*buzz buzz*

(Phone ringing)

“Urghh who is calling me this early”

“Hello who’s this?”

(The person who’s calling) “Hey Shane were you sleeping??? Do you know what time it is?!?

“ Huh? What do you mean it’s still 5am......(looking at the alarm) Aaaaaa I’m late!!!” I said while I rushed to get ready.

(Person calling him) “Hey dude relax! It’s a weekend”

“Ohhh phew”

“Ohh why did you call me anyways cole?”I asked.

“Ohh you didn’t know? We are having a college reunion this Friday!” Said cole.

“A college reunion? Is it the one I went the first time or my recent college?” I asked.

I went to two colleges in my life. One was in my hometown B town. The other in the city. I changed my college because my dream was to study in the city and get a decent job. Luckily I was smart enough to graduate and get my dream job. Although it ‘was’ my dream job I don’t feel happy with it. Also there was another reason why I changed my college. It was because of my past. I’m a little sad about it so I don’t talk about it with anyone. Cole doesn’t know about my past life either.After hearing cole say there was a college reunion I felt a little scared that it would be my old college. I met cole at my job. He also went to the same college in B town and the city college! I didn’t really know him back then but he said that he knew me so well just from seeing me from afar. Don’t get the wrong idea we’re just friends. After meeting him at my job, we started to hang out more. We became best friends since then.

“Urghh” I signed. “So are we talking about the city college or......”I paused.

“Ohh it’s the B city college reunion!! Dude we have to go together!” He said excitedly.

Suddenly I felt my heart heavy. I somewhat felt a little scared and a little happy at the same time. If I were to go to the reunion will ‘he’be there.

“Hey you there helloooooo” cole shouted through the phone.

“I’m here. Also don’t we have work this Friday???” I said suddenly.

“Ohhh don’t worry about that. I took a vacation for you and me both! I didn’t wanna go alone to the reunion after all....haha” He laughed nervously.

There was a thing that bugged me after he said that to me. I felt weird around him these days after one incident I encountered. We were getting drinks with the company staffs and well.... I wasn’t a very heavy drinker. I goy so drunk Cole took me home. I don’t know what happened that time abut sonce then, he started acting weird. I try to ignore it because he was my best friend .

“ oh ok” I replied. “I’ll get my clothes packed. Let’s talk about this when we meet.” I said as I was going to the kitchen.

‘Yawn’ “hmm are we there yet?”I asked .

“Nope . We have 4km more to go\~\~” said Cole.

Here I am on my way to my hometown. While I was looking through the car window, I started to see familiar places. I didn’t come here after I dropped out of that college. It’s been 3 years since then. As I looked at the familiar places, my mind was full of the memories I had in those places. I first saw the playground field where I used to play when I was six. It was the first time I met my child hood friend jake. He was also one of the few reasons why I left.

As I was thinking about Jake, suddenly Cole grabbed my hand. I was quite surprised.

Then he said, “ Hey we’ve arrived!!!!”

I was thinking of so many things, I didn’t even knew we had arrived. I scanned and looked around. We were gonna stay in a small hotel. It was cheap but it looked so beautiful and charming in its own way.

“So what’s my room number ?” I asked Cole.

“Uhh about that. We will be staying in a double bed room. The hotel said the their rooms were all booked. Also some of our colleagues are staying here too soo.... here you go ahead and wash up. I’ll go talk to the reception real quick.” He said while giving me the room key.

“Ok then” I said to myself and looked for ‘our’ room.

As I was looking for my room suddenly I bumped into someone. He looked at me with a very observant gaze. “I’m sorry” I apologized to the y’all guy. As I looked at him more closely, I started to remember something. He looked so familiar as almost as he was.....

“Shane?” Said the tall guy.

“J..jake??? Is that you?” I asked.

Suddenly out of nowhere he hugged me.

“Maybe he missed me?”I thought to myself and hugged him back.

