The Childhood Friends Drift

Nina and Tara have been best friends since elementary school. But lately their group texts have gone quiet. Neither of them seems to know exactly why.

尼娜和塔拉从小学起就是最好的朋友。可是最近，她们的群聊安静了下来。她们两个似乎都不确切知道是为什么。

It isn't one big fight. It's smaller than that. Tara joined the school's robotics club in September. Nina spends most afternoons now at swim practice. Their schedules stopped overlapping first, and their conversations followed soon after.

这不是一场大吵。比那要小得多。塔拉九月加入了学校的机器人社团。尼娜现在大部分下午都泡在游泳训练里。她们的时间表先是不再重合，随后，她们的聊天也很快少了下来。

At lunch on Thursday, Nina sits with Tara like always. But the silence between them feels different than it used to. Tara is scrolling through photos from a robotics competition, laughing at something on her screen. She doesn't think to show Nina until Nina asks.

星期四的午饭时间，尼娜像往常一样坐在塔拉旁边。可是她们之间的沉默，感觉和从前不一样了。塔拉正在翻看一场机器人比赛的照片，对着屏幕上的什么东西笑着。她没有想到给尼娜看，直到尼娜开口问。

"You didn't even tell me you won," Nina says, trying not to sound hurt.

“你都没告诉我你赢了。”尼娜说，努力不让自己听起来受了伤。

"I posted it," Tara says, a little defensive. "I figured you saw it."

“我发了动态啊，”塔拉说，语气有点防备，“我以为你看到了。”

"I don't really check your posts anymore. I don't think you check mine either."

“我现在真的不怎么看你的动态了。我想你也不看我的。”

Tara opens her mouth to argue, then stops, because she realizes Nina is right. She hasn't looked at Nina's swim times in weeks, even though she used to know every single one.

塔拉张嘴想争辩，却又停住了，因为她意识到尼娜说得没错。她已经好几个星期没有看过尼娜的游泳成绩了，虽然以前她连每一个成绩都记得。

They sit there for a moment, both uncomfortable, both unsure how to say what's actually happening.

她们就这么坐了一会儿，两个人都不自在，也都不知道该怎么说出真正发生的事。

"I think we're just… doing different things now," Tara finally says. "And I didn't know how to bring that up without it sounding wrong."

“我觉得我们只是……现在做着不同的事情了，”塔拉终于说，“而我不知道怎么提起这件事才不显得奇怪。”

"I've been thinking the same thing," Nina admits. "I miss how it used to be. But I also don't want to fake being interested in something just to have something to talk about."

“我也一直在这么想，”尼娜承认，“我想念从前的样子。可我也不想为了有话可聊，就假装对某件事感兴趣。”

"Me neither," Tara says. "But I don't want us to just quietly stop being friends because our schedules changed."

“我也是，”塔拉说，“但是我不想我们只是因为时间表变了，就悄悄地不再是朋友。”

Nina considers this. "What if we picked one thing? Like, Saturday mornings, no phones, we just catch up properly instead of texting when we remember to."

尼娜想了想。“要不我们定下一件事？比如，星期六早上，不看手机，我们好好聊聊近况，而不是想起来才发条消息。”

Tara smiles, relieved that someone finally said it out loud. "Saturday mornings. I can actually explain robotics to you if you promise to pretend it's interesting."

塔拉笑了，松了一口气，终于有人把这话大声说出来了。“星期六早上。我真的可以给你讲讲机器人，只要你答应假装它很有意思。”

"No promises," Nina says, "but I'll bring coffee."

“我不保证，”尼娜说，“不过我会带咖啡来。”

They don't fix everything that afternoon. Their group texts probably won't go back to how they were in sixth grade. But for the first time in weeks, they've made a real plan instead of letting the silence continue.

那天下午，她们并没有把所有的事都解决。她们的群聊恐怕也不会回到六年级时的样子。但是几个星期以来的第一次，她们定下了一个真正的计划，而不是任由沉默继续下去。