Friends (part 2)

I was never wholly aware of exactly what triggered this incident. I did eventually puzzle out that it was something to do with her boyfriend, something he had either said or done. Or both; I suppose that seems likely enough. Like her depression, M's boyfriend was something that J and I were aware of mostly on the periphery. Of all the times the three of us hung out, I can remember only once when he was also around, and, if I remember correctly, that was mostly in passing - he was coming over as J and I were heading out, and there was a few minutes' worth of overlap, or something like that. In short, neither of us knew him well. The only thing I really knew is that he had a particular way of walking; I'd call it a strut, except he walked that way all the time. J and I would imitate it occasionally, an act that never failed to draw shrieks of laughter from M. I'm not adverse to busting it out on a rare occasion even now, all these years later. At any rate, something about their relationship had set M off, and that brought about this particular episode.