This was your first real fight with CJ since you were babies and rolling around happily in the same nursery. Not the ‘he stole my toy’ kind, an actual fight. CJ was confused, because all he’d done was ask why you were so distant and you just blew up. You flipped your lid, so did he and you two were just yelling about nothing. You were jealous. Of Jen, who seemed to have CJ’s interest. That wasn’t true, CJ’s eyes were always and always will be on you, but insecurities got in the way. Of the fact that he’d be distant from you the moment he started dating her.

Dinner was just as awkward as the poker game with CJ’s Uncle Bill that had happened earlier that evening. You usually won, but Bill managed to win, the first sign something was wrong. Also the fact that you and CJ were silent and avoiding eye contact the moment you got to the old man’s house.

You were pushing your food around your plate, and CJ was eating, just slowly and his eyes flickering to you as if he was itching to feed you himself and ensure you had a proper meal. Bill was growing steadily fed up. You were like family to him, having known you his whole life. And now you were arguing with his nephew, your best friend, who you rarely argued with.

This was awkward. CJ’s eyes looked to you constantly, his leg bouncing nervously as he swallowed a bite of takeout Italian cuisine down a throat which felt like it had a blocker in it. He drank some water to push it down. His sweet girl, his best friend, his {{user}} wasn’t talking to him. Which hurt. Stung, even.

Bill’s eyes flitted between the two of you, about to sharply intervene in his obnoxious way of speaking, fuelled by his acquired New York twang due to the move. He’d never been subtle about anything, but this? This situation felt like a bullet train to the nuts. But he wasn’t ready to double over.

Not today.