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Detachment
The necklace was the prettiest and the geekiest thing I had ever seen. There was a piece of amber as big as my fingernail in the middle of it, surrounded by nine silver chains. Each chain had a smaller, different colored stone: a gray quartz, a piece of topaz, then an emerald, then a ruby, and then a large yellow jasper. The outer loops had a tiger’s eye quartz, an aquamarine, a sapphire, and a very tiny bit of opal. It was the perfect little model of the solar system.
“Has it ever occurred to you that everything is merely a satellite of the sun?” Lawrence asked me when he dropped by and saw me cleaning up the necklace. “I mean, just look at what you’ve got.”
“You can argue everything is a satellite of everything. Every object has gravity,” I said. He really had a habit of coming in at the most inconvenient times, such as during delicate cleaning operations. It didn’t help that he was unshaven and wearing what had to be yesterday’s sweat suit, judging by its wrinkled state.I cursed when my cleaning rag nearly snagged against one of the stones. “What do you want? The fridge is unlocked, help yourself.”
“Too early for beer,” he said as he sat down across the coffee table. “Where are the others?”
“Cas is doing an overtime shift, the guys still have classes,” I muttered. “Move your butt out of there, I need the light.”
Lawrence didn’t budge but he got his little flashlight keychain out of his pocket and trained the beam on the necklace. “Sorry, this is a comfortable spot.”
“Will you please go bug someone else?” I asked. He was eating into what little time I still could have for myself after a horrible work week, and I wasn’t up to entertaining seven feet of trouble that came in the form of a six footer man. “I mean it, you either shut up, get out, or I am going to ban you from coming.”
Thankfully Lawrence took the hint and scooted off to the kitchen. He at least had the consideration to return with two cans of beer. He must have gotten through half his can of beer in one gulp before he spoke again. “You made up your mind yet?”
All I had left to do was to polish the clasp, so I no longer had the urge to fling anything at him. “About what?” I asked.
“Staying or going?” He drained the rest of his beer and then burped. “You have a nice place here and it’s kind of a shame to give it up because of a break-up.”
“You have no idea how awkward and messed up it is,” I muttered as I put down the necklace and reached for the other beer. Actually there was an answer to that question, but it was not for him to hear, at least at this point about it.
He snickered. “Tell me about it.”
I nodded. “Macky was my friend before we got together; yeah getting together was the big mistake. Before that it was fine, just the four of us living together.”
“Was it?”
“In my defense, I was nineteen and hormonal,” I muttered. In those days it seemed like getting a place with Macky, as well as with my foster sister and another friend, was a convenient idea. At least the arrangement lasted all of three years before Macky and I had the falling out to end all falling outs. That had been a month ago.
“Elle, you know that men and women can’t just be friends. There’s already a movie about that,” Lawrence drawled. He crushed the top of his can. “You can’t say that you’re only sticking around because of Cassandra. You girls are capable of packing up and fending for yourselves anywhere.”
“She works near here, and so do I,” I said. “We like the convenience.”
“Yeah but come on, you can get an apartment that’s smaller but just as accessible to your usual places,” Lawrence pointed out.
“Her call too, not mine.” Cas was my foster sister, my rock, better than family to me. I’d never do anything to inconvenience her.
“It’s better than you and Macky sort of doing the moon and the sun dance, never meeting but somehow in each other’s space.”
“The moon and the earth dance,” I corrected him before I put on the necklace. The clean metal felt warm against my skin, but there was a strange coolness to the stones.
Lawrence snorted. “Same difference.” He looked around as the apartment door opened. “Hey Anton, I ate your dinner again,” he greeted.
“You didn’t. You never line your stomach,” Anton said as he set down his satchel at its usual place near the door. Even if he’d probably walked all the way from the law school, he still looked maddeningly fresh, or at least less dirty than he should have. Not a single strand of his dark blond hair was out of place. He nodded to me. “That necklace suits you, Ellen.”
“It’s a solar system. Can you see it?” I asked as I pulled back my hair.
“Not from this distance....now I get it. Nine levels and a center,” Anton said with a grin. “Did you check the amber for fossils?”
