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 Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 8:28 pm
Ian sat at his computer, tapping his fingers lightly on his keyboard keys as he read over the email on his screen, wanting to be sure he really wanted to send it.
It was around the time of his adoption anniversary, which was something he usually celebrated, but quietly. It was a good excuse to grab a friend for lunch or a snack out, even if the topic of his being adopted never actually came up. A lot of people assumed he really was his father's blood son, and this made Ian all the more appreciative of how fortunate he had really been.
And he was plenty glad for his friends, too, which was why he liked to drag them along with him for food or smoothies or even just a walk if the weather was nice. He had invited his friend Zachary last year to go with him but ... well, things had gone a bit sour between them and they had never really followed through with the get-together. Zachary's expulsion had been sudden and unfortunate, and while Ian really did not believe his former mentee to be the monster that some folks had made him out to be, the worries and awkwardness with an elephant like expulsion on sexual harassment charges in the room with them had rather driven the two of them apart. To say the least.
There really had not been an actual fight, but they had stopped talking. This was actually the first time since last year that Ian had even tried to get in touch with Zachary. He was not at all sure the other boy would respond, let alone favorably.
But thank god he could send an email and not have to ask him face-to-face, at least.
Ian closed his eyes and hit send.Quote: Hey, Zachary, It's been a while. Do you want to hang out sometime? I was thinking of going out to Curry Spectrum for lunch this weekend. Would you be up for joining me? Let me know, Ian
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Posted: Mon May 03, 2010 12:38 pm
Zachary wasn't a big computer kind of guy: he had a facebook, but it would get lucky if it got used once a week. His personal philosophy was that most of the people he cared about he saw on a daily basis, and that anyone else would just screw you over in the end. Sometimes he'd write on the home desktop, but all in all he preferred his journal, so the only time he ever managed to get online was for homework, and even that was iffy.
It was lucky for Ian that Zachary had chosen today to do his weekly email check. He flopped into the family computer chair, pulling up his inbox with a yawn, looking to delete all the accumulated spam and pointless motivational messages from his teachers. However, the newest message didn't fall into either category, and Zachary noted with surprise that it was someone's personal address, a familiar personal address at that. He opened it quickly, scanning the words twice before processing their meaning.
It was hard to describe what had happened to Ian and Zachary in the final days of the last school year: he wouldn't have called it a 'falling out', per se, but there came a point where they just didn't talk anymore. It had been related to his expulsion, for sure, but he still wasn't at a point where he wanted to think about it. All in all, Ian had been a friend, and he hadn't done anything to make himself not a friend (Zachary was the last person to begrudge a lack of communication). And so, with hesitant, slow typing, he sent out a reply.
Quote: Hey Ian, What time? I'll be there. - Zachary
Zachary checked over the message once, then hit sent. If nothing else, he could think of it as an opportunity to patrol a different side of town.
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Posted: Thu May 06, 2010 3:29 pm
Ian went to check the weather for the next couple days and poke at the news headlines like he tended to do when he did not want to get off the computer just yet, but also did not want to risk getting sucked up in internet chess or some other game. An extensive article on the volcano in Iceland held his attention for a good ten or fifteen minutes anyway, though, and he was just about to then lose himself looking a few things up on Wikipedia when an email reply popped up.
A grin spread across the boy's face as he saw it was from Zachary, though his stomach was still a little fluttery-nervous as he worried how his old friend would handle seeing him again after so long. The reply was a positive one, he tried to reassure himself, but still. It had been a while. Circumstances had been awkward. What if they had grown apart? How was Zachary managing at Hillworth?
Well, lunch time was the time Ian had been planning to head out to get some curry. If his friend ended up not showing up, he could always just eat there himself. He had done it before.Quote: Want to meet at 12:30 on Saturday, right out front? They still have that rainbow bench out front, at least as of last month. We can wait around there. Ian
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Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 10:20 am
They called it 'addictinggames.com' for a reason: Zachary had started his computer fully intending on writing his analysis on Faulkner, but had let his resolve slip for a moment, and then here he was, occupied with a good old game of Bloons. He was stuck somewhere in the thirty-something levels and was about ready to go google the solution for the particularly frustrating trial when he heard a familiar chime that indicated a new message in his inbox. Zachary sighed, then minimized the screen with the balloon-popping monkey on it. He figured that if he gave himself a moment away from the game, his mind would clear and the solution would come to him. It worked all the time in movies, after all.
Noting that it was Ian again, he quickly opened the email, reading over it a few times to memorize the time. Saturday would be good--he could wake up early and get some morning patrolling in (did Senshi even creep around in the mornings? Maybe that's why he was missing them), and then have lunch with a old friend just past noon. All in all, it actually sounded like a good plan. Here he was, making plans. Zachary smiled--it was progress, he supposed.
Quote: 12:30 on Saturday sounds good. See you there. - Zachary
Zachary ended up sitting on the rainbow bench a little earlier than expected--after about two hours of running around the area with not so much as a sparkle in sight, he had to accept the fact that the senshi only seemed to be around when you didn't want them there, and since he couldn't summon any crazy-looking monsters by willpower alone (he'd tried two times, just for good measure), he had nothing else to do but wait.
He probably looked pretty gay, he thought, sitting on a multi-colored bench in his athletic shorts and a t-shirt, nursing the last third of his water bottle as he watched the people go by. In fact, he was sure one of the Hillworth guys would call him out on it, if they saw him, but then again, Zachary didn't know of anyone from Hillworth who liked to eat at the Curry Spectrum anyways. Admittedly, the restaurant name sounded pretty gay, too.
