Private Dealing with Gin Blossoms

It seemed his assumption about those names was right. Maybe more right than he would've liked. Carmin wasn't sure what to make of it. Though he could at least tell why he was hesitant to get involved in another relationship.

Carmin sat down , crossing his legs. "It sounds like you've been on quite the ride. I guess I see why you think the way you do about this person. You've got a good reason to be afraid" If three out of three tries were flops, then Carmin couldn't honestly blame him for assuming the fourth would be similar. It was just the expected outcome based on the previous ones.

Carmin had to think for a moment. He wasn't really in a position where he could say much. He was quite guilty of hiding his emotions himself. So instead he came up with a story. He was good with stories, he spent most of his time reading them.

"Um, I've got a story for you. It's called the um... lover's chalice." Not a great name, but he'd have to roll with it. "Right, so this couple had to prove that they truly cared for one another to a witch after they had picked flowers from her garden to give to one another. She told them they had to finish this cup of poisoned water and then they'd be free to go, but that they wouldn't pass the challenge unless they really cared for each other. Before the couple could discuss what to do, one of them took the cup and drank it so quickly that the other couldn't stop them. And they died from the poison. They figured that by doing that, they could save the other. But the other one didn't want to live without them and so the other one asked for another chalice of poison and drank it to join them in death."

Carmin sighed. "The thing was, the first person was selfish. They thought that by absorbing all the pain they could spare the other. But the other person loved them and felt a horrible pain anyway by watching them get hurt. The real solution was to share the poison. It was only strong enough to kill one person."

Some jerk writing mean things? Wait... Carmin seemed to fall into a trance for a moment while Gabe rocked on the floor. The person? Was it Yuki? They had recently become friends, Carmin knew that much, but they liked each other?

"Uhm, Gabe... It's going to be alright."

It's going to be alright? What a lie. What was he even saying. Nothing was ever alright. That was just something he'd heard before that gave him false comfort.

"Well, it might not be alright. I don't think I'm really one to say. Things like to go wrong and they probably will. But if you suck it up and keep moving forward then jerks can be caught and messes can get cleaned up. It's when you do nothing that the jerks get away and the messes never disappear..."

Carmin sighed as Gabe's head ended up in a bin. Why couldn't he have just listened and drank the water.

The flower boy grabbed the water bottle and brought it over to Gabe once again. "When you're done, drink this. For real this time."

"Yeah... It's probably going to take a lot of work. And it might go bad or it might go well. But either way, if you put your all in then you can live the rest of your life without that horrible feeling that you should've done something differently..."

A good friend? A good person? Carmin wasn't so sure about that. He came here because he wanted to feel important, not because he cared about Gabe. He even let him spill the secret that Carmin was now positive he wasn't supposed to hear. Even before this, Gabe had helped him out with his leaf problem and he'd repaid him by not trusting him and putting suspicions towards him into Yuki's head.

When you're told you're a good person and it only makes you feel guilty? That meant you weren't one, right?

Carmin wiped his eyes discretely then turned to Gabe. "Thanks, but you don't need to do that. Oh, um, and I know it's probably going to be hard for you, whatever you need to do to make things work out for you and your friend. But if you want any help, I'm here."

Perhaps he was being too honest, he just wasn't any good at sugar coating things. When things got sugarcoated, people worried less for the time being, but later when the reality of the situation would be discovered... well that part would end up a lot harder if someone wasn't prepared for it.

"Right. I won't tell anyone." Even Yuki. Keeping secrets from friends wasn't exactly a foreign subject for him. This probably wasn't going to be any different. Probably.

After that, Carmin just kept on a concerned face and watched Gabe get lost in thought. He waited for what was definitely too long before finally the guy seemed to snap out of it.

"What should you do?..." With regards to what? Carmin wasn't too sure what he was talking about, but suspected it had something to do with whatever Gabe was thinking about when he zoned out. And to make matters worse, it looked like Gabe was going to cry again.

"Well for starters you can tell me where you keep the water tap. Then we can refill that." Carmin pointed to the empty bottle.

If he found out, their friendship would be over? Somehow Carmin doubted that.

When told where the tap was, Carmin nodded and took the bottle, listening to what else Gabe had to say. And after he'd finished, Carmin kinda froze, thinking over the questions.

He wasn't sure how he was supposed to answer those. How do you tell someone something that could ruin everything? He just wouldn't tell them, and that probably wasn't the right answer to that. How do you settle your emotions? He had basically attempted to shut them off, another bad answer to that. And then how do you stop setting yourself up to be hurt? He couldn't feel anything, that was impossible for him.

"I, uhm, uhm..." His eyes flickered around a little before he finally gave in. "I... don't know." He looked kinda defeated as he made his way over to the tap and refilled the bottle. When he came back, he handed it to Gabe again. "I'm sorry. I don't have all the answers. I don't know anything about this kind of thing." He sighed. "I can't tell you what'll happen, but if you can tell whoever it is that they are this important to you and that you're this afraid of losing them, then they would probably feel good about it. That's what everyone wants, right? To be loved and feel important... So if you make them feel that way then it shouldn't go wrong."