Elina Wainwright - Circle

«So that’s not a good perspective,» the girl blurted out. And who is the dog in the dream?»

«I don’t really know,» I grinned.

«What’s funny?»

«I just remembered my mother telling Lizzie and me about how she used to dream a dog all the time when she was young, and then she realised it was our father.»

«How romantic!» Camellia gasped.

«I know. Our family has always been different from „normal“.»

«What are your plans for the day?»

«Honestly, I don’t know. I think. Maybe invite the girls to my place? They seem normal.»

«Chris and Diana?»

«Yeah.»

«Have you all become friends there yet?»

«I wouldn’t say that. Just sometimes we get together to play board games,» I remembered.

«Are there any good-looking guys at all?» Cami’s tone changed to playful.

«No,» I answered dryly.

«At all?»

«Well, Daniel is the most handsome one here, but he’s a little too sweet or something. He has a girlfriend, though.»

«What if he’s latent gay?» Cami suggested.

«Who knows. Maybe he is.»

«What about Lizzie? Did she meet someone?»

«She’s hard at work, too. Doesn’t mention Richard.»

«By the way, how are they doing with Chris?»

«As far as I know, they broke up.»

«Ouch. And how are they?»

«I don’t know. Diana said Chris is having a hard time, and I haven’t seen Richard in a long time. And it’s none of my concern. We’re not even friends.»

«Introduce them to Lizzie,» Cami suggested.

«Yeah. And then I’d have to take the heat from Chris, who’d blame me for all the trouble caused by breaking up with Richard? No way,» I threw up my hands.

«Suit yourself. It sounds like a good idea to me.»

«We’ll see,» I concluded.

We talked for another fifteen minutes. Then I got a call from my other friend, Gaby. We talked about her depressive disorder. The poor girl was suffering from chronic depression. It was compounded by the fact that she had elevated levels of aggression and anxiety. It was a bad mix. Honestly, sometimes I thought that was what we had in common. I wonder if we would have communicated if we both had a stable emotional state.

Ten minutes later we said goodbye, and I texted Chris and Diana. Yes, we had a separate chat room for the girls.

«Hey girls, what are your plans for the day?»

«Any suggestions?» – Diana.

«Would you like to come over to my place today? Let’s have tea and chat», – I suggested.

«Oh, that would be great!» – Chris.

«Text me the address. We’ll be there soon», – Diana.

***

«This place is awesome!» Diana looked around my kitchen.

«No way, it’s not,» I said, embarrassed.

«She’s serious,» Chris walked into the kitchen. «You should have seen our apartment. We’re renting some kind of a den for two people. We don’t even have a decent stove.»

«It can’t all be that bad,» I didn’t believe it.

«On the plus side, we live in a townhouse. On the minus side, the whole house,» Diana sat down at the table, fixing her long hair. «So, where’s the tea?»

«What kind do you want? There’s black with berries, black with fruit, black with orange…»

«The tastiest of the whole crazy collection,» Diana interrupted me.

«Easy to see the person doesn’t drink,» Chris remarked.

We laughed.

«How’s it going with Armie?» Chris asked.

«Don’t ask. Henry and I found him that damn drum set, and he didn’t even say thank you,» I rolled my eyes as I poured the girls some tea.

«With Henry?» The girls looked at each other.

«Yes, he and Richard may look alike, but their hairstyles made it easy to tell them apart,» I pondered. «So I’m sure it was Henry who went to the store with me to get the discount.»

«Oh, let’s not say anything about Richard,» Chris snorted.

This time Diana and I looked at each other, and stopped talking. Apparently Chris hadn’t cooled off yet.

I put the mugs on the table.

«No, I’d like to talk about it, though. I need a fresh perspective on the situation.»

I saw that Diana rolled her eyes, but didn’t say anything. Apparently, at home, they had already covered the subject from top to bottom.

I sat down:

«What happened? I’m as far away from the subject as possible.»

«You know he and I used to date, right?»

I nodded.

«Everything was fine until New Year’s, and then he got cold all of a sudden,» admitted to the girl. «He started answering and calling less frequently, we almost stopped going out, and after a couple of weeks he told me that we had to break up.»

«Maybe he just got bored?» I suggested.

«That’s what I told her,» Diana couldn’t stand it, «and she was trying to find some otherworldly reasons for their breakup. He’s trying to sort himself out, or he’s got someone else, or he’s got other family problems,» she went on irritably. «The guy dumped you. Over! You need to forget about it, not write to him every night and get one-word messages back from him.»

«How rude!» I scolded Diana.

«I’m sorry, Lindsay, but I’m tired. I live in the same house as Chris, and I’m tired of hearing Richard’s name every day. That’s it, the guy’s gone. Forget him. Yeah, now we all have to see each other since we’re all in the same company, but in a couple of months Richard will finish that building and fly back to his place in New York. And do I have to keep listening to all these hysterics?»

«Hysterics?» I didn’t understand.

«I took our breakup to heart,» Chris admitted, biting her lip.

«That’s an understatement,» Di retorted sarcastically.

«And what could I do? I love him,» Chris started to justify herself.

«What kind of love?» Di couldn’t take it anymore. «You’ve only been together a couple of months.»

«So I’m just that amorous,» Chris waved her hands.

«Okay,» I interrupted their dilemma, «Let’s have some tea and calm down. We won’t solve anything that way.»

«I want him back,» Chris said and took a sip.

«Same old story,» Diana slammed the mug down on the table loudly.

«Wait a damn minute,» I snapped at her. «Can’t you see she’s so sad?»

Diana looked at me obliquely.

«What are you going to do?» I turned to Chris.

«I don’t know yet. At this point I’m just trying not to reduce the communication to nothing.»

«Just texting him?» I asked.

«Yes.»

«How does he reply?»

«Quite appropriately. My grandmother died recently. I told him about it. He was supportive.»

«Oh, I’m sorry for your loss,» I sympathise with the girl.

«He didn’t support you because he wanted you back, but because he felt sorry for you.»

«Damn it, Di!» Chris couldn’t take it anymore.

«Could you tell the truth a little more softly?» I said to Diana.

«Okay, I’m sorry,» Diana sipped her tea.

«How are you now, anyway? You’ve got a lot on your plate,» I said to Chris.

«I’m okay. But I want Richard back. I really do.»

«I want to help you, but I don’t know how,» I admitted honestly.

«I don’t want to drag you into this. I just needed to share it with someone. But if you ever cross paths and talk about me, please put in a good word for me,» she asked.

«No problem,» I smiled back at her.

«Hello, everyone!» a new message flew into the conversation. I looked closely at the name and didn’t recognise it. Some Caleb. Who’s that?

«Hi», – Dan.

«Hey!» – Andrew.