“No. It’s as clear as....” I was about to say ‘crystal’ but I shook my head. I watched Lawrence moved off the coffee table and went to pester Anton. If Cas was my rock, Anton was everyone else’s rock, even Macky’s. He was the one who introduced us actually; Macky was his tutee in college. I guess one could say he was also a rock for me too; he was the one who kept the sanity in this weird little apartment. He was perhaps the only reason Lawrence liked to come around.
After a while, Lawrence went to get more beer and empty the fridge. I went over to where Anton was reading. He put down his case file and pulled up a chair for me. “Rough day?”
“It always is a rough day,” I said. “By the way, I’ve been looking at places.”
One of his eyebrows almost reached his hairline. “Where?”
“Out of the city. I’ve been eyeing some job placements too; programmers are always in demand around here,” I admitted. I saw the troubled look that came in his eyes and I took a deep breath. “I have to do this. I need to start again.”
“This isn’t just about Macky, isn’t it?”
“No.” I almost felt bad about what I was going to have to say. “It’s about you and Cas too.”
Any other guy might have been angry, but this was Anton. He nodded as he put his hands on the table. “Go on.”
“Cas and I are practically sisters, you’ve known me since I was fourteen. We’re like the Three Musketeers, I guess, but from the wrong side of the city,” I said. Those days in the ‘skid road’ of Cordoba City seemed so long ago, but there were times like this when I could almost smell the gutter slime all over again. “That was how it was before you know, Macky and I got together. Then I became part of a duo instead of part of a trio. You get what I’m saying?”
“You’re alone for the first time,” he said.
“Yeah. I sort of need to figure out what that means. Who on earth is Ellen Thompson when she’s not with Antoine, Cas, and Marcus?”
“Sounds like a game show title!” Lawrence catcalled from the kitchenette.
“Lawrence, there’s still some baked macaroni in the freezer,” Anton shouted back. “No one’s planning to eat it anyway.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, even as I looked from the kitchenette, and at the rest of this apartment’s common room. Everything here was a ‘blob’ of ‘ours’; sure we had our own books and knick-knacks, but on the whole it was a general mess of things that at least two of us had in common. How much could I really call ‘my own’ anyway?
Anton nodded to me again. “When?”
“A month. Sorry, I know it will make life hard with the rent.”
“I understand. It’s no issue, really,” he said with a wave of his hand.
I shook my head. “You sound a bit...”
“Surprised,” he finished. “I know you can take care of yourself, Ellen, but you’ve never done this before.”
“I know. I’ll have to clean up my own mess, you’ll have to live without my cooking.”
“I keep a directory of every burger place in town,” he deadpanned.
“You’ll be broke in a month,” I said as I shoved his shoulder. I sighed as I saw Lawrence saunter up with the tray of macaroni and three paper plates. “Okay, cat’s out of the bag. I have to get out of here.”
Anton eyed the plates. “No liquid? I’ll run down and get some soda. Don’t start without me,” he said as he got his wallet.
“See you later!” Lawrence called. He waited for Anton to shut the door before he began laughing. “You two ought to run away together.”
“Lawrence, haven’t you heard anything I said?” I asked.
“Have you ever looked at Anton?”
It should have been a normal question, but nothing was normal with Lawrence, especially with the way he wiggled his eyebrows. “That’s delusional,” I scoffed.
“Perfect sense. I know you both. You’re like magnets,” Lawrence said. “Stuck together since forever; Three Musketeers my foot, Cas was the third wheel till Macky came along.”
“No....”
“You can’t help being around him, it’s gravity as you said.”
“Shut up!”
Lawrence shook his head. “Apogee and perigee. Ever heard of that?
”
Those terms were vaguely familiar. “Enlighten me.”
“Parts of the orbit, the nearest and furthest part of the ellipse. You’re going to spiral out, go far away. Then you’ll come back here. Sort of an orbit, huh?” he said, gesturing to my necklace. “What will you with that then?”
“I’m not going to be a stranger.” I was going to visit. I was planning to keep in touch.
He smirked. “You’ll be back for someone. Two guesses. One of them isn’t Cas.”
I might have yelled at him for it if Anton hadn’t returned then with the soda. Anton glanced from me to Lawrence. “Did I miss the soap opera again?”
“Not at all,” I muttered. I couldn’t look him in the eye now, not after what Lawrence said. It would be a long time before I ever could.
