Saturday, September 2, 2023
1:34 PM
Canadian National Exhibition - Food Court
(Damian's POV)
"So what you were trying to say yesterday is that you wanna get everyone back together?" Claire asked, taking a bite out of her rather comically large pretzel.
"That's pretty much the gist of it. I've been ignoring the feeling for a while now, and I guess I finally came to terms with it." Damian replied, setting his pop aside.
"So, how long have you been thinking about all this? About the others?" Jin asked in return, taking a sip of his bubble tea.
"I've been thinking about them on and off for a while, but I came to terms with my feelings about the Group on Monday. It's funny, when I got back home after work on that day, I accidentally bumped into one of my shelves, which led to my memento box falling, exposing me to a bunch of stuff from the past."
"Wait, "Memento Box" as in, a place where you store souvenirs and memorabilia?" Claire eagerly asked back.
"Well yeah, if you mean souvenirs and memorabilia specifically related to our old friend group."
"Huh. I call those 'Warm Fuzzies Boxes'. Cause they... you know." Claire said with a hint of hesitation.
"I... don't know." Jin honestly replied.
"Oh, uh, it means the stuff in the box makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. They're like, cherished memories, you know?" Claire explained.
"Ah, got it. So it is like a memento."
"That's... why I called my box that." Damian sighed.
"Well, yeah. I just wanted to see if the name checked out, that's all."
Ever since Damian had his stunning revelation of realizing that he wants to get back with his old friend group, he's been strategizing the most optimal way they can hang out after experiencing total radio silence for the last two years of high school.
His plan so far was to text the group chat to see if they're still active, then, if that goes through, he'd propose they all drop by his café to catch up with each other over coffee. And if they aren't vibing with that, then he'd suggest one of the parks they've hung out at before, the park close to Christie Station being one that stuck with him.
He also thought it was a good idea to run the idea with the two people from the old friend group he still talked with; Claire and Jin. The thing is, Damian fat-fingered a work-in-progress text to both of them, and judging from how familiar they both were with his plan, he could only assume they had enough time to view the message.
"So, since you guys basically saw my message yesterday, how do really feel about getting everyone back together again?" Damian asked the two.
And there it was, the dealbreaker. The very thing that's been on his mind ever since Monday, was now finally off his chest. At least, of course, to those two. Telling this to everyone else was a completely different problem.
"Well, yesterday we talked about that for a while. We were actually close to the café when you texted us." Claire answered, scrunching the wrapper of her now-finished pretzel into her palm.
YOU ARE READING
Gap Year
Teen Fiction"Why did we ever stop talking?" Sometimes, College Application doesn't go your way. Maybe your dream school didn't accept you, or the program you were applying to was full of applicants. That is now the case for Damian Walker and his friend group, o...
