Page 5

Now

Seth was proud of himself.

He’d actually woken up on time, gotten dressed on time.

The smell of eggs surprised him as he walked into the kitchen, and even more so surprised to see his Mum awake with him too. She was whistling as she cooked, so Seth knew she was in a good mood.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” she cooed, once she’d seen him.

He stood still as she planted a kiss atop his head, still getting used to her open affection. It’d only been a couple years already, since his parents got back together, and his Mum moved back in again.

With their newfound love, they’d seemingly brought in a new wave of changes to their personality too. Prior to the separation, Seth’s Mum was hardly affectionate.

“What’s the occasion?” Seth joked, as he picked a banana from the bowl. He observed his Mum, his mind and heart still trying to marry the new changes.

“No occasion. Well, technically it’s your Dad and I’s second-second anniversary, since, y’know. ”

Ah. His parents, alongside their original anniversary, also celebrate the anniversary of getting back together.

“I see. I have to catch the bus to the station in about twenty minutes, so can I grab a bit of that?” Seth enquired, and his Mum scrunched her face, in a sort of disbelief.

“Of course, this isn’t just for him! It’s for all of us.”

He’d eaten the eggs in under ten minutes, and was out of the house instantly, his stomach whirring strangely over his Mum’s good mood and actions. As soon as he was out of the house, breathing the fresh morning air, he felt much better.

To his dismay, his train was delayed by ten minutes when he got there, due to an operational error. There hadn’t been any storms as of lately, not since the one that made him late a month ago. During the time he met Nina Mendez again.

He hasn’t seen her ever since, just as he predicted.

At least he was still bound to get to uni before his first class. His Wednesday classes were an hour later than his Monday classes, which he often missed.

Finally, the train arrived, the heavy whoosh of the wind messing up Seth’s hair.

Hastily, he pushed back the strands that’d fallen on his forehead, and waited for the doors to open. It wasn’t too busy at this time of the morning - 10.30am - the leeway that just missed the morning rush.

Stepping onto the carriage, he didn’t bother scanning for spots, knowing he’d be guaranteed his favourite seat as always. Taking the singular window seat, he placed his bag across from him and peered outside.

A group of young adults, maybe a couple of years his junior, ran toward the already closing train doors.

“Come on bro! I’m holding the doors open!” one of them - the one with the choppy mullet - laughed toward his group of friends who stumbled on. It was true, choppy mullet was holding the door open and preventing the train from moving forward.

Seth resisted a groan, and resisted even more the urge to get up and yell at them.

As the doors finally closed - “ Oi down here” - he heard the group of boys make their charming entrance into the downstairs section of the carriage.

Pushing and shoving each other, one of them almost fell onto Seth.

He leaned away, his face heating in annoyance, as the boys laughed at themselves, like they were the funniest people in the world.

Seth contemplated getting up, moving to another carriage, but decided that he wouldn’t let some boys ruin this train ride. That was, until he heard the all too familiar sound of a bluetooth speaker brimming to life.

A trashy r n b song blared through.

Actually the song wasn’t all too bad.

Still annoying though.

Getting up, Seth hastily grabbed his bag and ambled up the stairs to the carriage landing.

Pressing the button to open the connector between carriages, he turned around and glanced at the boys.

His eyes met choppy mullets. Seth mustered his best glare, his most intimidating one, before pressing the doors to the carriage door and crossing to the other side.

I can’t believe I had to give up my favourite seat because of a group of eshays.

Stumbling from side to side as the train swayed, Seth noticed that this carriage was a little fuller than the one he’d just come from.

Great. This time, he chose the upstairs section.

Already at a glance, he could tell most of the seats were taken.

Sighing, he headed toward a three-seater, when he spotted the individual seats.

Only one girl sat there, with her bag resting on the seat across. Perfect. Bee-lining down the aisle, he basically stumbled onto the seat, atop the girl's bag.

“Excuse me? Could I sit here?”

While he was saying this, he’d already basically settled his body down, giving the girl no choice but to move her bag. Slick, he knew, but the train ride was weirdly enough one of his only times of solace.

“No, sorry.”

Blinking, Seth glanced at the girl, shocked at her response. He’d throw this bag onto the aisle for all he cared.

Until he saw who it was.

