It had been long since Cherise had seen Walter, more than ten years to be exact. She could see how much he had changed in every way, from the timid little boy in primary he looked much more, confident.
“It’s a wonderful coincidence isn’t it?” Walter smiled.
“Yes, it is” Cherise was still digesting the fact that she had seen him again, after an awkward silence, “Walter, about what happened in primary – ”
Walter chuckled, “Cherise, that was a long time ago, we were still kids” he looked into her eyes, “It really doesn’t matter anymore”
“So did you forgive me?”
“Yes, of course I did”
“Even though it was a long time ago, I still felt bad about it” She looked at him, he was still smiling, “I really shouldn’t have done what I did, it was horrible, and I know an apology doesn’t make for a good re-union, but …”
“There was no need, it’s all in the past now, I’m just happy to see you again” Walter’s brown eyes were radiant, as if reflecting the sunlight.
Hearing him say that made her feel at peace, she had been waiting for him to say those words for a really long time. She didn’t care if it made her seem childish to want forgiveness for something that had happened a long time ago, but she felt she needed to do it. She talked to Walter for more than thirty minutes, they told each other all kinds of stories during that time, about their high school days and how they had applied to come to Sunderlake University. She did most of the talking; Walter kept saying his stories were boring.
“So those three are your friends right?” she asked referring to the two people he was walking with.
“If you want to call it that” he fished a phone out of his leather jacket, “can I get your number?”
“Yeah, sure, we’ve got loads to catch up on” She took a phone out of her purse and noticed 10 missed calls from Seth. Her mouth widened unintentionally.
“Whats wrong?” Walter asked.
“It’s my boyfriend, he’s called me more than ten times, and I didn’t even realise it” She decided to call Seth back to let him know that she was catching up with an old friend, “Give me a minute, I need to call him back”
“Isn’t that him?” Walter said, pointing in front of them.
To her surprise it actually was Seth, and he was walking right towards them. She could tell he was angry from the sheer speed of his pace; he rushed past the picnic bench where Walter’s friends were and came straight to them. She knew what he wanted to say but he didn’t, most likely because Walter was there. Cherise hastily eased the tension, “Seth, I would like you to meet Walter, my childhood friend; Walter, this is my boyfriend, Seth”
Seth looked at Walter “Hey Walter” he gave out his hand and Walter shook it.
“Seth, I’ve heard a lot about you, in fact, you’re all we’ve been talking about” Walter said putting his hands in his pockets, she could tell he was trying to protect her from a possible Seth attack. It was quite sweet of him, she thought.
Seth put one of his arms around Cherise’s shoulder, pulling her closer, “I’m lucky to have her aren’t I?”
Walter started walking ahead, “Aaand that’s my cue to leave, I’ll talk to you two love birds later”
“Walter!” Cherise called out to him, “Are you coming to the under-grad party?”
Walter shrugged a little “I didn’t know such a thing actually existed”
Seth chuckled, “That party is not going to be all that special, you should come to the beer fest, now that’s going to be a real party”
“Is that the separate party which honour students are planning?” Cherise asked.
“Yep, it’s happening next week, and I think we’ll have more fun over there than on campus” Seth was already oozing with excitement.
“I don’t think I want to go there” I felt like the party with Honour students was going to be wild, and that was not my kind of thing.
“I’ll think about it” Walter said, resuming his walk away from the couple.
Cherise waited till Walter was far away before talking to Seth, “Seth, it’s your fault he left”
“What?” he laughed, “but I didn’t do anything”
“You tried too hard to mark your territory around me, I don’t like that” She felt like the hug Seth had given her was a message to Walter; anyone else would probably have come to the same conclusion.
Seth sighed, “That was not the case” he held my hand, “look, if it makes you happy, I’ll show you that I actually don’t hate the guy, I’ll hang out with him at the beer fest, if he comes”
“You don’t have to prove anything to me…”
“No, I insist”
Cherise agreed with him hoping to finish the conversation. She knew he only wanted to hang out with Walter to prove that he was not feeling insecure. She figured the both of them hanging out would not be such a bad idea; if they became acquaintances she would not have to worry about Seth questioning her about talking to Walter.
*****
Walter closed the door behind him before he went to the kitchen to get a glass of water; the lights, television and radio were off which ultimately meant none of his family members had come home. He slowly drank his glass of water while staring out the window, he was thinking of something, calculating; he smiled briefly before pouring the remaining water into the sink and going upstairs to his room. He shut the door and locked it, he didn’t like people entering his room uninvited; in the process of putting his leather jacket into the wardrobe, he made sure to take out his phone to check if he had any messages. There were a couple of them to his surprise, one was from Ned,
Walter, was that THEE Cherise from Quanterbury primary? If it is, I hope you’re not going to pull one of your usual stunts Walt. New school, new principles, none of that high school stuff
Btw Marie said i can c her @ the under-grad party on campus, its gonna be gud, tell me you’re gonna come, i need ur supprt on this
p.s. next time u leave campus tell ur frends ur going idiot, I spent bout 30 mins looking for you, and learn to answer your fone.
Walter responded,
You don’t need me for this one White Knight, that damsel is ripe for the saving, and you have those weird girls to help you, for now. Bright side: if all else fails, at least you have those two, I smell a threesome.
And since when did you think I was that predictable?
Ned replied almost immediately,
Wat!? Threesome!? Are you mad? They’re my friends, and urs too if u learn to have a conscience.
and yes, Remember that school trip to Madrid, tell me I ddn’t predict the outcome of that blunder ….
talked to Cherise a bit though, you were right, her hair really is crazy red. Oh, I also got Marie’s number haha 😀
Walter smiled at the response. Good job buddy. The other message was from his mother, it said something about finding his food in the fridge; he quickly read it and moved on to the next message which was from an unknown sender,
Hey Walter 🙂 its Cherise, i got ur # from Ned since we ddnt manage to exchange them. My bf said he wants to go to the beer-fest wit u. Its all up to u lol cuz i knw its gonna be weird for the two of u to be 2gether in one place. I wud totally undrstand if u ddnt go.
*+*Cherise*+*
After reading the text message Walter stared at the ceiling for nearly 3 seconds before responding,
Its no problem. Tell him i’ll be there.
The last message was from Meryl, he couldn’t help but mumble to himself over it. This was the girl he had stopped talking to because of distance; the girl he had last heard from three years ago. He looked at the text highlighted before opening her message,
Hey Walter, I know its been ages, but I wanted you to be the 1st to know that…..
Walter was tempted to open the message and read the rest of the content, but instead, he went ahead and deleted it. He remembered the memories he shared with her, but he thought it would be best if they stayed where they belong, the past. He couldn’t risk it, not again. He lay on his bed, looking at the ceiling, a lot of thoughts were running through his mind; one thing was for certain though, he was not planning on missing the beer-fest.
*******
******
(Please leave a comment, and if there’s a particular part that struck you or if you have a favorite character, i’d love hearing about it) 😀
That’s right, two chapters in one day, to make up for lost time, apologies for those who waited; things are a bit tough to balance right now.
Side note, I’m planning a QnA if you have any questions contact me: michaeldante01@gmail.com
O.D. 