I Was the Fifth Friend, Until They Made Me Nothing Chapter 01

I Was the Fifth Friend, Until They Made Me Nothing Chapter 01

On the eve of graduation, the custom puzzle my brother had ordered for our group of five finally arrived.

Ethan called Miles, my childhood friend, Ryan, my boyfriend, and Sabrina over so we could open it together.

Once we’d finished the puzzle, Sabrina pointed at the four lifelike figures in the picture. She covered her mouth in exaggerated surprise and gave me a timid look.

“Oh. Why are there only four of us? Did the shop mess up and forget to include Evie…?”

The living room went silent.

Ethan froze for a second, then scratched his head casually.

“The draft was based on that beach photo from last month. You were off to the side tying your shoe, Evie, so you weren’t in the picture. The seller just drew the four people they saw.”

Ryan patted my shoulder, gently trying to smooth things over.

“It’s fine. It’s only a puzzle. Evie’s never cared about sentimental stuff like this anyway, right?”

I stared at the tightly interlocking puzzle. There wasn’t even space for a fifth person. Inside, I felt nothing.

Right. I didn’t care.

I didn’t care that whenever we went to an escape room, the four of them piled into the car and drove off without me.

I didn’t care that every group-chat conversation died the second I joined in.

I didn’t care that on group trips, they gave the only room with a window to Sabrina and left me in the basement.

If their world had already locked perfectly into place around four people, then it was time for the extra piece to quietly disappear.

…

“Evie, you’re not upset, are you?”

Sabrina tilted her head at me. Her fingers still rested on the edge of the puzzle, one fingertip covering the hem of the dress she wore in the picture.

I shook my head.

“No.”

Sabrina let out a relieved breath and turned to smile at Ryan.

It was a faint smile, as though it meant nothing, but her eyes lingered on him half a second too long.

Ryan didn’t look at her. He lowered his head, straightened the puzzle’s edges, and pushed it to the center of the coffee table.

“Which wall should we put it on?” Ethan asked.

“The living room,” Sabrina said. She rose onto her toes and gestured. “Right above the couch, where everyone can see it the second they walk in.”

Ethan glanced at me.

“What do you think, Evie?”

“Whatever you guys want.”

“Living room it is.”

He answered quickly, as though asking me had only been a formality.

Miles came out of the kitchen carrying four iced coffees and handed them out one by one.

Sabrina. Ethan. Ryan.

He lifted the fourth to his own mouth, took a sip, and sat down.

Four coffees.

I didn’t wait, and I didn’t ask.

This had happened too many times before.

The first was sophomore year, during a pizza night on campus. Miles ordered four lemonades and said he’d forgotten mine.

The second time was New Year’s Eve. He bought four sparklers. There wasn’t an extra one.

Then came the third time, the fourth, the fifth.

Eventually, I learned to bring my own water.

“Evie, aren’t you thirsty?” Ryan finally noticed that my hands were empty.

“No.”

“I’ll get you some water.”

He got up, walked to the water dispenser, and handed me half a cup of lukewarm water.

Half a cup.

The iced coffee he’d brought Sabrina had been filled to the top.

I took it, had a sip, and said nothing.

Sabrina suddenly leaned over and caught my wrist, her voice dripping with affection.

“Don’t be upset, Evie. Next time we take a picture, I’ll remind you to get in it.”

“I’m not upset.”

“Good.” She squeezed my hand. “I knew you’d understand. You always do.”

Understand.

The month before, I’d ordered Ethan’s birthday cake a week in advance and spent hours making his favorite barbecue ribs.

That afternoon, the four of them changed their plans at the last minute and went to the waterfront seafood restaurant Sabrina recommended.

I stood in the kitchen holding the ribs when Ethan’s text arrived. “Evie, Sabrina got us a table. Eat without us. We’ll bring you something back.”

Bring me something back.

They never did.

“Evie.”

Ryan’s voice pulled me back.

“Yeah?”

“Did you find that dress for Saturday’s showcase?”

“I did.”

“What color is it?”

“Navy.”

Sabrina cut in. “Isn’t navy a little dark? The lighting at the showcase won’t be very bright. It might not photograph well.”

She scrolled through her phone, found a picture, and held it out to Ryan.

“Ryan, look. Wouldn’t a soft champagne color be much more flattering?”

Ryan glanced at it.

“It looks nice.”

“Then I’ll wear champagne and Evie can wear navy. One light, one dark. It’ll look perfect when we take pictures together.”

She was already planning our group photo.

Assuming no one left me behind tying my shoe again.

“Oh, right.” Sabrina pulled up another screenshot. “The seating chart is out. I’m next to Ryan, and Evie’s in the third row.”

I looked at Ryan.

He didn’t react.

“Why are you two sitting together?”

“Sabrina helped the event committee rearrange the seats,” Ethan answered. “She wanted to sit with us. Your row isn’t far away.”

The third row.

The four of them were in the first row. I was in the third.

Not far.

Ethan always thought it wasn’t far.

Just like he thought there was nothing wrong with giving me the basement room. Just like he thought leaving in a locked car without me meant they’d simply forgotten to wait. Just like he thought every conversation went silent because I never knew when to speak.

“Ethan, can one of you switch with me?”

“Switch what?”

“Seats. I want to sit in the first row.”

Ethan looked awkwardly at Sabrina.

Sabrina immediately said, “Evie, it took forever to get the event coordinator to arrange it this way. If we ask her to change it again, she’s going to be annoyed.”

“It’s fine. Forget it.”

I smiled.

Ryan patted my knee.

“It’s only two rows. It won’t make a difference.”

No difference.

We had been together for three years, and to him, everything made no difference.

Sabrina took a photo of the puzzle and posted it in the group chat.

The chat was called “Five Points.”

Five points.

Was a five-pointed star still a star when one point was missing?

Ethan liked the picture immediately.

Miles sent an applauding GIF.

Ryan reposted Sabrina’s photo with the caption: “Graduation memory. Locked in.”

I opened the picture and zoomed in.

Four people stood on the California coast, smiling brightly against blue sky and white surf.

The composition was perfect. There was no empty space.

I had been six feet away, crouching to tie my shoe.

It wasn’t that I hadn’t made it into the picture.

No one had waited for me.

My phone vibrated with an email.

It was from the Zurich design studio where I’d interviewed three months earlier.

I opened it.

“Dear Ms. Parker, We are pleased to inform you…”

An offer.

I stared at the screen for a long time.

Across the living room, Sabrina was showing Ethan how to frame the puzzle, Miles was handing her the tools, and Ryan was scrolling through his phone on the couch.

No one noticed what I was reading.

I marked the email as read and locked my screen.

“Ryan, take me back to campus after Saturday’s showcase.”

“Sure. What time?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll tell you then.”

He nodded, his attention already drifting back to his phone.

Sabrina’s picture of the puzzle filled his screen. He was typing a reply.

I finished the half cup of lukewarm water and set it on the corner of the coffee table.

It sat in the puzzle’s shadow, where no one could see it.

Just like me.