JUST A LITTLE COMFORT

C H A P T E R F I F T E E N

Cole was spring cleaning his room one Sunday morning. He took stuff that was stored deep behind the back of his cupboards. I think he didn't want to find anything of Ariel's somewhere down the line that she might have left behind when she used to stay over at his apartment. He just had all these boxes lying around .He found a box of some of his childhood stuff. It was some of his biological mom's toys that Anna-Marie kept and gave to him. It was a little teddy-bear, a Yo-yo, a plastic flute, a calligraphy pen, some playing cards and some other stuff but Amir grabbed that Teddy bear and didn't want to let go.

"Amir, give it back." I scolded.

"Sydney, it's fine." Cole said.

"No, it was your mum's. It's sentimental!" I said.

"It was lying in a box for over twenty years, at least a child is playing with it." He said, "Just maybe wash it first. Don't put that near your face Amir." He said looking at it, a little concerned.

 I laughed. I just eyed Amir. I knew that I was going to confiscate it once he napped. Then he opened another box and tried to remember what it was, then saw my name on a book.

"Oh yeah, Sydney..." He said.

"What?"

"Your stuff... you left in such a rush, and we thought we'd see you again... sooner than this, so I put all the random stuff you left behind in a box." He said.

I went over and I gasped, "Oh my gosh. My yellow scarf... my purple wrapped notebook... my fluffy pen...".I was so annoyed because this book had my password in it. If I had it with me in India, I'd be able to have logged onto my emails and talk to them. I loved this yellow scarf too. He smiled at me because I was so excited to be reunited with my old stuff.

"While we are on the train of finding old stuff, I wanted to let you know, I found an interesting book on your bookshelf called, "Hidden Gems"." I said.

His eyes went wide when he realised what I was talking about and he looked at me like he wanted to laugh, "Okay, firstly, I wasn't being weird. I just didn't have the heart to throw that stuff away." He said.

"I thought as much, Mr. sentimental. I didn't think it was creepy, but I just wanted to see your reaction when I mentioned that I found it." I said. I was referring to a fake book, that was actually a storage box, and it blended in with all his other books. I opened it to find all the sticky notes I used to write for them when I made them extra lunches or stored their dinner away all those years ago. He collected most of them and kept them in the fake book.

"Plus, it was like a work of art, you'd doodle flowers and little people on them, so it would be criminal to just toss it in the trash." He said.

"Well, it was very cute. Took me a while to process what I was looking at when I found it but it was nice to see it. It brought back some memories, and it was good to know someone actually ate the food." I said and he laughed.

"Yes, seeing a prepackaged frozen meal next to a home-cooked meal made with love with 'cottage pie' written with such penmanship signed off with a little teddy bear doodle... It wasn't a tough choice." he said and I laughed.

 I used to just write it out in calligraphy and draw something for fun just to pass some time while I ate my breakfast. I didn't ever realise that anyone would have taken note of it. He was truly something special. We kept spring cleaning and finding things then wasting time talking about those things, so it was a long afternoon with a lot of laughter and silliness. 

Cole went back to work on Monday. I went with him for support and also dropped Amir off. He was welcomed back with open arms and lots of supportive words. Everyone felt really sorry for him, so he felt better knowing that people weren't mocking him and if they were, it was behind his back. They also missed him a lot. People hugged him and one of the Baristas over at the coffee shop came over to him and gave him coffee and breakfast on the house. I was glad he was surrounded by all these supportive, loving people.