Friday morning arrived, and with it, Alex decided to take a lengthy and toasty bubble bath. He had been increasingly sore when he woke up since he had spent the previous night sparring with Ziro and Carsyn, well until it was eleven-thirty p.m. When he had finally got home, he stumbled into bed without changing, and uncomfortably managed to fall asleep. He couldn't believe that he had agreed to spar again for tonight.

Earlier yesterday, he'd explained sparingly to his father about the group meetings and occasional sparring sessions. Grayson couldn't help but smile impishly the entire time Alex spoke.

By the time Alex had finished taking his bath, dined on the breakfast that was left for him by Grayson who'd already left for work, it was ten-thirty. He sauntered into the living room and wondered what he should do for the day.

Carsyn was busy at Halcyon working. Ziro had gone into the city with his mother to help her set up a new portrait in a museum. Part of him wanted to go visit Lev, but a bigger part didn't want to annoy him a day before spending their next full day together. He wasn't sure what the rest of the group was up to, so he decided to go search for them.

As he went to get his shoes by the front door, he noticed through a window the heavy drops of water splattering against it. A downpour. he peered through the foggy glass; not a soul outside, except for one person loitering by the pond at the center of town. They held on to a rainbow colored umbrella while they gazed absentmindedly into the shallow abyss of the water.

Alex felt a strange sense of Deja vu strike him, as he grabbed a blue umbrella from a tall basket and headed out.

Alex strolled up to Evan when he arrived at the pond, her gaze fixated idly at the dull waters.

"Hey Evan," he said.

Evan shrieked, "what the hell? Alex?"

"Hi..."

"What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?"

"I asked you first."

"First is the worst, second is the best."

Evan scoffed, "really?" Alex shrugged and smiled. "I was just thinking about stuff. Personal stuff. The rain helps me do that."

Alex nodded. "So you're like a pluviophile. Interesting..."

Evan scoffed again. "Well I wouldn't call it that. It sounds too close to 'pedophile'." Alex chuckled, and Evan smiled along with him. "I'd rather just say, 'person who finds comfort in the rain'." Alex nodded again. "Your turn," she said to him. "Why are you here?"

"To be honest, I saw you sitting here all alone on that first night I moved to town. Then I saw you again just now through my window. Wanted to see if you were alright."

"Shit...you saw that? And you didn't tell anyone?"

Alex shook his head. "Not my business to go around talking about other people's business, especially since I know nothing about it. And you don't have to tell me anything, but I might stick around until you decide to leave, or are just a little less gloomy. Get it? 'Gloomy'?" Alex gestured to the dark and cloudy sky. Evan scoffed for the third time, though it erupted into a frank chuckle.

"What, you think I'm gonna jump in the pond and drown myself?"

Alex feigned shock. "That never even occurred to me. It seems too shallow for that anyway, but if you still fell in and needed help, I'd get you out."

Evan studied Alex for a moment. "You swim?"

"Yeah."

"You like it? Like love it, like it? Like willing to leave your family and entire life so that you can join some professional team for it, like it?"

Alex raised an eyebrow. "Well, swimming is alright, but I've more so considered those feelings for archery."

"Ah yeah, you're an 'arrow guy'. Well that's good to know, that you don't like swimming that much."

"Do you like swimming?"

"Hell no. And before you ask, no, I don't know how to swim. And before you ask again, it's not because I don't know how to swim that I don't like swimming."

Alex nodded slowly. "Noted."

Evan glared at him. "Noted? Are you not going to ask why I don't like swimming?"

"I have a feeling that it has to do with the personal stuff you were thinking about before I got here. You had then and now to elaborate on why, but you chose not to because it might be sensitive for you. I'm still the new guy here, to you, so it's probably better to talk to someone you've known longer about something like this."

Evan playfully knocked her umbrella against Alex's, making him flinch. "How do you expect to have best friends, when you're so... I don't know, passive-assertive?"

Alex stared at her, clueless. "Best friend?"

"Yeah! Friends for life, sisters from other misters, brothers from other mothers. What, did you plan to stay in level-one of the friend-zone forever? Our group is a 'best-friend conglomerate', and sometimes aggressively, but always an insistent one at that. It's how we show we care about each other. So if you wanna keep it up with us, you have to get with the program."

Alex nodded, then turned to face Evan. "Why don't you like swimming?"

Evan also turned to face Alex. "Couple months ago I overheard my dad arguing with my mom over the phone. Apparently she wasn't coming home anytime soon. She's in Montreal, training for the Olympic swim team that she made. I didn't really care when my dad told me that she used up all my university savings — three-thousand dollars worth. I was actually happy that she's following her dream, even if it was out of the blue. She talked about it so much when I was younger — went swimming nearly everyday when she was a kid, she was even the captain of her swim team in high school. She tried getting me into swimming, but I was too afraid. So I always just watched her instead. I told my dad not to be so upset with her, after all, she's just chasing her dream. But I couldn't stop their inevitable divorce. It wasn't like we weren't ever gonna see her again...but now I'm not so sure."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"I finally started feeling frustrated with it all. I get it, being an Olympic team member is some full-time commitment." Alex wasn't due to the rain, but he noticed tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. "But even Olympian's have families who need them for stuff like love and support, so they should take responsibility and take time off for that. So that was the plan I made a month ago with my mom, to finally meet. Dad was still angry, so I wasn't going to force him to come along. But she agreed — promised it actually. We were gonna do it here, right here, today before noon but after eight. So I waited since nine. Then ten minutes before you showed up, she texted me that she couldn't make it. I tried to call like ten times, but it went straight to voicemail. So...now I hate swimming. The end."

Evan wiped the tears from her face with her jacket sleeve, and returned her focus at the pond.

Alex watched her for a brief moment before also shifting his gaze to the pond. "Straight to voicemail huh?" Alex saw her nod from the corner of his eye. "So, why don't you leave her one." Evan's head snapped back around to Alex.

"Maybe she misunderstood how you're feeling, so she thinks it's okay when she doesn't call you for months. And when she finally does, she bails and uses a cowardly way to do that. After my parents' divorce was official, my mom didn't really reach out to me, and neither did I to her. But one day my dad said, 'she's your mom — family. Even though she did something wrong, you shouldn't cut her out completely'. So I tried to call, and when she didn't answer, I heard the 'beep' and all my feelings just came rushing like an avalanche or something. On that voicemail, was anger, swearing, resentment, betrayal. I felt better afterwards, not so angry at her anymore. I really don't know if she ever listened to it, but I'm still glad I sent it. Maybe give it a try."

Evan considered Alex for a few seconds. "Mhmm..."

"Mhmm..." Alex mimicked. Evan rolled her eyes and grinned as she turned away and left Alex's side. "Where are you going?"

"To leave a voicemail. But I'm going to do it alone. It's a personal thing, remember?" Alex grinned as she headed away. "Thanks Blue," she gestured to his umbrella. "That's my nickname for you now!" she waved him goodbye as she neared Faerie bridge.

Alex waved back, but then he stopped when saw someone holding a red umbrella in the distance. Nyne looked to be heading out of town, looking a bit different, Alex thought. Her hair was down, and her bangs were neatly swept to the side. She looked as innocent as Alex, and he was completely dead-set on finding out why.

With Evan's friendly advice ringing in his head, Alex started off for the red umbrella.