#rivervale_lodge

A sigh, and she puts her pen to mark her page. "Have you talked to him yet? Like, more than 'hi how are you'?"

Scowl. Shrug.

"He's been busy."

A silent moment. "Cop out."

"Ain't."

"What's there to talk about, anyways?"

"No?"

"Um...you live in the same community, go to the same school, serve the same Lodge, have the same friends...and if you can't figure out a way to talk with him, it's gonna interrupt your day-to-day life-stuff."

A grunt.

"We're broken up, and he has Piper now."

"And....okay. He has Piper. So, that means you can't ever talk again?"

"Well, what's he need to talk to me about?"

She scowls at the table.

"About being a friend, maybe?"

A frown. "Dagmar, forget about what he's thinking right now...do you want to still be friends with him, even if it's not like a dating thing?"

"I don't know."

"No?"

"He's been better lately. Less... touchy?"

"Touchy? Like...not trying to physically touch you?"

"Or you mean, less...I don't know, angry?"

"That."

"Like... thinking everybody was against him."

"It was exhausting"

"I was trying to fight for him here, but, like.."

"Then, I dunno, like how he got about the Wolpertinger... just.. mean... and..."

"And then I thought maybe he wasn't who I thought he was?"

"Well..."

"He wasn't. I mean...he always pissed me off at the start, just like you're saying."

"But yeah, he's been better lately. I think....like, since Pennons? And killing that thing."

"Like...he fits better around here or something, now."

"Yeah, but things were already weird and I just... I dunno..."

"And I mean, it's not like he liked me special, he likes all the girls..."

"Well, I don't know about not special, but yeah, he's a flirt. And you're worth somebody who'll treat you how you want to be treated, and for you that ain't it."

"Well, not like I told him I wanted different..."

"And, I dunno, being flirted with... I don't think I like it much?"

"Yeah...and...no offense, Dagmar, but you're not great at telling people how you're feeling," apologetically.

"I'm not."

"I get it. It's hard."

"I wasn't trying to break up with him."

"I sorta just... it... I dunno, it was a big mess, and he said I had to say it. Make it official. Maybe I was trying to get him to say he didn't want to be with me."

A sympathetic wince. "Yeah. It's...like, that way, it can't be your fault, and you can get angry at the other person."

"Yeah."

"But he was all over Piper at Nadeen's saining!"

"Like he could do that and throw me a compliment and that didn't matter!"

"Wait...was that before or after you broke up?"

"Nadeen's saining? Before."

"Yeah, okay...so...." Sylvi turns to face her a bit. "Okay, Adam's a flirt. Like, he's with Piper now, but they're not exclusive, and that works for them. They're both players...not users, but not committed. And that's not you. So him expecting you to be okay with him playing wouldn't work, and you expecting him not to play wouldn't work. But it doesn't mean you weren't enough or whatever. "

She shrugs, chewing on her thumb.

"I wasn't a good girlfriend."

"You were a plenty good girlfriend. Just not for him. And he was a good boyfriend, but not for you."