𝐓𝐎𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 ─ new kids on the block

𝒙𝒙𝒊𝒗.

JULY 2, 1990
→ T I N N I E

✦

A WHOLE WEEK had already passed, and just like that, it was time for July.

Donnie had fallen through a trap door in Saratoga Springs and was therefore unable to perform. He was doing okay, but according to doctors' orders, he needed to wait another week until he could perform again.

Meanwhile, Anaiyah and Danny had gone on two dates. Both of them had a nice time, but unfortunately, it didn't work out. "I wanted to try dating a guy because it had been a while... But I just didn't vibe with him like that. Don't get me wrong—Danny's a great sport, but I just didn't feel the same way as he did. I'm really just lusting after Stevie Nicks at the moment," were the exact words Anaiyah had told me and Emily.

I'm not going to lie, Danny was a little sad about him and Anaiyah's little 'thing' not working out, but he was always good at quickly getting back on his feet again. At least that's what the guys had told us.

✦

The guys and us were currently in Minnesota as they would be performing here in two days, thus meaning, they had two days off!

Because the weather was absolutely beautiful today, we all decided to go to the botanical gardens just because... Why not?

Since me and Emily had brought our film camera with us, we decided to film some things once we got there, just to capture some memories. Joey was constantly filming every little thing with his camera, so at this point, it was almost a competition.

But to tell you the truth on why we were going to go to the botanical gardens, we were all just really bored and came up with a very random way to decide what we were gonna do: we all had to close our eyes and then point at someone in the room. The majority of us pointed at Jon, and therefore, he had to pick what we would do today. He wanted to go to the botanical gardens, so that's what we ended up doing.

✦

Me and Joey were holding hands and walking towards the botanical gardens, when all of a sudden, I saw something that made my throat close up and caused my heart to beat faster than it ever had. I squeezed Joey's hand really tightly and my walking slowed down. All of that happened in just a second.

I saw Jacob.

He was skateboarding across the street from us and my eyes were glued to him. I just couldn't believe I was seeing him—I hadn't seen or heard about that asshole ever since he transferred schools at the beginning of the fall term.

Joey then noticed that I was looking at something. He turned his head in the same direction as me and saw a teenage boy skating. He let go of my hand, and looked at me. "Is that him?" he questioned me with a worried look painted across his beautiful face. Somehow, he understood immediately that it was Jacob.

I was still quite shocked about what I had just witnessed, so I couldn't get any words out. I just nodded.

He could tell I was not doing very good in that moment, so as the sweetheart he was, he put his arm around me and held me close to him as we started walking again.

"You okay? Because we can go back to the hotel if you're not doing good, you know," Joey said to me.

"No, I'm fine. Just a little shocked, I guess," I told him honestly.