, her hand still clutching the ice cream scoop, which was jammed into some vibrantly green mint chocolate chip. A bit of hair escaped from her braid, falling becomingly against her temple.

“Later?” This was a request. If Rhea was feeling especially impatient I knew I would be spilling my guts within moments. She nodded and resumed scooping.

“That’s probably for the best. This way you can tell me and Caleb at the same time.”

“Caleb’s just gotten back to town. He’s probably going to want to go to bed as soon as the last guest has left. Besides, you know we’ve all drifted apart a bit. He doesn’t need to be burdened with my nonsense.”

Rhea’s chest swelled. “First, missy, whatever’s going on in that head of yours, I’m sure it isn’t nonsense. Second, maybe Caleb and I have drifted apart some, but I know that you two still talk every week. You’re no more distant with him than you were in high school. If you want to make excuses you’re going to have to do a lot better than that.”

I hugged Rhea for a moment and took a deep breath. Even just this brief chat with her had made me feel a bit more settled. “I’d better head out there. People might be wondering where I am or worse, they’ve forgotten me entirely.” We exchanged small smiles and I headed back into the throng.