Vivid Memories

Chapter 5

Dante, Penny and I blossomed our friendship on that day and I would talk to Dante, who wouldn't really reply often, but at least he's hanging out with people. I don't know much about his past and every time I tried to ask him about it, he seemed to ignore it or avoid the question. Man, it was going to be hard for him to open up.

In the meanwhile, I noticed Cait wasn't showing up - well she was meeting with us from time to time, but it wasn't like the first few weeks where she was always around. Maybe she found new friends or something. I miss her though.

As for me, I have been going to a few events with the Martial Arts clubs. Mainly going to watch games or just going out to have fun by drinking or something. Some people have parties and all that shit. Getting drunk at those parties are always a blast since someone always gets hurt but never me. I'm the tipsy one who just watches the shit go down. It never gets old.

Penny finally introduced her boyfriend Tyler to us. I mean, he was a handsome six-foot-three man who was twenty and was majoring in law. If he took a science subject and not an essay-based one, he would have been more attractive. Dante seemed like he would be good friends with Tyler since apparently Tyler was also such a huge gamer like he was (Dante didn't expose that information to us; Tyler asked if he was a gamer and he said yes and the bromance began).

Despite the formation of the bromance and him making friends with us, I wanted him to make more friends, besides us that is. People need companionship, for both social reasons and mental reasons. We were, after all, hardwired for company.

"Have you ever thought of... maybe making friends on your own Dante?" I asked him at lunch. Caitlyn was nowhere to be seen and Penny was off with her boyfriend in the mall during their break.

"Not really," He replied and continued to eat his food.

"What made you so jaded that you don't want friends?" I asked nonchalantly, looking at him while I was eating.

He stopped eating and placed his spoon down. There was a look in his eye which told me his story wasn't such a great one.

"I had a few friends. I keep in contact with six of them, but what I had back then in England... it was nothing more than a lie to me," He sighed and shook his head. "Friends... Whatever... The six I keep into contact with... only one actually replies..."

"You know, I think you were just too lonely, even back then, so you trusted people too easily," I smiled and finished eating all of the food I had. "But, I think you need to take it easy. I feel as if you can tell whether someone would be a good friend or not based on what they do."

"I... I don't understand,"

"Well, life is about giving and taking," I answered, using my spoon as a pointer. "If someone is constantly taking from you without giving you as much as you have given them, then they're probably not a good friend. Likewise, if you take more than you give, then you're a bad friend. And not just that. If someone is always nice to you and kind and etc. then you know they're a good friend. You can make jokes with them and just enjoy being around them. There's no pressure of trying to be someone who you're not. If you make a mistake, they can scold you, sure, but then they can forgive you. It's small things like that show you how genuine the friendship is. Yeah, sure, I might be oversimplifying it, but that's how I could tell if you have a true friend or not."

Dante sat there. I think he was absorbing what I said, but he remained silent for a few seconds before sighing. Maybe I got through to him or maybe he just thought I was stupid. I couldn't tell from his facial expression.

"To be able to understand what a good friend must be," He chuckled, but it felt as if he was mocking me. "You have must have been one hell of a good friend."

"I mean... I wasn't a good friend at one point," I sighed and moved my tray away before resting my head on the table. "But what I did was wrong and she forgave me. She was a better friend than I could ever be and so, I'm trying to be like her."

"You should honestly use your efforts on someone who actually needs it,"

"You actually need it," I sighed and yawned. "Make some more friends Dante. If you do, then I guess you won't need my help anymore. I'm trying to help you, man. You can't live your life without human interaction."

"Make friends huh..." He chuckled and shook his head. "Jesus Christ, you're funny aren't you?"

"I'm not trying to be funny," I shot a glare at him and looked away. "I'm being serious."

"Everyone has their own friendship groups now," He sighed and finished his food. "And besides, I'm not the most popular person, nor the most amiable."

"Well, just try. Who knows? Maybe you'll surprise yourself," I smiled and leaned forward to pat his back. "But what I do know is you'll never know until you try."

Dante sniggered before standing up.

"If it'll shut you up, I'll do it," He sighed and placed his tray away.

"If you're in biochemistry, just say you're not an ecologist and you'll be okay,"

"Do you have something against ecologists?"

"No, but the biochem group chat I'm on always makes fun of ecologists," I laughed slightly and shook my head. "Take my advice and you'll be okay."

"Whatever you say, princess,"