Then after he was done hugging, he suddenly grabbed by my hand and dragged me.

“H..Hey!! Where are you taking me huh???”

I asked him .

“You’ll see” he replied.

As he was dragging me, I remembered the time when we were kids, he used to drag me everywhere all the time. Even in high school he dragged me to lots of parties which only he was invited. Now that I think about it he was pretty popular in high school. Jake has the most beautifullest black hair I have ever seen. He was about 185cm tall. He looked like a model who came out of a beauty magazine. When I was in high school I envied him because of his handsomeness. But as time goes by I didn’t really care what he looked like , because I liked his personality more than his face.

As I was lost in my own thoughts, jake suddenly tapped on my shoulder and said,

“We’re here”.

I was so surprised to see the beautiful view I was seeing. He had taken me to a balcony, which I think is in his room. As I looked out of the balcony I could see the whole town. My old high school, the bakery I used to go to with jake and my other best friend Sam.

Suddenly, I remembered about Sam. He was also one of my best friends . We three were inseparable in high school and college. We were also named as the

‘Trio of Awesomeness’

Which was true. We were the guys who all the girls admired. Except well in my case, I was just being admired by them cause I was hanging out with the two of the most popular guys in college.

“Hey you ok?” Asked Jake.

“Ohh yeah I’m fine.anyways, the view is so beautiful!!”I said.

“Really? But I think you look more beautiful then the view”he said as I was quite surprised about his comment.

I blushed. “Wait”I thought to myself. “I’m blushing????,What the heck I’m not a girl why am I blushing? .And the fact I’m blushing Because of my friend??????”

I spaced out.

Jake noticed I was looking a bit weird because of his comment and said,

“ H.hey I’ll show you around! Let’s go!”.

As I was following him, I knew something was going to change in my life. And that change was gonna happen because I met Jake.

I looked around while we were leaving the hotel.i thought of maybe calling Cole and tell him that I was gonna leave to see the town. Or maybe I should message him and inform him. As I was thinking about how to tell cole about Jake,

“Hey where are you going Shane?” Asked a familiar voice. It was Cole.

Cole looked at my way and came towards me. He scanned Jake as he was coming towards me.

“Who’s this?” Cole asked.

“Ohh Cole! Meet my childhood friend Jake. And Jake... Meet my best friend Cole.”

Jake looked at Cole with a serious face. And Cole looked at Jake with a whole the hell are you’ face. Then Cole raisedhis hand to handshake and said “nice to meet you Jake,I’m Cole” .

Jake shaked his hand and said “Nice to meet you too”.

The vibe between them was a little tense. I didn’t know why they were acting like that but I suddenly changed the topic.

“Why don’t we all go get something to eat? I’m starving!!”.

Then we all left to find a good place to eat.

We all got a bento each and ate right away. Since it was night time and pretty late, all the stores were closed except the convenience store. We all drank some sodas and talked whole night. Although they both had a weird vibe between them before, I think it changed after talking .

The night turned out pretty well.

*buzz buzz*

“Urghh who’s texting me?” I said to myself as I was waking up.

The phone -

-“Hey wake up sleepy head!!”;)

“ Huh? Who’s this??” I replied.

-“ it’s me Jake!!!. Now wake up before breakfast disappears”

“Oh ok I’ll be there in a minute:/” I replied.

-“See you soon ;)”he answered.

How did he even get my phone number? I thought as I was getting ready to go to breakfast. I was really hungry so I never say no to a good breakfast!.

As I went out of my room, I met cole on the way. We both said good morning to each other and headed towards the dining area. There were few familiar faces in the room. Suddenly I remembered that some colleagues were staying here.

Wow

Thought. It’s been so long since I have seen some of my old buddies in high school. We sat in a table that was empty. While Jake and Cole were talking with the others, I decided to go get some pancakes.As I went to the food area, I saw the tastiest pancakes ever!! While I was taking some pancakes, some one came behind me. Then suddenly,

“Shane?” Said a familiar voice. I knew that voice very well. He was the reason I..... Urghh my old past came to my mind again.

