Chapter 22
Roomy remembered day clearly.
Not because it was special.
But because it was empty.
Back then, he didn't belong anywhere. Not really.
Too quiet for the loud kids. Too awkward for the confident ones.
He learned early how to sit still and disappear.
The room he stayed in was small too small.
Peeling paint. A single window. A mattress that dipped in the middle.
He didn't call it home.
Then Trina walked in.
She wasn't supposed to be there.
She wasn't looking for anyone.
She just… found him.
She stood in the doorway like she owned the space, hands on her hips, eyes sharp and curious.
"You live here?" she asked.
Roomy nodded.
He knew she had already seen him before,
She didn't look sorry. She didn't look uncomfortable.
She just walked in and sat on the floor like the place had always been meant to hold two people.
"My name's Trina," she said. "You look like you need a friend."
And just like that he had one.
She was loud back then. Too loud.
Protective in a way that sometimes crossed lines.
If someone looked at him wrong, she looked back harder.
If someone laughed, she laughed louder.
Roomy stayed close. Always behind her shoulder. Always watching.
Then came Alex.
He didn't push. Didn't claim. Didn't raise his voice.
He just… stood there.
Between Trina and trouble. Between Roomy and the world.
When Trina went too far, Alex pulled her back. When Roomy shrank, Alex stepped forward.
They fit not perfectly but enough.
A trio built from imbalance, learning how to hold itself upright.
Roomy thought it would always be that way.
Now, sitting in the present, he felt the memory ache.
Trina still laughed. Alex still protected.
But something had shifted.
Trina no longer leaned back to check if Roomy was there. Alex no longer stepped in only stepped away.
Roomy pressed his fingers together, staring at nothing.
He wasn't scared of being alone again.
He was scared of watching the people who saved him slowly drift apart and realizing he might not be able to hold them together this time.
Back then, they found each other by accident.
Now
He didn't know how you save something that's quietly letting go.Alex didn't remember the first time he met Trina.
He remembered the moment he decided to stay.
She was already loud when he noticed her. Sharp words. Fast movements. Too much confidence for someone so small.
And beside her was a boy who barely spoke.
Roomy.
Alex noticed him first.
Not because Roomy stood out but because he didn't.
Because Alex knew what it meant to survive by becoming invisible.
Trina talked like the world owed her answers.
Roomy watched like the world might take something away if he blinked.
Alex stood between them without realizing it.
It became habit.
If someone shoved Alex stepped forward.
If Trina snapped Alex softened it.
If Roomy hesitated Alex waited.
They didn't ask him to do it.
He just did.
That was how Alex learned friendship:
by being useful.
He never talked much about himself.
Not because he didn't have things to say but because questions led places he didn't want to go.
Trina filled the silence easily.
Roomy filled it carefully.
Alex filled it by listening.
Years passed. The roles settled.
Trina became fearless. Roomy became steady. Alex became reliable.
And reliable people weren't supposed to crack.
Now, sitting alone, Alex stared at the floor, jaw tight.
He knew Trina felt something was wrong. He knew Roomy was watching him more closely lately.
They were waiting.
For honesty. For explanation. For something he didn't know how to give.
Because the truth wasn't simple. It wasn't emotional. It wasn't something you confess and feel lighter afterward.
It was structural. Built-in. The kind of thing that changes how people look at you once they know.
Alex rubbed his thumb against his palm grounding himself.
He wasn't pulling away because he didn't care.
He was pulling away because getting closer meant risking collapse.
And he couldn't let them see what would happen if the walls he built ever came down.
Not Trina. Not Roomy.
Especially not them.