Free Dissonance by Drew Elyse Page A

thought you two were close.”
    “We are, but I told you, this is how Alex and I met. I didn’t go to group therapy for fun.”
    At my words, I could see Alex freeze her prep work and glance up at me. She was shocked that I shared that piece of information. It wasn’t because it included such an intimate detail about her. Alex had always been very open about her past in therapy, even if she preferred not to talk about the issues that led her there. When she did talk about it though, she always left me and our connection out of it. My past, including my treatment, was a card I always played very close to the chest. The fact that I had already told Logan was frankly shocking.
    In the next moment, “1, 2, 3, 4” by the Plain White T’s came pouring from the kitchen. Alex picked up her phone and answered, “Hey, baby.” I grinned, wondering if Eli knew that his ringtone was such a cute song.
    Almost immediately, Alex’s phone was back on the counter again. “So, he apparently got more than we needed and he needs a hand,” he said to Logan. He rolled his eyes and headed out the door.
    Alex was on me as soon as it closed. “You told him about group?”
    “Just that it was how we met, not the topic of the group.” No, nothing good could come from telling my new roommate that Alex and I met in a support group for victims of abusive relationships.
    “Okay, mum’s the word.”
    As she finished speaking, the front door flew open again. Logan carried in a couple of grocery bags, followed by Eli carrying a box tied closed with twine. It was obviously a cake, and I was at once touched and a bit irritated.
    “You didn’t have to do that.”
    He placed the box on the counter and opened it up. Inside was a round cake decorated to roses in variant shades of purple and simple script that read, “Welcome Home, Charlotte.”
    Emotion welled up in my chest as I wrapped my arms around my big brother. He was right. Wherever we were together, wherever I had him and Alex with me, that was home. He pulled me into a bear hug that lifted me off my feet.
    “Thank you, Eli. I love you.”
    He planted a loud kiss on my temple. “I love you, too, Lottie.”
    Regardless of any discomfort I felt over the move or the still developing and confusing relationship with Logan, I was going to be better off in Seattle. My family was around me again. No matter what, I would have them by my side.

 
    We were quite a little group. After food and cake, we sat around for a long time just talking about this and that, joking and laughing, all of us at ease with each other.
    Eli and Charlotte were fighting through a story about an ex-girlfriend of his that had left a bad taste in Charlotte’s mouth. Apparently, she was so bad it justified planting the idea in the poor girl’s mind that Eli was having an affair with Alex.
    “It’s not like you can still be mad at me!” Charlotte laughed. “If I hadn’t done it, you two of you wouldn’t be together!”
    “I would have broken up with her before long anyway,” Eli countered.
    “Oh, really? You didn’t break up with her when she thought a mandolin was a fruit, or when she begged you to go see Lady Gaga with her,” Charlotte responded passionately.
    “Will you ever let that go?” Eli inquired. “She was dumb. I knew that. People make stupid choices.”
    “But you dated your stupid choice!”
    I jumped in, “You’ve never dated someone that you knew was a bad choice?”
    Eli was taking a drink, so he didn’t notice the momentary shift when Charlotte dropped her head and Alex looked at her, concerned. He missed the entire thing, but I had not. “Oh, she definitely has,” Eli plowed on.
    Charlotte sat up, and there was scarcely a sign of any sadness on her face as she scowled at him. I wondered how she managed that all the time. Was she that used to wearing a mask? “What are you talking about?”
    “Scott,” Eli retorted.
    “Scott?!” Alex half-shrieked.
    “Oh my God,” Charlotte