Zachary checked his watch, noting that it was still only 12:15. He had time to run around the block again, just to check things out if he wanted, but somehow he guessed that he wouldn't be getting any results. Besides, with the temperature climbing, he'd be working up a sweat by the time he got back, and that didn't seem all that polite, to show up to lunch looking like he'd just gotten out of practice. Granted, if it had been one of the guys on the team, no one would have cared, but this was Ian, and Zachary wanted to make a good first impression. Or re-impression, he guessed. Either way, he didn't want to ******** this up. He needed a good friend or two right now.
So, opting out of the jog around the block, Zachary scooted over to the shaded part of the bench, keeping his gaze steady. It was too early to assume Ian had bailed on him, so Zachary didn't assume. He just sat there quietly and waited, every so often checking his watch for the time.
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Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 9:21 pm
Though he preferred not to wear shorts when he could help it (and his school uniform had only lessened his love for them), Ian felt like wearing a pair of light khaki cargo shorts today since it promised to be warm that afternoon. Ian had a dark purple t-shirt on, as well, with a caffeine molecule printed on it in white, figuring it best not to dress up too much. Something about dressing up, especially for this restaurant, seemed like it would only make things more awkward.
Ian was standing on the stairs right by the door when the bus pulled up to the stop right at Curry Spectrum at 12:17, having already paid his fare. As soon as the door was open, he stepped down to the sidewalk, and waved to Zachary.
And the bench was, indeed, still there. Ian thought the piece of furniture ... distinctive and a bit childish, but the red-haired boy reminded himself that the food was more than good enough for the price.
Ian's old friend was recognizable enough even after they had essentially not seen each other for a year. Ian himself had been through a few different hair ribbons in that time, and the khaki shorts were a new pair, but he knew he looked about the same as he always had. Although their past outings for study time were usually immediately after school, so they came dressed in their school uniforms....
"Hey, sorry, I hope you weren't waiting long," he offered in greeting, feeling a little bad even though they were together nearly fifteen minutes before they had planned to be there. As he approached the bench, Ian reached out with one hand in a bro-fist, hoping that his old friend would return the bump and not leave him hanging. Either way, if the other boy wanted a hand up out of the multi-colored bench, Ian was ready to offer that, as well.
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Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 12:14 pm
Zachary had been so intent on watching the people as they went by that admittedly he allowed the bus's arrival to slip his notice. It was only when he realized that he was being addressed that he looked up and acknowledged the other boy with a stoic nod and a soft fist-bump. "It's no problem, man--I just finished up my jog anyways. How've you been?"
He pulled himself up to his full height, then motioned for the door, pausing to let Ian go first. It was something different and strange to see Ian outside of an academic environment, but Zachary couldn't help but be grateful for the fact that he didn't happen to see any history textbooks in tow. Nevertheless, even he could sense the stiffness to the conversation, if only on his end, and he began to suspect that this hadn't been such a good idea after all. Sure, Ian and Zachary had been friends, but that had been a year ago: what were they going to have in common, what would they talk about? It wasn't like Ian was going to particularly enjoy a one-on-one skirmish in the park, and it wasn't like Zachary was going to remotely enjoy losing at chess. Again.
He shook the thoughts out of his head, determined not to get negative just yet. He had to give this meeting a chance: after all, his parents had said it would be good to get out and reconnect with people. He just had to give it a chance.
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Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 9:52 pm
... Ian was still short, too, that much had also remained the same.
And there had been no way that the red-haired boy would have brought any schoolwork whatsoever to this reunion. He had grown to think of himself as Zachary's friend back in the day, and not just a tutor, and how rude would it have seemed to bring a textbook or something with him. In fact, as Ian thought about it, he would avoid mentioning schoolwork unless the other boy brought it up first, since, well, school in general was sort of a difficult topic.
If nothing else, one that should wait until they had a bit of food in their stomachs.
"Ah, I keep meaning to get out and exercise more," he said in reply to the other boy's mention of jogging, and laughed a little. "I guess walking counts. The weather has been too nice not to, at least."
He was just reaching for the door as a pair of kids burst out of the restaurant, followed by their parents; Ian staggered back a step to avoid getting beaned by the door, then took it from the apologetic adults and gestured for Zachary to head on inside first.
If not school, though, he was also unsure of what to talk about after all this time. Maybe he could just settle on the present, all those little superficial topics for when it was most polite to talk about something, but not talk about something. Perhaps it would lead somewhere, perhaps not, but it could at least let Ian attempt gauge how Zachary was doing, and how he felt about this reunion.
"Did you jog all the way here?"
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Posted: Sun Jun 06, 2010 9:28 am
"Nah," replied the boy as he waited for the group to leave, "I took the bus to the shopping center a couple blocks down and jogged from there." There was no point in mentioning that he'd gone around several of the blocks in the vain hope that there'd been senshi out and about. He opened the door, pausing at the refreshing woosh of air-conditioning that went his way, then entered the restaurant, holding the door open so that the other boy could follow.
It was just about time for the lunchtime rush, and while the place wasn't entirely packed, it certainly had a good number of patrons. Zachary picked up a menu from the front table and picked a place to sit towards the back of the place, a small table with two chairs that looked like it had just recently been cleaned. Sitting down, he opened up the menu for a quick glance before he realized that he wasn't all that big a fan of curry in the first place. Probably should have thought of that, Zach.
Slowly, he put the menu down, thinking of something to say to fill the time before the waitress came for their drinks. What to talk about with Ian..."So, how's the chess club coming?" Zachary had never gotten the hang of strategizing over little wooden pieces, but even he had to respect the level of intellegence that went into it. It was sorta like a lacrosse game, he remembered, but you got to kill the other players, and most importantly, it was something familiar for Ian to talk about. Maybe then at least one of them would be in their comfort zone.
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