The necklace was the prettiest and the geekiest thing I had ever seen. There was a piece of amber as big as my fingernail in the middle of it, surrounded by nine silver chains. Each chain had a smaller, different colored stone: a gray quartz, a piece of topaz, then an emerald, then a ruby, and then a large yellow jasper. The outer loops had a tiger’s eye quartz, an aquamarine, a sapphire, and a very tiny bit of opal. It was the perfect little model of the solar system.
“Has it ever occurred to you that everything is merely a satellite of the sun?” Lawrence asked me when he dropped by and saw me cleaning up the necklace. “I mean, just look at what you’ve got.”
“You can argue everything is a satellite of everything. Every object has gravity,” I said. He really had a habit of coming in at the most inconvenient times, such as during delicate cleaning operations. It didn’t help that he was unshaven and wearing what had to be yesterday’s sweat suit, judging by its wrinkled state.I cursed when my cleaning rag nearly snagged against one of the stones. “What do you want? The fridge is unlocked, help yourself.”
“Too early for beer,” he said as he sat down across the coffee table. “Where are the others?”
“Cas is doing an overtime shift, the guys still have classes,” I muttered. “Move your butt out of there, I need the light.”
Lawrence didn’t budge but he got his little flashlight keychain out of his pocket and trained the beam on the necklace. “Sorry, this is a comfortable spot.”
“Will you please go bug someone else?” I asked. He was eating into what little time I still could have for myself after a horrible work week, and I wasn’t up to entertaining seven feet of trouble that came in the form of a six footer man. “I mean it, you either shut up, get out, or I am going to ban you from coming.”
Thankfully Lawrence took the hint and scooted off to the kitchen. He at least had the consideration to return with two cans of beer. He must have gotten through half his can of beer in one gulp before he spoke again. “You made up your mind yet?”
All I had left to do was to polish the clasp, so I no longer had the urge to fling anything at him. “About what?” I asked.
“Staying or going?” He drained the rest of his beer and then burped. “You have a nice place here and it’s kind of a shame to give it up because of a break-up.”
“You have no idea how awkward and messed up it is,” I muttered as I put down the necklace and reached for the other beer. Actually there was an answer to that question, but it was not for him to hear, at least at this point about it.
He snickered. “Tell me about it.”
I nodded. “Macky was my friend before we got together; yeah getting together was the big mistake. Before that it was fine, just the four of us living together.”
“Was it?”
“In my defense, I was nineteen and hormonal,” I muttered. In those days it seemed like getting a place with Macky, as well as with my foster sister and another friend, was a convenient idea. At least the arrangement lasted all of three years before Macky and I had the falling out to end all falling outs. That had been a month ago.
“Elle, you know that men and women can’t just be friends. There’s already a movie about that,” Lawrence drawled. He crushed the top of his can. “You can’t say that you’re only sticking around because of Cassandra. You girls are capable of packing up and fending for yourselves anywhere.”
“She works near here, and so do I,” I said. “We like the convenience.”
“Yeah but come on, you can get an apartment that’s smaller but just as accessible to your usual places,” Lawrence pointed out.
“Her call too, not mine.” Cas was my foster sister, my rock, better than family to me. I’d never do anything to inconvenience her.
“It’s better than you and Macky sort of doing the moon and the sun dance, never meeting but somehow in each other’s space.”
“The moon and the earth dance,” I corrected him before I put on the necklace. The clean metal felt warm against my skin, but there was a strange coolness to the stones.
Lawrence snorted. “Same difference.” He looked around as the apartment door opened. “Hey Anton, I ate your dinner again,” he greeted.
“You didn’t. You never line your stomach,” Anton said as he set down his satchel at its usual place near the door. Even if he’d probably walked all the way from the law school, he still looked maddeningly fresh, or at least less dirty than he should have. Not a single strand of his dark blond hair was out of place. He nodded to me. “That necklace suits you, Ellen.”
“It’s a solar system. Can you see it?” I asked as I pulled back my hair.
“Not from this distance....now I get it. Nine levels and a center,” Anton said with a grin. “Did you check the amber for fossils?”
