Steven and Laura
Well I'm going to post about Steven and Laura.
Steven is my mate in Spain and Laura is his friend - not to be confused with my wife who doesnt live in Spain at all :-)
Anyway, Steven is dating this girl called Rachel. When we visited them in the summer we got the general impression that Rachel is not all that great for Steven but you can never convince someone that someone isnt any good for them - they have to find out for themselves.
So a little while ago Steven broke up with Rachel. Rachel's brother found out and broke into Steven and Laura's apartment and tried to kill Steven. Steven valiantly locked himself in the bathroom and Rachel's brother had a go at Laura, Naomi and some others. He also broke Naomi's finger.
Now things get a little confusing after this because I dont speak to Steven all that much whereas I talk to Laura and Naomi a couple of times a week. I only mention this because I have really only heard it from their side and not Steven's and I dont want it to seem like I am biased.
Anyway, the way Laura and Naomi tell it, Laura was not happy living in the apartment anymore. She was scared that Rachel's brother would come back. She tried to speak to Steven about this but he wasnt interested in moving out and in fact was trying to get back together with Rachel.
Laura decided to move back to England (she is English) and had a huge argument with Steven. She moved in with Naomi but due to a possible job oppertunity in Spain did not leave for England as soon as she had told Steven she would.
Steven found out and accused Naomi and Laura of hiding Laura from him and it all really kicked off.
They havent really spoken at all for weeks now and although Laura still wants to be friends with Steven she doesnt want to be taken advantage of by him or seem to be giving in and so they are at a bit of a stalemate. Neither wants to be the first one to say sorry because it will make them seem like the loser of this whole thing.
I spoke to Steven last night just to hear his side of things and he summed it up quite simply by saying "Laura has left him in the shit - she has moved out and owes him a considerable amount of money. Also because he cannot now pay the rent he has to find somewhere else to live." I asked him why he doesnt just go to Laura and try to work things out and he says that until the practical things are straight between them (ie money and the flat) then he doesnt want to get started on their friendship problems because it will just complicate things.
It seems to me that he is oversimplifying matters.
Like I say, I have really only heard one side of this argument and I dont want to judge but it seems like Steven should be making a bit more effort to keep this friend of his and he doesnt really seem to care.
It is possible that Laura is exaggerating and it is possible that Steven is right to want to sort out the practicalities before sorting out their friendship and with me sat here in another country I'm not really in a position to understand the situation fully but its really hard not to take Laura's side in this.
Who knows whether they will make up. They were the best of friends - so much so that their friendship has always got in the way of me spending quality time with Steven - and it seems stupid to throw it all away but sat here there is really nothing I can do.
Just thought I'd let you know ;-)
ttfn
