The Experience Buddy [Completed]

Chapter 11

Warning: Coarse language used (one sentence)

There were no more classes during the last week of the semester as the school prepares to close for the holidays. Consultations with the professors, however, are still available. By mid week, at least half the cohort have probably left campus to return home.

Davin has already left since Tuesday, Cheryl left on Wednesday, followed by Nat and Hugh on Friday morning and Toby was the last to leave on Friday evening.

"Don't kill each other while we're gone!" Were Hugh's last words of wisdom to Hero and I when we sent them off at the airport.

Ever since I hit the age where I could grasp the idea of dying, I have thought of hundreds of possibilities. But never have I ever thought of myself in a scenario where I could die from high blood pressure driven by a guy that I met in university.

Rewind back to last week. I was making my way to the library to check out some travel guides to get some references on places to go and things to do around Stanford so that I can plan an itinerary for winter break. En route to the library, I passed by the outdoor basketball court. Unlucky enough, the ball flew out of the court and hit my head.

I heard a group of people laughing and turned around, true enough, it was Hero and his basketball friends. Instead of an apology, Hero shouted from afar to pass the ball back to them.

"He wants the ball? I will return him the ball." I thought, boiling with rage on the inside.

When I got closer, Bryan asked if I was okay but his voice kind of got zoned out into the background as I was focused on one person. Holding onto the ball with both hands, I pulled it close to my chest and pushed out, like how I used to pass a netball back in high school. However, instead of a pass with the purpose of the other person catching it, I aimed for Hero's shin, causing him to utter a yelp.

"OHHHHHH." A couple of them sounded impressed while cracking up.

So anyway, back to the current situation. I waved goodbye to Nat and Hugh as they passed the departure gate. Hero watched them with his hands inside the pocket of his jeans. They are both headed for New York City but Nat is from Manhattan whereas Hugh is from Brooklyn.

Once they were both out of sight, Hero asked, "So who did you tell them you are spending winter break with?"

"My distant cousin." I answered without taking my eyes away from the departure gate. Starting to miss everyone already.

"Who happens to be visiting Palo Alto during this time." I added.

If I were to describe this new group of friends in terms of family dynamics, I would say Cheryl is like a father who raises his sons with tough love but is a fool for his daughter. Nat would be like the mother, being aware and taking care of everyone's needs. Hugh would be like the kind of older brother who teases and bullies his younger siblings but you know at the end of day, he will always have your back. On the other hand, Toby would be the quietest yet most resourceful child. Then you have Hero, the child going through his unending adolescent phase in life and is hardly home.

"Shall we leave? So that we can get back in time to say goodbye to Toby before his parents pick him up." I said.

"I'm way too good at goodbyes."

"Please do not ruin a Sam Smith song."

-----

"So what are we doing today?" Hero asked when I met up with him in front of my dormitory building on Saturday evening.

"We will check out the Dymaxion Chronofile." I answered.

"What is that?"

"An archive of Buckminster Fuller's existence. It's just over in the library."

"Library? Fuck no. Do that on your own. We're going somewhere else." Hero rolled his eyes. Then he walked round the front of his car and opened the door to the passenger's seat, urging for me to get in.

"Where are we going?" I asked after about 10 minutes on the road.

"Somewhere more fun than the library." Hero snorted. "Can't believe you thought of going to the school library, like as if that's a new experience."

"Well, I thought the archives might be interesting. It's like peeping at someone's diary. Isn't that exciting?"

"No. That's an invasion of privacy."

"Only if you don't have permission."

So before the debate could come to a conclusion, we have arrived at what seems to be a carnival. We were near the sea as I could smell the scent of the salted water and hear the sound when the waves crashed against the rocks. I had to pull my jacket tighter around myself whenever the cold wind blew.

The last time I went to a carnival was probably when I was around 4 or 5 years old with my parents.

"I'm impressed." I told Hero.

"With?" He raised an eyebrow.

"That you managed to find a carnival."

"Geez, I'll take that as a compliment."

So we are at the Seaport Winter Carnival in Redwood City. It's slightly different from the usual carnivals as there are ice sculptures all around, which of course, is only possible during winter. They have ice furniture as well, like benches made up of ice that you can actually sit on to enjoy your popcorn and candy floss. The decorative lights hung all around enhanced the Christmas festive mood.

If I knew we were coming to such a nice place, I would have brought my DSLR along. Since I am without it, I will have to settle with taking photos with my phone camera.

Igloo. Camera click.

Christmas tree. Camera click.

Sculptures. Camera click.

"Shall we take a photo together?" I beamed from ear to ear when I asked, feeling so excited and absorbed in the lively atmosphere.

"No." Hero answered.

"Problem." I smiled. We stood in front of the reindeer ice sculptures and a kind lady used my phone camera to take the photograph for us. I thanked her as she returned my phone and looked at the photo feeling pleased, completely overlooking Hero's stoic expression in the picture.

We exchanged for tokens and checked out the game booths. First, we decided to play Ring Toss. Hero tried first, then my turn. We managed to win two bottles of soda which we opened immediately and drank it while searching for the next game to play.

What started out as a friendly competition of basketball, ignited the competitiveness in both of us. Obviously, Hero had an advantage and won. But I won at the Water Gun booth. Then he won the Whac-A-Mole round. We even ran out of tokens and had to exchange for more.

"Loser shall grant the winner a wish." Hero suggested.

"Bring it on." I narrowed my eyes at him.

He shook his hands in order to loosen his wrists. Not sure why but he was rotating his ankles as well.

I cracked my knuckles as I closed my eyes and prayed in my head. "God of darts please bless me."

After what was like the most intense five minutes of my life...

"Hey loser, go win me that Flounder plushie." I grinned and burst into my most triumphant laughter.

While Hero was trying to win the soft toy at the Milk Bottle booth, I stood by the side to watch while enjoying my candy floss. At one point I got too engrossed in the candy floss that I kind of lost count on the number of rounds that hero has played. Nevertheless, what matters is that he won Ariel's fish friend in the end.