Page 118 of You + Me – Against the World

Alma_from_paris: Just not between March 22nd and 28th, please…

Clemy_juicy: I don’t know, we’ll see. Gotta go. TTYL.

In sixteen years of friendship, I think this is the first time Clémentine has spoken to me like that. I’ve seen it all: her passing crises, her rebellious phases, her fleeting fads. I’m well-versed in them all. I put up with them and support her through them—they’re part of her charm. But she has never been this distant with me, this indifferent. It’s as if we’ve become strangers.

Who could possibly be changing her like this?

A window starts blinking on my screen. I open the new conversation with a heavy heart.

Arcadius: I got your text. Is it serious?

Alma_from_paris: That depends.

Arcadius: My girl, a walking mystery…

Vadim almost manages to make me smile.

Alma_from_paris: If I say spring, nature reserve, wildlife… what do you say?

Arcadius: No.

Alma_from_paris: Yes!

Arcadius: Still no.

Alma_from_paris: [broken heart emoji]

Arcadius: I am not going to spend a week observing flowers and saving foxes!

Alma_from_paris: No, it’s not like that at all! Think of the ocean, fresh air, nights under the stars… freedom!

Arcadius: If you want us to go sleep outside, we can do that tonight, Alma. I don’t need a guide and twenty students to keep me company. They just want to feel superior, but the truth is, they’re going to behave like everyone else during spring break: get drunk, get naked, and sleep around.

Alma_from_paris: Tim will be there.

My trump card.

Arcadius: Wallace? That dumbass? Is that supposed to make me change my mind?

Alma_from_paris: I don’t know. Aren’t you worried about me spending a week alone with him? Without you?:)

I grin like an idiot, feeling my heart beating a little too fast.

Arcadius: You let me see Cheyenne… without you.:)

Alma_from_paris: What’s that supposed to mean?

Arcadius: Feeling a little less smug now, Lancaster? I get the impression you have fun making me jealous, but you don’t like it when I play the same game as you…

Alma_from_paris: No.

Arcadius: You can’t even imagine the kind of conversations I have with her…

Alma_from_paris: Cut it out, Vadim.

My fingers strike the keyboard with more force than necessary.

Arcadius: Yesterday, she asked me what I liked about you.