[For Peter] Timed 1 January 2011

[broken_brushes]

Back home, I'd never been much of a drinker. I'd always preferred caffeine to alcohol-Drinks that brought you up, made you want to move rather than slow you down. On the island, though, it was actually easier to get alcohol, and over the years, it had become one of those things I let myself do as a means of self-medication-Which is, for the

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[rhymingdevil]

Years of playing baseball on teams meant I was used to bleachers full of fans but those fans were usually the cheering type. This one was lone and solitary and judging from the hair color, probably Shari or Savannah. I was a little too far away and had only seen her from the corner of my eye, but it was enough to make me pause.

I'd put Shari to bed the night before and left her house quietly, not wanting to wake her up after she'd finally crashed. I'd gone back to the hut I shared with Savannah and all was well, but if she was here to talk, I owed her the opportunity to listen.

I put down the ball I'd been throwing into a pretty-pathetic snowman and crossed the diamond to settle next to her.

"Happy New Year?"

Always good to celebrate the holiday of choice.

[rhymingdevil]

"No, it's not all your fault. It'd just be nice if you could make a concerted effort not to fuck with my feelings," I said, seething underneath. My tone was a little less calm than before, but I refused to blow up at her.

"Just like I need to make the effort not to get so worked up about this crap."

[broken_brushes]

"Okay, but here's the thing, Peter," I began, and turned to fix him in a sharp gaze. "I apparently don't know what constitutes fucking with your feelings. You're acting like I'm purposely leading you on all the time. Am I allowed to talk to you? Smile at you? Should I restrict my comments to the weather? You tell me what I can and can't do, and I'll do my level best to not fuck with you anymore."

[rhymingdevil]

"If you decide to become a weathergirl, I think you should ask the box for galoshes," I joked, but it fell flat. I didn't like fighting with Shari. It was my least favorite thing in the world, actually, so I didn't know how we kept ending up here.

"Just no kissing," I decided. "And I won't flirt with you. I know I do that, so I'll stop. Guys and girls can be friends. Savannah and I do it every day."

[broken_brushes]

Somehow I doubted that we'd be able to avoid flirting if we weren't fighting. It came so naturally to both of us; that aspect of our personalities was part of why we'd always clicked so well. That we weren't clicking at all anymore was incredibly depressing.

"Baby steps," I sighed in agreement. I hated that things couldn't just magically be better, but that wasn't how the world worked, not even on the island.

[rhymingdevil]

"We'll figure it out," I said hopefully. I believed we would, anyway. We just had a ways to go. It was hard to have years missing between us and not be in sync.

"Until then, I'll play baseball and you can report from third base with an umbrella?"

[broken_brushes]

I bit back the obvious joke about third base and nodded. "We'll be okay, it'll just take some time," I agreed, even though it sounded a little hollow to my ears. Either things would work themselves out or they wouldn't, but the truth was, I couldn't stand to consider a reality wherein Peter and myself didn't get along. So we'd take it a day at a time, and if things were awkward for ages, we'd just have to deal.