I'm looking in on the good life

 "You aren't too angry with me, are you?" Roxanne asked Nonnie. "I mean, I do consider you a friend." She brought mugs of coffee to the coffee table where Nonnie was already petting the kitten. "I mean, you are so much better than my friend from PA. I always had to be the listener and when she did want advice, she never listened." 

Roxanne sipped her black coffee. "As I get older, I think I should have done more to nurture those friendships. I mean, even the few I've met in college I lost contact with them during the pandemic. I tried. I would text, that kind of thing." Rox ruffled her fingers through her hair. "Maybe I'm just a lost cause, anyway." She laughed softly.

Nonnie finally reached for her coffee. "It's hard. I know." She nodded. "I dunno, most of my life I have had to listen to friends tell me how I needed to dress. It's like they always knew what I needed but then again, they never really knew me, either." She drank the milked coffee while the kitten was still on her lap. "It's hard being a good friend when you've got nothing to give."

"I don't really want anything, but a good chat, you know." Rox looked at her with a laugh. "And someone who'll take a cat when I need them too." Now Nonnie laughed.

"I guess..well," Nonnie looked at Rox as if she was about to hurt her feelings. "I don't know what you see in Pan?" 

He was out with Ari. They were doing something to his old car. It needed an oil change and lord knows what else.

"He's not that bad," Roxanne smiled. "I always thought he was cool." She smiled impishly. "And well..we were only going to be friends. He was in this heavy-duty relationship with someone he'd known since middle school. I was finally going out with some guy from the debate team who was always challenging me to some argument. Really, it was intense and exhausting. Then Pan's girlfriend got with somebody who was in the military and he was so down. We just hung out. Of course, my boyfriend at the time was just being a pest and he made me feel I wasn't enough." She shook her head. "Pan's my best friend. And he's got a couple of bad habits, but then he's never had anyone to be that concerned, either. We're both learning. I think this will be a good year even if the world is falling apart."

Roxanne went to get more coffee. She was glad to have someone who wanted to listen to her without yelling at her.