Two of my very close friends had been rather happily going out for the past few months. I'm sure you are all familiar with that situation where, despite common sense and cynicism, you honestly believed that this high school relationship would actually last. My other friends and I thought that it would. Sure, we talked about "the split" every now and then, but it was always a hypothetical, formless doom, lurking somewhere just beyond the shadows, in the sense that Ragnarok had already been determined, although it had not yet happened. We were never sure what would happen; and we didn't want to lose either one of them.
And then yesterday, I was at the gym, feverishly trying to get back into shape after my school's three-week trip to France, when my friend Mark told me that our friends were going to split. I am still in a state of shock over this. The worst part is that the girl in question has not broken up with him yet, but she told Mark she was going to. So I was talking to my friend in question last night, and he was in high-spirits, and he had no idea what was going to happen. I felt so guilty knowing that he was going to be heart-broken in 24 hours, and I felt so weak knowing that there was nothing that I could do to help him. I feel even worse knowing that I already want to go out with her after they break up, and I feel awful knowing that. Even down the road, if I should ever be so lucky as to go out with her, I know that I will be letting him down. I don't want to feel like a rival with one of my closest friends.