Morning all. I hope you had a fabulous weekend. Mine was quiet and filled with chores. Which isn’t a bad thing. They needed to get done and I enjoy having them settled. I am ready for a new week and a fresh new month, so let’s see what today’s prompt does to launch us into March. Timers set for fifteen minutes and let’s go!
I like this. two friends diverge paths and end up on opposite sides of a situation. Could be a fun start. I’d have to figure out the story of course but it is an interesting idea to play around with.
Monday, March 2nd: I lost track of him years ago.
“I lost track of him years ago,” Maria said with a shrug. “Haven’t even thought of him in ages.”
Ferris looked at her as though trying to decide if she was lying. “You were close,” he said finally.
Maria sighed. “Were,” she repeated. She stepped over to the seating area and flopped down on one of the comfortable chairs. They were designed to be comfortable to those reading for long stretches of time. In reality no one ever used them for meetings. The general squishiness of the comfy chairs made even the most formal of meetings casual and many found them uncomfortable. As it led to shorter meetings, Maria was okay with it.
She also knew she wasn’t getting out of this conversation quickly. As expected, Ferris took the seat opposite her. She wasn’t sure if he wanted to catch her in a lie or if he simply wanted more information. She knew he wouldn’t let it go.
‘At least I have the amusement of him on the chairs.’
Ferris preferred formality and as he perched on the edge of one of the over stuffed chairs Maria was certain she could actually hear his three piece suit register a formal complaint. “
“Like I said, I lost track of him a long time ago,” Maria said. “We were close once. That changed.”
“How?” he asked. “I remember you two being thick as thieves once.”
Maria smiled. “We were fairly inseparable,” She admitted. Ferris leaned forward slightly and she resisted the urge to sigh at his eagerness. “Then I left,” she said. “I was only gone a year. Seemed like forever at a time and there were frequent calls back, texts, e-mails. We were in contact while I was gone, but the exchanges were light. He didn’t want to ask too much about what I was doing and I didn’t want to feel left out by hearing what he was up to so we kept things general.”
Maria frowned thinking of the exchanges. “They started tapering off after a few months anyway. At the time I assumed it was because he had other things going and my life was pretty boring since I couldn’t share any of the details.”
Ferris nodded. “I looked over your file.”
“So, you know that only the most mundane of topics would do as conversational starters,” She said. “Most of my friends grew tired of talking to me even if they still occasionally sent news of home so I could stay in the loop. I knew he made new friends.”
Maria snorted and shook his head. “I thought it was good for him. I was one of the few people he talked to back in those days. He was more of a loner than I was but we were tight and he would occasionally go out to group things with me and the others. I was happy he was making new friends.”
“Even those friends?”
“There weren’t any details to be honest,” Maria said. He was barely part of the main friend group. My friend, not theirs sort of thing. It was mentioned in passing because another friend found it strange to see him with other people when I wasn’t in the mix. There were no details. I knew nothing about his friends until I got back. And then, well they weren’t my sort of people and I certainly wasn’t there sort. He stayed with them and a few months after I got back, he left town. Haven’t heard from him since. And like I said, that was years ago.”
Ten til Midnight 