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Post by Toby Seaborn on Feb 19, 2016 1:42:47 GMT
Tobias Seaborn's life had always been heavily influenced by his family. Given the fact that he and his father were often the lone men that were otherwise surrounded by women, he'd grown up to think that they should be treated a certain way. His sisters always yelled at him, without provocation, when a man had hurt them - distraughtly urging him to remember that when it came his time to date a girl, he should think of how he'd want someone to treat one of his sisters. And he had taken that to heart. Sure, he was a red-blooded young male on a college campus where women seemed to pay attention to him, too. But he tried to never be the kind of guy who would take advantage of that. In all honesty, he focused on school, soccer, and part time job so much he hadn't done much dating during his time at Cornell.
Sure, he'd gone on a few dates here and there, but he'd also quickly learned that dating was expensive and he did his best to save his money for his tuition and to send home to his parents. That was why, sometimes, he contemplated his friendship with Brody and Morgan. The two of them were fantastic people, the nicest he'd ever met. But they also came from a different world than he did, and he wondered if they were as aware of those differences as he was at times - like when they'd go out to eat and the check came. Still, Brody was his best friend and he liked to think that Morgan had become a good friend as well - almost coming to think of her as yet another younger sister.
That was why it had come as such a shock to him the other week when he'd realized something was going on between Brody and Alex. Sure, when he'd first met them, they'd been together. But Brody and Morgan had seemed like the perfect couple. The idea that Brody could be betraying that made Toby's blood boil. He'd been avoiding them for a while now, unsure of how to proceed. At first, he tried to tell himself that he was just mad at Brody for betraying Morgan, but the truth was he was upset that - of all people - it was Alex. Alex, his other best friend who he could no longer deny that he was attracted to. She was funny, smart, outgoing, and gorgeous. But now he felt that maybe she was still hung up on Brody and he couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy.
No longer able to continue avoiding his two friends - especially since one was his neighbor, he'd texted them both and asked them to come over.
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Post by Brody Finn on Feb 19, 2016 1:56:14 GMT
After the awkward situation that Brody had found himself in the last time that he and Morgan attempted to spend time with his friends as a group, he had tried to briefly discuss what happened next with both his girlfriend and Alex. The conversation, however, had felt much too awkward and so he had changed the subject and pretending like there was nothing wrong. When Morgan had left to go back to the city he tried to tell himself that things weren't weird and that they were all adults who could move past the awkward feeling that had formed between everyone, but after several days of Toby blatantly ignoring them, Brody had to admit that perhaps things were worse than he had hoped. Texting Alex, he tried to figure out what she wanted to do or at the very least, what she thought the right thing to do was.
They had agreed to meet at his apartment after their last classes of the day just to discuss the details. It hadn't been a long conversation as even in the aftermath of his brief conversation with Morgan, it had been decided that honesty was truly going to be the best policy. Alex had frowned, not liking the idea that they had hurt their friend in some way and needed to fix it, but even more than that Brody knew that it bothered her that Toby thought that she was the other woman in this scenario.
Brody knocked on his best friend and neighbor's door, hearing Alex sigh heavily beside him. He wasn't sure that anyone was going to particularly enjoy this conversation.
"Hey," he greeted Toby when the door opened.
Alex tried to give him a soft smile, "Hi."
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Post by Toby Seaborn on Feb 19, 2016 2:09:12 GMT
Toby moved aside to let them in, murmuring a hello. When they finally stepped into his apartment, he closed the door and then shoved his hands into his pockets. "So, I wanted to talk to you both," he told them, obviously. "I wanted to talk to you because I obviously know that something is going on between the two of you. And I've been avoiding you because I haven't known how to feel about it."
Looking at Brody, he shook his head. "Maybe it's not my business, man. But we're all friends - Morgan's my friend, too. I'm not going to say anything to her, but I don't want to lie to her either - even by omission. I don't want to be a part of that." He turned his attention to Alex, his expression softening. "And I can't tell you what to do, but...you deserve better than whatever is going on between you guys."
"Regardless, I don't want to lie to anyone and I don't want to be a third wheel and I don't want to just stand by and watch something go down that I don't agree with. So I think...I'm not going to be hanging around anymore."
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Post by Brody Finn on Feb 19, 2016 2:33:53 GMT
Brody and Alex exchanged a quick look between them. The one thing that they had never discussed was the logistics how exactly they were going to explain to their friend everything that had been going on. It was a lot easier to say that a person was going to do something than it was to actually get the words out. There were a lot of ways to describe it, a lot of ways to try and justify what had happened, but none of them really seemed to make anything necessarily better. But Alex was currently of the mindset that saying anything was better than letting him go on believing that they were doing something behind Morgan's back. Part of her wished that Morgan had been there to help them explain but Brody had expressed his want to keep her out of it at the moment and she supposed she had to respect that too.
Brody sighed, shaking his head. "It's not what you think."
"I don't want you to think that you can't be friends with us anymore," Alex confessed. "And for whatever it's worth - Brody and I aren't back together and he's not cheating on Morgan or anything either. It's just ... well, it's kind of complicated. Do you remember how we all kind of got separated during our Christmas thing?"
She looked at Brody for a second, hoping that he was okay with the fact that she was just going to tell him now and get it over with.
