Match

40: Singe

Dakota and Cole walk along the gravel chatting to each other, while Jonah and Lily sit at the table. Jonah takes a large gulp of cola, while Lily gnaws down on her ice cream. He feels a relieving smile crease his face, watching as Cole appears calm talking away to his close friend.

"So, how did you two meet?" He asks Lily.

"Me and Dako?" Lily lowers a spoonful of ice cream from her lips. Her eyes also follow the other two. "Believe it or not, Cole helped us hook up."

"Really?" His eyes widen.

"Yup," Lily giggles, "I was friends with someone in a separate friend group when we were in high school. Cole told me they started to like me in sophomore, but they were too nervous to ask me out on a date. Not to mention, they were still closeted at the time, and so was I."

"Ahh."

"Yup," she takes another gulp of her ice cream, twirling the spoon in her grip. "They helped me, embrace my pansexuality, as did they. We kinda clicked like, mm, maybe after the second date? I'm so glad Cole helped me meet them. Now, gosh time flies, we've been dating for four years."

Jonah nods. Under his vulnerable shell, Cole has a soft, caring side to him, that he only seems to unveil with those he trusts.

"What about you?"

He almost spits out his cola. "Huh?"

Lily giggles again. "You're a new friend of Cole's, yeah?"

"Oh, uh," he clears his throat, "yeah. Met him properly at soccer practice."

"Properly?"

Jonah chuckles. "Yeah. I did take a class with him in uni, but we um, never talked."

"Ah, gotcha. Cole's not super chatty," she shakes her head. "His head tends to be in la-la land when you're talking."

"Yeah, that I've noticed."

Shortly after, Dakota and Cole walk back to the table.

"How's the ice cream?" Dakota sits down beside Lily.

Lily grabs a wad in the spoon and holds it to their lips. "Try it!"

Without haste, they take a bite, smacking the roof of their mouth a couple times after swallowing. "Mmm, it's really fruity!"

Cole taps Jonah by the shoulder to get his attention. "Sorry, but it's getting late, and I have work in the morning."

"Oh?" He glances at his phone screen reading 10:01pm. "Shit, you're right! I have work in the morning, too!"

Dakota frowns. "Aw, you guys going?"

Jonah stands up, fumbling for his car keys in his other pocket. He nods. "Yeah. Work is calling us."

Before they take their leave, Dakota stands up, lifting their legs over the table's seat to walk up to them. Their frown morphs into a warm smile.

"It was nice seeing you again. Jonah...?" Jonah nods. "Yeah! And Cole," they lift up their arms, their wrists dangling in charm bracelets. "It was fun hanging out again. Come visit us someday?"

Cole smiles. "Sure."

He pulls Dakota into a warm hug. His height makes him stand a whole head taller than them easily. Dakota breaks the hug, then begins randomly hugging the other two.

"Hug! Everyone gets a hug!"

They do another quick embrace with Cole, then turn to Lily. "We should go, too. We have a flight at five in the morning."

"Mhm," Lily slings both Dakota's and her bag over her shoulder. "It was great to see you again, Cole. And nice meeting you Jonah."

They break apart with a solemn wave. Jonah pulls out his keys, then taps Cole, who's still waving.

"Let's go."

They both trot to the small lot. What once was crowded is now practically empty with only a few cars left in the parking spaces. Suddenly, he feels a tap on his shoulder. He looks around and is met with a wave.

"Yo, Jone!" Ben says.

"Ben? What are you doing here?"

"I'm with my family," he says it in a disappointed manner.

Peering behind him a fair distance away are his parents, older sister and younger brother. His brother is the most obvious to spot, as he's trying his best to not fit into the mold like a jigsaw puzzle. Jonah smirks.

"I'm guessing you got forced to tag along?"

Ben looks around, then nods. "Yeah."

Cole stands a good distance, observing the two chat together. The sky gradually darkening makes him feel like a cat waiting in deep brush. He shoves his hands in his pockets and waits for Jonah to finish talking to his friend. As he waits, his wandering eyes catch a bundle of what appear to be sticks scattered around the front of Jonah's car.

"Anyway," Ben says. "I'll catch up with you when I'm not with my fam."

"Yeah, cool. See ya dude."

Ben gives Jonah's shoulder a firm pat, before turning and meeting up with his family.

"Sorry about that," Jonah says, flipping through his keys to find the one that unlocks the car.

As he walks closer, he almost bumps into Cole, now squatting beside the car. Jonah raises an eyebrow.

"What're you doing?"

"Look." Cole stands up, handing Jonah something.

Perplexed, he tries to examine what was handed to him under the dim sky. He takes out his phone and turns on the light. A match. This one appears to be used.

"Was someone setting off fireworks in the lot?"

Cole's unsure if he meant that as another joke, so he just shrugs.

"I think there's more," he points to the car's front bumper, "but it's hard to see."

"Really?"

Jonah bends down, shining the light on the ground. Sitting by his car's front left tire are a bundle of charred match sticks. He ponders, rewinding in his mind to try and remember if those were there before he parked.

"Weird..." he stands back up, clutching the match handed to him by Cole. "Oh well."

He unlocks the car and slides in, while Cole does the same on the passenger side. Cole notices him still holding onto the burnt match.

"You're keeping it?"

Jonah shrugs. "What can I say. I'm a match collector now."

Cole blinks, confused as to why he'd keep that one if that were the case. Regardless, he concludes he's overthinking and lets it slide. He can't really argue with it anyway, as he used to collect beach glass on his trips to Vancouver Island when he was little.