Same Time

seventeen.

j a i m e e

+

I got out of the Uber, staring at the clear sky above me. It didn't make sense. Everything in my life was crashing down, the pain is constant. I expected dark skies, or rain at least. Something somewhat similar to the agony I feel inside of me, drowning me like ocean tides. After two weeks of me leaving Shayden voicemails, missed calls and texts, he'd replied with one word. The location where we spent most of our High School days.

Entering the High School grounds, it almost became surreal that I'd never walked into the place before without Shayden by my side. Memories overwhelm me as I walk through the dormant corridors, passing the detention room that we both spent most of our time in. My eyes slowly but surely catch the S.N and J.M that we engraved onto the door frame on our last day as Seniors. Everyone always speaks about High School as if it was the worst thing ever, but I adored my time here more than anything. They were the best days of my life, and I wouldn't trade any of it for the world.

I head to the soccer pitch, my steps laden as I walk over the grass to the small wooden hut on the opposite side. Shayden and I had spent pretty much every lunchtime or free period in the hut, unless the rain was too awful to venture in. It almost seemed like a completely different lifetime. Maybe it was. We should've known, deep down, that our happiness would be short lived. We went through a lot together but we still stayed happy. It hurts to think of how much we have changed, individually and as a couple. It's times like these that I wish I was just having a nightmare. Maybe I'll wake up and we'll still be in High School, nothing would've happened and he wouldn't have existed.

We'd probably skip Gym and spend another lesson just sitting in the Hut, hiding from the scary gym teacher who despised our punctuality almost as much as she despised students.

The seating area is still there, the chipped paint littered with lost dreams and old reminders.

Our names are carved into the metal too, our obsession with leaving our mark on the world around us painfully obvious. As well as announcing that we were always together. If you wanted to deal with one of us, you'd have to deal with the other too.

That's when I spot him. His elbows rest on his knees, his head in his hands shooting up once he hears my footsteps.

We sit in silent for a few minutes, the only sounds being our breathing.

"Do you remember that day in Sophomore Year?" Shayden starts off quietly, eyes glued onto the concrete. "When we hid in here from that Junior?"

My lips tug up at the reminder. This was our spot, our safe haven. So many secrets and little imperfections about ourselves were shared here.

"He hated you." I say, laughing slightly. The run from the Cafeteria to the Hut was the most I've ever ran in my life, it almost made me start going to Gym class just to get fit again.

Almost being the keyword.

"Us." Shayden looks up now, a soft grin playing on his lips. "He hated us."

Of course he did, it was Shayden and I or nothing at all.

The only reply Shay receives is a gust of wind outside, the rumble echoing within the small frame.

My fingers run unconsciously over our names, sketching out the letter with the utmost precision and delicacy, as if the metal would break under too much pressure.

No one knew about this place. That's what made it so special. Not Taylor or Libbie. Not him.

This was the one place in this whole goddamned school that I was sure Cameron Mason never touched.