2: Kimberly: Sides
They used to be a unit. Impenetrable. So tightly woven, their lives were indecipherable. Always together. Always at each others' backs.
She watches them square off again.
Blue and yellow this time.
Much lighter than Red and Green, but still miserable.
It's a silly argument, something trivial and easily forgotten. Something they never would have blinked at a few months before.
Despite what she tries to tell herself, she knows the timing is more than coincidence.
Blue rolls his eyes and stomps away, finished with the endless bickering.
They'll see each other tomorrow and they'll speak, but carelessly thrown words will make things awkward; tender hearts and sore pride.
It will be a few days before anyone can speak freely again.
Jason and Zack sit, watching from a bench beside their mat. She sees the worry lines around Jason's eyes, the deep, dark circles that she knows come from little sleep and too much work. She wants to tell him to take it easy, rest up, take better care of himself.
But she's half the problem.
Because when Tommy comes in the room, he's beside her, arm slung over her shoulder, smiling down at her with an ease nobody else has felt in quite some time. He still thinks it's all just a game. Nothing is serious for him.
Jason is gone when she looks back, but Zack remains. Watches her with stony disapproval and something that just screams done. It makes her heart hurt.
Almost as much as the missing red.
Her favorite color.
Her best friend.
He's gone, because she feels sorry for Tommy.
He's absent, because she doesn't want to pick sides.
He's angry, because even though she didn't want to, she already has.