Mediation Station

Alexithymiaa: -Zack pulled his rental car into the driveway of the house, putting it into park and kind of begrudgingly climbing out. Making his way up to the front door, he lifted his hand to knock before glancing behind him, not seeing Steph's car in the driveway and getting an instant ball of panic in his stomach.-
Covet: Felix was inside waiting, hoping that Steph was going to get there first because he really didn't want to have that awkward conversation with Zack. He'd been looking out the window, and had seen Zack pull up, then groaned. Anticipating the knock on the door and then not hearing it, he furrowed his brow and opened the door. "Zack... you made it, great. Steph should be here soon." He said standing in the doorway.
Alexithymiaa: -He turned when Felix opened the door, sort of just awkwardly standing on the porch since Felix wasnt exactly welcoming him into the house. "Oh... she's not home yet... okay...." He let the silence fall between them before awkwardly gesturing toward the house. "Can I come in?"-
Covet: Felix looked at him, then nodded his head, "Of course it'd be rude of me to leave you out here in the cold, and I'm not that kind of person." He said stepping aside to let Zack in the house. "Can I get you anything while we wait?"
Alexithymiaa: -Zack stepped forward into the house, waalking casually over toward the kitchen island to linger there. "Oh, sure. A beer, if you have?" He asked, being painfully polite. Watching Ozzy walk casually over to rub up on his leg, he broke the silence again. "Look, I know you don't like me and I don't really like you, but I don't think a mediated conversation is really going to change anything. I'm doing this because Steph is a good friend and this is what she wants so... I'm willing to be civil and agreeable if you are."-
Covet: "Yeah, sure but it's light beer, because it's Steph's" He said as he reached into the fridge to pull one out for him. He grabbed a bottle of apple juice out of the fridge for himself. and set it down on the island and then looked at him. "My only current issue with you at this point is the way you forced yourself onto Steph the last time you were in town. I could honestly care less about the rest of the bullshit between us at this point." Felix told him flatly, then opened up his juice to take a drink.
Alexithymiaa: -He reached out to take the beer from him, kind of eyeing the label because light beer before taking a sip. "Forced myself on Steph? I didn't do that. I would never do that." // Steph pulled her loud ass car into the driveway, panicking when she saw the extra car already there. She practically bolted out of the car, running across the driveway in her platform shoes like an asshole to race to the front door, essentially throwing it open. "I'm here! I'm sorry! Somethings going on in Central and I hit a shit ton of traffic."-
Covet: "Not in a hashtag me too kind of way, you were just over compensating because of the engagement announcement.. it's okay... I get it. But it really made her uncomfortable, I could see it from where I was at. She shoved you off a couple of times, and that's why I came over to save her." Felix said to him, then looked at the door when Steph came in, "Hey Red, glad you made it home safe. No need to apologize."
Alexithymiaa: "I didn't even realize..." He trailed off, a little down on himself since Felix said he made her uncomfortable and it wasn't part of them yelling at each other. He turned to look at Steph on her way in, sending her a smile. "Yeah, I saw that. It took me a while to get through too." He leaned down to give her a half hug, being mindful of Felix's words. // "Everything okay?" She asked the two, walking over and leaning up to hug Zack before walking around to the other side of the counter to squeeze Felix. "Were you guys talking?"-
Covet: "Yeah, but just about the weather and stuff. Traffic, small talk." Felix said giving her a smile, takign another drink as he watched Zack give her an awkward hug. "So, important conversation?" He asid.
Alexithymiaa: "Yeah, just casual. We were waiting for you to get home." Zack said and shifted to sit down on one of the barstools. "Yeah, you take the lead. This is your thing." // Steph smiled, pleased that they seemed to be getting along at least for the time being. "Oh good, okay. So..." She gave Felix aa little push so he would be standing across from Zack. "First a few ground rules. No yelling, no talking over anyone else or interrupting. Use phrases like, I feel, or I think, instead of being accusatory. Okay?" She asked, looking between them both like this was some sort of couples therapy. Shes been to too much therapy. "Okay Felix, why don't you start? Why do you think there's been an ongoing issue between the two of you?"-
Covet: "Um, okay..." Felix said feeling a little put on the spot. " I really don't have any issues with you at this point. Not that I haven't already made him aware of." He said because that was a safe way to cover what he'd already told Zack before Steph even got there. Which is funny because she's making it into a big thing and they pretty much had it situated in few sentences.
Alexithymiaa: (That was my plan. Women are dramatic and men are like "We good?")
