thequeenofhawkins:
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Chrissy never considered herself as someone who had close friends. She always kept fellow jocks and cheerleaders at arms length, but there were two people who she kept at elbow’s length. Cole Montgomery and Adam Richards. Maybe it was because they never wanted anything from her, other than a little bit of trust. “It’s totally crazy. I was like, in this forest commune?” Chrissy tried to explain, but she came up rather vague. She had two years ripped away from her and she couldn’t even remember what it was like on the commune. “Kinda gives me the heebie jeebies if I think about it for too long.”
So, instead of thinking about it, she was more than content to move the conversation to a more pressing topic. Adam. “Yeah, yeah, I have. I think we were like, together the entire time? I don’t know, it’s all fuzzy,” and she left it at that. It sounded like a bitchy move, so she didn’t want to linger on how she had allegedly been with Adam the entire time. It was like they deliberately left Cole out, but that just didn’t make sense to Chrissy because she knew that she’d invite him, and the same could probably be said to Adam.
“So… where does that leave you and Adam?” She asked, resting a hand on one of the racks. Chrissy had a habit of holing herself into Adam and Cole’s relationship business, whether she did it on purpose or not. Either with one of them coming to her for advice or Chrissy seeking it out herself whenever she noticed something was up. “You’re not like, mad at him or anything, right?”
xx.
Cole frowned ever so slightly when Chrissy mentioned that she was in the forest commune, too. He knew she’d been out of town, but if he really thought about it, he couldn’t remember any details or any goodbye. It was strange; he and Chrissy were close enough that he definitely would’ve wanted to say goodbye to her if she was leaving for a long time. But everyone wrapped up in the forest commune business had hazy memories attached to them. Maybe the drugs, if he were to guess. “Right. I totally get it if you don’t want to talk about it,” he offered, a genuine look of concern in his eyes.
While the forest commune was fuzzy for everyone else, Cole knew what had happened to Adam. He’d gone to the funeral, he’d checked in on Adam’s sisters every week for the past three years. Adam had died. And now he was back, and Chrissy claimed she was with him this whole time? None of it made sense... but maybe it didn’t need to. Maybe he was tempting fate by asking questions and should just shut up and accept it. “Yeah... it’s fuzzy for him, too. I guess we just hadn’t really talked details, yet,” Cole lied. “But, you’re here now. Why not pretend everything is normal for a while?” Cole asked with the biggest smile he could muster.
If he had any doubt about this really being Chrissy Cunningham standing in front of him, the glint in her eye when she asked about Adam confirmed it. Cole had seen that same look in her eye every time she asked about Adam; some cross between fondness and amusement and concern. Honestly, Chrissy was as much a part of their relationship as they were-- besides the obvious bits, anyways. Cole shook his head at her question, a content smile smoothing out his features. “You know I’m shit at being mad at him,” he said. “It wasn’t his fault, you know? Like, he didn’t want to leave... so how can I be upset?”
“Everything’s just... weird right now. Not because of him. Because of me, I think,” he sighed. Cole knew Chrissy would never let him get away with such a vague answer, so he continued speaking and absentmindedly picking through the same t-shirt in ten different colors. “I just mean... I feel like I’m bracing myself. Like I’ll lose him again? And he’s obviously fucked up about it all, the leaving thing. So we’re good-- like, sometimes it feels like nothing has changed-- but it’s like this thing is lurking.” He threw up his hands in mock surrender. “Stop me if I sound insane, please.”