“It is you!! How are you shaneyyy!”

Shaneyy? I thought to myself. It’s been years since I heard that name. He was the only person courageous enough to call me that.

“Hey .... you ok?”he asked.

Then suddenly I didn’t know what came over me I quickly said,

“ .........ohh uhhh umm I have to go somewhere real quick” and ran fast out of there.

You are wondering why I ran away from Sam? Well to answer that I have to start from the beginning.

It all started the first day of high school........

I was relieved I got into the same high school as Jake.Me and Jake attended the first day ceremony for the new students. Sam was a second year. He was there to guide all the first years to their class rooms.

Fate really did me good. Because he was the guy who guided me and Jake to our classes. The good thing was me and Jake were in the same class. I still remember that day he was really excited and... so was I .

At first, I admired Sam as a senior. Then I admired him as a good person. He helped people all the time. I still remember when one of our teacher was going to fall off the stairs, he ran toward her and saved her. She was pregnant so it would have been a really dangerous thing. I could still remember the teacher thanking him while she was crying .

From that day onwards, I respected him more. I started to help in my own way. Like give some snacks or a soda for him, helping him to carry books even though he could handle them alone.

We became friends due to that.

Those days I can remember Jake asking me why I was hanging out with a senior. I told him that he was cool and he should also meet him. Well... that turned out pretty badly.

I told them both to meet at the bakery in our town. The first to arrive was Sam. He was really happy to see me. I didn’t know then why he was so happy.

Jake arrived right after .

I could still remember Jake glaring when he looked at Sam.

I used to call Sam ‘senior’,but for some reason he told me to call him Sam.

“So Sam I want you to meet my bestest friend, Jake! And Jake meet my senior Sam” I said happily.

Sam looked at Jake and then looked at me again and said, “ nice to meet you Jake!”.

Jake looked at me for a second. I knew what he was thinking. So I tapped his hand under the table , mouthing the words ‘say hi!’

Jake hesitates for a moment and finally said, “ohh hi “

I was smiling at Jake as for saying ‘thank you so much! I’ll treat you dinner later’.

I don’t know why but I started chatting with Sam right away. We both had lots of things in common. He and I loved the same music,books, movies and even familiar taste in food!

The whole time, Jake was silent. I was wondering why he didn’t talk. He just munched his sandwich while looking at his phone. Was he getting bored? I thought to myself.

Then 1hour passed and we all decided to go home. Both of them insisted to walk home with me. Which was weird but since we all are friends I didn’t think too much of it.

Sam suddenly stopped and said,

“Hey Shane? Umm can I have your number? Since we all are friends now....”

“Ohh ok” I replied while handing him my phone.

Jake started to glare at Sam again.

After Sam was done, he said good bye and left. Jake and I walked towards our homes. As I was going towards my house, Jake suddenly pulled me by my hand. I nearly fell because of the force.

“H.hey!! What are you doing?!? Are you crazy or something? I said as I was trying to release my hand from his grip. “L.Let go jake!!” I screamed.

I felt him releasing my hand. I looked at Jake. He was looking a bit sad.

“What’s wrong JJ?

JJ was his nickname I made when I was in pre school with him. JJ means Jake Jefferson.

“ ohh umm nothing “ he replied in a sad tone.

I don’t know why but suddenly I had an urge to hug him. To make him feel happy again. So.... I hugged him.

He was shocked at first, but then he hugged me back tightly.

“Hey JJ I c..can’t breathe” I said as I was catching my breath.

“Ohh I’m so sorry” he said as he was smiling head to toe.

I didn’t know why he felt so happy just because of a hug. “Was I a good hugger? Meh never mind”

I thought to myself.

I went inside my house right after I said good night to Jake.