“No. It’s as clear as....” I was about to say ‘crystal’ but I shook my head. I watched Lawrence moved off the coffee table and went to pester Anton. If Cas was my rock, Anton was everyone else’s rock, even Macky’s. He was the one who introduced us actually; Macky was his tutee in college. I guess one could say he was also a rock for me too; he was the one who kept the sanity in this weird little apartment. He was perhaps the only reason Lawrence liked to come around.
After a while, Lawrence went to get more beer and empty the fridge. I went over to where Anton was reading. He put down his case file and pulled up a chair for me. “Rough day?”
“It always is a rough day,” I said. “By the way, I’ve been looking at places.”
One of his eyebrows almost reached his hairline. “Where?”
“Out of the city. I’ve been eyeing some job placements too; programmers are always in demand around here,” I admitted. I saw the troubled look that came in his eyes and I took a deep breath. “I have to do this. I need to start again.”
“This isn’t just about Macky, isn’t it?”
“No.” I almost felt bad about what I was going to have to say. “It’s about you and Cas too.”
Any other guy might have been angry, but this was Anton. He nodded as he put his hands on the table. “Go on.”
“Cas and I are practically sisters, you’ve known me since I was fourteen. We’re like the Three Musketeers, I guess, but from the wrong side of the city,” I said. Those days in the ‘skid road’ of Cordoba City seemed so long ago, but there were times like this when I could almost smell the gutter slime all over again. “That was how it was before you know, Macky and I got together. Then I became part of a duo instead of part of a trio. You get what I’m saying?”
“You’re alone for the first time,” he said.
“Yeah. I sort of need to figure out what that means. Who on earth is Ellen Thompson when she’s not with Antoine, Cas, and Marcus?”
“Sounds like a game show title!” Lawrence catcalled from the kitchenette.
“Lawrence, there’s still some baked macaroni in the freezer,” Anton shouted back. “No one’s planning to eat it anyway.”
I couldn’t help but laugh, even as I looked from the kitchenette, and at the rest of this apartment’s common room. Everything here was a ‘blob’ of ‘ours’; sure we had our own books and knick-knacks, but on the whole it was a general mess of things that at least two of us had in common. How much could I really call ‘my own’ anyway?
Anton nodded to me again. “When?”
“A month. Sorry, I know it will make life hard with the rent.”
“I understand. It’s no issue, really,” he said with a wave of his hand.
I shook my head. “You sound a bit...”
“Surprised,” he finished. “I know you can take care of yourself, Ellen, but you’ve never done this before.”
“I know. I’ll have to clean up my own mess, you’ll have to live without my cooking.”
“I keep a directory of every burger place in town,” he deadpanned.
“You’ll be broke in a month,” I said as I shoved his shoulder. I sighed as I saw Lawrence saunter up with the tray of macaroni and three paper plates. “Okay, cat’s out of the bag. I have to get out of here.”
Anton eyed the plates. “No liquid? I’ll run down and get some soda. Don’t start without me,” he said as he got his wallet.
“See you later!” Lawrence called. He waited for Anton to shut the door before he began laughing. “You two ought to run away together.”
“Lawrence, haven’t you heard anything I said?” I asked.
“Have you ever looked at Anton?”
It should have been a normal question, but nothing was normal with Lawrence, especially with the way he wiggled his eyebrows. “That’s delusional,” I scoffed.
“Perfect sense. I know you both. You’re like magnets,” Lawrence said. “Stuck together since forever; Three Musketeers my foot, Cas was the third wheel till Macky came along.”
“No....”
“You can’t help being around him, it’s gravity as you said.”
“Shut up!”
Lawrence shook his head. “Apogee and perigee. Ever heard of that?
”
Those terms were vaguely familiar. “Enlighten me.”
“Parts of the orbit, the nearest and furthest part of the ellipse. You’re going to spiral out, go far away. Then you’ll come back here. Sort of an orbit, huh?” he said, gesturing to my necklace. “What will you with that then?”
“I’m not going to be a stranger.” I was going to visit. I was planning to keep in touch.
He smirked. “You’ll be back for someone. Two guesses. One of them isn’t Cas.”
I might have yelled at him for it if Anton hadn’t returned then with the soda. Anton glanced from me to Lawrence. “Did I miss the soap opera again?”
“Not at all,” I muttered. I couldn’t look him in the eye now, not after what Lawrence said. It would be a long time before I ever could.