Alexithymiaa: "Yeah... I mean... I think we kind of established an issue and cleared it up." He said with a casual shrug, taking a sip of his beer. // Steph dropped her shoulders, a little defeated that she felt kind of behind. "What? When was this? You guys were practically at each other's throats last time everyone was here."-
Covet: "Before you got here?" Felix said raising an eyebrow, then gave a shrug as well. "I mean.. I'm not the guy's biggest fan or anything, but we're going to be civil."
Alexithymiaa: "Yeah. You were stuck in traffic." Zack smirked, not looking directly into her face because he knew she was going to glare at him for that comment. // "I thought you said it was just small talk..." She narrowed her eyes on Felix and then Zack, letting out a huff. "So you have no problems with him either?" She asked, directing her attention to Zack.-
Covet: "Exactly." Felix said amused now too. "It was, we got what we needed to say out in a few sentences." He took another drink from his juice.
Alexithymiaa: -Zack looked over at Felix, not exactly keen on sharing the full truth of what was floating in his brain. "I think it's just better that we talked, we laid some of our cards on the table, and we've agreed to get along for your benefit from here on out." // She pouted, clearly not believing that this was the end of their spat because women hold grudges forever. "There's no way that all of your problems just magically disappeared in five minutes." She reached her hand out, poking Zack in the arm. "What aren't you saying?"-
Covet: "I mean, I put all my cards on the table. Might as well show the rest of your hand dude." Felix said, a little curious himself now.
Alexithymiaa: -Zack took a deep breath, looking at Steph and then Felix because he THOUGHT Felix was going to be on his side about this and not continuing this conversation and then HE WASNT. Taking a long drink of his beer to finish it off, he swallowed hard, exhaling deeply yet again before opening his mouth to speak. "We've been friends a long time and I've always had feelings for you. I thought we'd had an instant connection from the start, but you'd just started dating Ash and as soon as you weren't dating anymore, yous started dating. I guess it just seems like I was never given the opportunity to see where that road could've went. And now you're engaged so it's just hard not to be a little bitter about it." // Steph stood there awkwardly as she listened to Zack talk, not exactly feeling bad, but bad for him. "We went out on that date once..."-
Covet: Felix just stayed quiet, because this was nothing new to him, because it's not like the guy wasn't completely transparent or anything.
Alexithymiaa: "You mean the date that I paid for, while you were dating? That he ended up crashing?" He asked with a raise of his brows, trying to prove his point here that that date was bullshit. "Look I'm not expecting anything. I know nothing is going to change and I don't want it to because you're happy together and that's great, but that doesn't mean that whole other side just goes away." // She reached her hand out to put it on Zack's shoulder, staring into his face. "Thank you for being honest. You're a good friend." She leaned in to give him a more genuine hug than they'd exchanged before and then turned to look at Felix. "Is there anything you wanted to say?"-
Covet: "No, not really. Nothing that's productive to this conversation, but that's just the ADD." Felix said with a shrug. "I guess, Thanks for accepting this as a thing that's happening. I know your approval means a lot to Steph." He said doing his best to sound mature and not smug about that statement.
Alexithymiaa: -Zack stood up from his stool, nodding to Felix. "As long as we leave the asshole comments to Jack, I think everything is going to be fine. I should be getting back to the hotel though." He turned, starting for the door. // She smiled when Felix said something sort of nice, turning back to Zack. "I appreciate that you came out here to settle this. It really does mean a lot to me. Are you okay driving back?" She asked even though it was one fucking light beer, bitch.-
Covet: Felix nodded, "I'll try my best, but the occasional one may slip out, because I kind of suck like that sometimes." He said at least being honest. "We can give you a ride if you need." He offered because drunk driving is never okay man.
Alexithymiaa: "I'm okay, I only had one." He said as he stopped at the door to pull it open. "Thank you for having me. You have a good night, and we'll see you at the release party next month." He said to her before stepping out. // Steph moved forward to close the door behind him, flipping the locks and engaging the alarm before sighing with relief. "You know I want to know what you guys talked about when you so rudely didn't wait for me."-
Covet: "It's not important. Everything worked out right?" Felix said as he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist with a smile. "It's just dude shit."
Alexithymiaa: "Must have been important if everything worked out." She lifted her arms to drape over his shoulders, staring up at him. "But I want to know."-
Covet: "And there's nothing to tell you. He asked if we could be civil and I said yeah, and that was that." Felix told her as he picked her up taking her towards the bedroom.
Alexithymiaa: -She smiled, accepting this answer. "'I'm glad. I wish I could make things better for you like you do for me." She said, thinking back on her earlier conversation with Rochelle as she clung to him for the journey to the center of the earth.-
Covet: "You do plenty, Red. I promise." He told her as he kicked the door close behind her, to have happy winners sex because he's a fuckin winner bitches.