"Well, Brody, Morgan and I ended up coming back to Brody's apartment that night. We were planning on just waiting for you guys to get back but we had all been drinking and ... insert cliche of one thing leading to another and ... we all slept together." She exhaled heavily, licking her lips and watching Toby for a second before she continued. "And then it happened again. And I don't know if it would have kept happening if I hadn't left my stupid bra on the couch or what, but... I don't know. It happened and I'm sorry that we kept it from you and I'm sorry that we hurt your feelings in any way."
Brody nodded, "I didn't know what to say to you, I just figured that it was easier to ignore it than it was to try and explain it."
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Post by Toby Seaborn on Feb 19, 2016 2:45:19 GMT
Toby waited for them to cut to the chase and explain what was going on. Of course, he never in a million years would have been prepared for their explanation. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel. He was pretty sure he shouldn't have suddenly been picturing Morgan and Alex together briefly. He knew it helped that they weren't cheating or fooling around behind Morgan's back. Though the fact remained that there was still something going on between them and he wondered, briefly, if it meant that Alex was still interested in Brody to some degree.
"Well, I'm glad that nothing is going on behind Morgan's back," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. He couldn't blame Brody either, if the opportunity had presented itself to him, he was pretty sure he wouldn't have passed it up. "But..." He wasn't sure how to articulate how he felt about it, so he settled for turning to Brody. "Sorry I assumed the worst," he said honestly, feeling a bit badly for believing Brody would have cheated on Morgan to begin with.
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Post by Brody Finn on Feb 19, 2016 2:57:55 GMT
Brody shook off his friend's apology, "I would have probably done the same if I was in your shoes." The truth was that he wasn't sure what he would have done if roles had been reversed. He was absolutely convinced that he would have assumed the worst as well, but he wasn't sure that he would have necessarily retained the ability to stay calm about it all. He had to give it to him for that at least. "I just hope that you know that I would never intentionally do anything to hurt Morgan. Or to do anything that would mess up all of our friendships."
Alex watched Toby carefully for a minute, trying to figure out exactly what he was thinking or feeling now. "There's nothing going on between any of us," she tried to clarify. "Well, with Brody and Morgan there obviously is, but that's it. It's not a thing. Like, we're not all in some weird polyamorous relationship and are planning on becoming Mormons and getting married or anything. It was just a ... two time thing. It's done now. It was stupid." She paused and frowned at him. "I'm sorry."
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Post by Toby Seaborn on Feb 22, 2016 23:16:00 GMT
Toby nodded at Brody. He was glad that his friend wasn't upset with him for assuming the worst. "Yeah, man. I know you're better than that - I just didn't know what to think at the time. Because I'll tell you never once did I think that what it was...well, you know."
He took a deep breath before turning his attention to Alex. "Al, you don't have to explain it to me. It's...even if it isn't done. I get it." Though he wasn't completely sure that he did. He understood Brody's perspective a bit more. As a young man with certain hormones, he couldn't say that he would have passed up the opportunity either. But the fact remained that, at one point, Alex and Brody had been involved. Toby would have been lying to say that he wasn't interested in Alex as more than a friend, but he'd steered clear under some unwritten but well-known provision of a bro-code out there that you didn't mess with your friend's old girl, no matter how brief the relationship had been. He knew that things had ended abruptly for Alex and Brody when Morgan had shown up in Ithaca and while she never showed it, Toby wondered whether or not there were still unresolved feelings on Alex's part. He spent most of the time thinking that there wasn't anything behind amiable friendship left between them, but he couldn't help but wonder if their recent physical interactions had been prompted by something more than just alcohol. "You guys could do whatever you want, as long as you're happy," he told her sincerely. "I'm just glad to finally get the facts sorted out."
Rubbing the back of his neck, he grinned at them. "Damn, you know that night I ended up here stuck in the middle of some weird attempt on Ellie's part to make Everett jealous because I thought you three were still out. Someone owes me a pizza or something," he joked.
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Post by Alex Morrison on Feb 23, 2016 2:40:32 GMT
Despite the fact that Toby said that she didn't have to explain, Alex felt like there still needed to be some sort of explanation of what happened. Alex wanted to say that none of it happened because there was anything between her and Brody, that the only reason why Brody had been involved was because he had been there. She knew that wasn't a good reason, and she particularly didn't want to tell Toby about that. Whether or not she cared to admit it, she appreciated his friendship a lot more than she had ever confessed to, and she liked him maybe more than she even realized.
"It is done," she emphasized. "Totally done."
Brody shook his head, smiling a bit at Alex's sudden need to convince Toby that it hadn't meant anything. He wondered if there was more there than either of them were letting on to but he figured that it wasn't his place to say. What he could do, however, was let Toby know that it truly hadn't meant anything.
"I will definitely buy you a pizza," Brody nodded. "And for what it's worth, I think we're all perfectly okay with going back to the way that things were before."
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Post by Toby Seaborn on Feb 23, 2016 3:08:28 GMT
Toby looked at Alex, nodding a bit and offering her a small smile. "Okay," he told her gently. "I believe you." He figured that, sooner or later, he was going to have to talk to Alex about how he felt, but he supposed that maybe they'd had enough talk about serious things from now on. When Brody agreed to the pizza, he grinned, "Well, if you want to get pizza, and we want to go back to the way things were, maybe we could order one and play some...Call of Duty?" he suggested with a soft chuckle.
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