Lori Has Issues

 The months following Christmas were pretty uneventful. Lori’s dad turned up missing following a work trip down to Texas. For two days there was no sign of him. Lori was a mess. I remember we just went for a walk in the snow. I didn’t know what if anything I could say. So we didn’t say much. We walked to the nearby park. Because it was an impromptu walk to get out of the house, we didn’t wear gloves to make a snowman so we made a snowman outline with our feet onto the pristine snow that had fallen on the tennis courts. Lori always reminds me how much that tiny gesture to cheer her up meant to her.

  He turned up and said he got really sick and just passed out in a hotel for the time he was gone. When he was missing, Lori was beside herself with concern and when he showed up again she was angry at him. I don’t know if it was just anger for not calling or if she didn’t believe him. The whole incident was suspicious. He was a Federal police officer, so it may be one of those ‘confidential’ things. Or he may have been sick. Shortly after 9/11 he was sent to guard ‘Ground Zero’ for a few months right after it happened. It may have been a combination… Who knows.

  Lori and I also hosted a Mardi Gras party. I had tons of bead necklaces left over from my Mardi Gras trip, that it seemed like a great way to use them. Until that point, I had only been using the hundreds  of them as a Christmas Tree skirt for my little tree. That Christmas, Lori and I had conflicting visions for our Tree, so we each decorated our own little trees. Hers was elegant with solid white lights and white and silver décor. Mine had every shape ornament and decoration I could find with blinking color lights and the Beads for the skirt. It screamed “Look at me!!” It caused tension because when people came to visit, they would see both trees and always comment on mine. It wasn’t a competition, but Lori was competitive.

  The party was hugely successful and it was the first time we met Nate, Amanda’s boyfriend. He owned a Jeep too, and a genuinely nice guy. He was also very attentive to Amanda, which I liked. At one point, Amanda hit the point that she drank too much and started feeling sick. Nate noticed right away and raced from across the room to attend to her at the first sign. Amanda was embarrassed, but we assured her we’ve all been there.

  Although Lori and I knew our relationship was over, nothing between us had changed. We still did everything together. We just didn’t talk about it. It was unfortunate that she was also very jealous if I started talking to other girls, even if I had been friends for years with them. At one point, even Jennifer’s little sister visiting from Chicago was an issue. She was twelve at the time wanted me to watch her do cartwheels. Lori got mad at me because she apparently had a crush on me and I “encouraged it”. In actuality, I had no idea that Jessica wanting me to see her do cartwheels was ‘showing off for me’. I thought she was competing for my attention because Eric and Lucinda’s two sons were trying to get me to play games with them as well. I was shocked “She’s 12!” I told her.

  After thinking about it, Lori was probably right. I think while I was playing with the kids, Jennifer mentioned to Lori that she ‘dressed up’ when she knew I was coming. I think Jennifer thought it was cute. Jessica may have developed a crush on me when, the week after 9/11 she IM’d me and told me how scared she was and I calmed her down. I explained to her:  if it really took that many years to plan this attack, they wouldn’t have one planned for the immediate future. She seemed to take comfort in that (as much as I could tell via IM).

  Lori knew she was having issues she needed to deal with and she found out that her school allowed her to see a therapist free of charge as part of her tuition. Some of this therapist’s ideas seemed helpful.  Others…  not so much.  I mean, the therapist was probably technically correct that we should spend time apart, but I didn’t like that idea. She was still my best friend. If we were going to stay friends I knew one thing. She would need to get into a new relationship before I did. Even though we still lived together, I was going to try and give her some space like the doctor ordered.