Point of View: Virgil, First Person
Timeline: Present Day, One Month into Virgil and Patton's Relationship

"Hey."

 I looked up from my place on the couch next to Patton to see Roman standing awkwardly a couple feet away.  Roman yanked on the sleeves of his gold jacket, yanking them over his hands.  He ran a hand through his hair and blinked at the both of us sheepishly, hesitant.

Patton looked like he had been surprised into silence - his jaw literally dropping at the fact that Roman was talking to us.

"Hey," I returned cautiously.

"May I?" Roman asked, gesturing to the open space on the other side of the couch, next to Patton.  Patton nodded quickly, grabbing the remote and pausing the movie.

I raised an eyebrow as Roman sat down.  "I'm surprised - I kinda thought that you were avoiding us," I mused aloud, curiously watching Prince's face for his reaction.

Roman just shook his head.  "No, I've just been working a lot.  Uh, actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about," he said nervously.

Patton frowned.  "Is everything okay?"

Roman nodded distractedly. "I..." Roman trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck - sighing loudly.

"Ro, are you okay?" I asked, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's okay," Prince shook his head, taking a deep breath.  "I... I got a call a couple weeks ago - someone called the theater looking for me... they wanted to invite me to audition for the lead in a movie."

"Ro, that's amazing," I encouraged.  

Prince has been doing a lot of acting recently (almost to a unhealthy extent, he's spent a couple nights at the theater rather than coming home) and he seemed to be coming back to himself, unlike that day two weeks or so ago.  The way Prince was so... so cold to the both of us still made me a little worried about him, but I'm glad that he seemed to actually be doing better.  Plus this is huge opportunity for him, I wonder why he wanted to talk to us about it...

"I sent a self-tape and I, uh, I got a callback.  So, they flew me out of LA.  That's why I was so weird to you guys a couple weeks ago, that was the night that I was supposed to fly out," Roman confessed sheepishly.  "I didn't want to say anything, just in case nothing came of it, but I finally heard back and... I got the part."

"That's amazing!" Patton cheered.  "Congratulations!"

"Thanks Pat," Roman flushed sheepishly.  "There's just... one thing," Roman winced.

"What?" I finally asked, breaking the tense silence.

Roman shifted in his seat, avoiding eye-contact with both Patton and myself.  "I'm moving to LA."

...

"What?" Patton sounded so heartbroken, I couldn't bring myself to look at him.  "What do you mean?"

"Look, I've already made up my mind," Roman raised his hands in surrender.  "I'm sorry that I have to go, but this... this is a huge opportunity for me.  I have to take it.  And that means that I am going to need to move to LA - I can't keep taking flights from Florida to LA every week, and continue paying rent here.  It just doesn't make any sense."

"Well - Well then we'll go to LA with you!" Patton declared, but Roman just laughed.

"I appreciate that, I really do," Roman wrapped his arms around Patton, giving him a tight hug before pulling back to continue.  "But you guys have a life here," Roman waved his hands at the apartment.  "You guys are supposed to be here, your jobs and everything is here.  There's no real reason for you guys to come with me," Roman acknowledged.

"We can get jobs anywhere," Patton argued.

"But this is home, you guys are happy here," Roman countered.  "And... I'm not anymore.  It's time for me to move on.  If I want real opportunities to achieve my dreams, I have to go.  And it's not like we have to stop being friends - we can always keep in contact through social media, calling, texting," Roman pointed out.

Patton pouted.  "But I can't hug you through a cell phone."

Roman laughed, hugging Patton once again.  "No, no I'm afraid not."

Silence bounced between the three friends.

I broke the silence once again, standing up and hugging Roman myself.  "Take good care of yourself, will you?" I murmured into Prince's shoulder.

Roman hugged back tightly, hugging just the smallest bit tighter in a wordlessly agreement.

Loud sniffles came from the left and the both of us stopped hugging to see Patton crying.

"Hey, hey," Roman sat next to Patton, wiping away some his tears even as his own started to water.  "Don't cry, this is a good thing."

"Sorry," Patton sniffled.  "I - This is such a great opportunity for you and you should absolutely take it but... but I just can't help feeling like our friend group is just falling apart..."

Neither of us could argue with that.

"When do you leave?" I asked instead, wrapping my arms around Patton.

Prince sighed.   "On Sunday.  Just enough time to get all my stuff together."

Patton nodded, wiping away his tears, hugging Prince once more.  "Well then we should have a celebration!  This is a big deal!" Patton forced, his smile faltering a little but it was genuine.

Roman laughed.  "As much as I'd appreciate it, I think I'd rather just order some pizza and have a movie night... if you guys don't mind me joining you? I know that I've been kinda a jerk to you guys for the past couple of weeks..." Roman trailed off, looking between Patton and me hesitantly.

Patton answered for the both of us.  "It's all in the past, Prince.  Now I'll go order some pizza!" He cheered, running to the fridge to grab the menu to the nearest pizza place.

"So," I said while waiting for Patton to come back.  "LA."

Roman sighed, eyes dropping to the floor.  "Yup."

I nudged Roman's shoulder.  "They'll be lucky to have you."

To my surprise, Roman blushed.  "Thanks.  I don't know who I'm working with, but I'm really excited.  Excited to get out of this little city, excited to move onto bigger and better things," Roman got lost in thought, his eyes staring dreamily at the ceiling.

I shoved Roman off the couch where he landed with a yelp on the carpet.  "Good luck finding a big enough stage for that ego of yours," I teased.

Roman rolled his eyes, resigning himself to laying on the floor.  "I'm gonna miss you, Vee."

I sighed.  "I'm gonna miss you too, Ro."

__________

"Patton, I'm going to miss my flight if you don't let go soon."

Patton sniffled - crying again - and finally let Prince go.  "You promise to come back soon?" Patton asked.

"I don't even know how I'll manage being away from you guys for so long," Roman smiled, giving his friend one last hug.

"Call us once you land so that we know you made it there safe," I said, digging my hands into my pockets.

"Oh no, I don't know the next time that I'll see you - you are giving me a hug," Roman protested grabbing my arms and forcing me to give him a hug.  I smirked, amused, but hugged him back.

"See ya later, Princey."

"Love you too, Emo Nightmare."

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