What were the chances?

The creases in his forehead softened immediately.

Nina.

She was smiling at him, a little amused. Seth blinked away his surprise, before smiling back.

“I will sit my ass fully on your bag by the way,” he said, his voice lowered into a mock threat.

Nina rolled her eyes but the amusement was still lingering. Slowly, she reached out, clearing up the space for him, and motioned for him to sit. Seth bowed his head.

“Why, thank you.”

Her knees bumped against his as he shuffled forward. Nina settled on her seat, carefully placing the bag on her lap so it wouldn’t slide off. A wave of deja vu hit him.

“You know I’m pretty sure this is the exact same train that I saw you on last time,” he laughed, but knew his joke wasn’t really that funny. Seth tended to joke badly in moments he felt a tad awkward in.

Nina raised her brow, her lips quivering in a way that said your joke wasn’t funny but I really appreciate the effort.

“Has anything changed for you in a month -”

“So, what have you been up to?”

Their words tumbled atop each other once again, yet this time, they both broke into chuckles. Nina brushed some strands off of her face, and she beamed at him, drawing Seth’s attention to her smile.

Bright, like before.

“You go first,” she said.

He cleared his throat, suddenly rendered unable to speak.

“Well - um - nothing has changed much in the past month. No, actually, that’s a lie.

I got this casual internship at this indie gaming company.

It’s just twice a week, and kind of rooted into my studies so it’s still technically part of my course, but yeah.

I just do some basic admin things for them, but it's still pretty cool. Helps me out, actually, because I’ve got to do a capstone project as my big assignment for the end of the year. ”

Nina’s eyes widened in excitement, and suddenly, she reached out and slapped him against the knee.

“Dude, that’s amazing!”

She must’ve seen the surprised expression on Seth’s face because she immediately pulled her hand back.

“Oh gosh, sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you, but like, that’s amazing news.”

She wrung her fingers together, darting her eyes out the window, her cheeks growing that shade of red once more. A smile tugged at Seth’s lips, as he felt the ghost of her slap against his knee.

“How about you? I bet you’ve been promoted to CEO of a publishing company by now, right?”

A chuckle escaped Nina’s lips at this before shaking her head.

“Oh, that’s definitely the next step. But for now, it’s all going alright.”

He tilted his head, “Aw, why the solemn reply? You’re studying writing, that’s literally your dream!”

“Well duh, but assignments can still suck a little.”

She sat backward, with a sigh.

“But either way, I feel like we’re both on the right path to achieving our dreams.”

“Who would’ve thought?” Seth agreed, nodding along.

“I knew you would.”

Seth raised a brow.

“What do you mean, you knew?”

Nina blushed at that, as if realising what she just said. She scratched at her ear and averted her eyes from Seth.

“Like, I mean, you were always so, like, good at school. And games.” she said, quickly, and Seth was reminded of the times when he’d have conversations with Nina, and she’d talk exactly like this.

What was it with Nina Mendez, and turning back time? He sat in his 13-year-old self as he was met with her flushed expression.

Have things really not changed? He thought. Does she still….?

No, that would be silly. It’s been four years since they graduated, and they haven’t spoken or seen each other since.

And you broke her heart.

“I could say the same for you,” Seth responded instead, burying the thoughts in his brain, “I mean, you were amazing at writing. Everyone would always come to you to edit their stories, you were always winning the Literature awards…”

Nina smiled, shrugging as if to say well of course.

“So, are you working on any personal projects right now?”

“Yeah, I’m actually writing a horror romance that I’m planning on querying very soon to literary agents,” Nina informed, and Seth noticed the way her eyes seemed to brighten at the subject, as if talking about writing lit her up from the inside.

“Ohhh, tell me about it,” Seth encouraged, leaning forward.

Nina shook her head.

“Nope, you’ll just have to wait until it comes out,” she said with a wink, “Can’t give away any spoilers.”

Seth pouted, “Aw, come on!”

Nina stayed adamant, her lips stretched into a smile as she shook her head slightly.

“Nope, sorry.”

“But I’m special ,” Seth whined. The words spilled out before he knew it, boosted by an ego he thought he’d buried. Something about Nina Mendez brought Seth’s buried confidence to life.

Her eyes narrowed.

“What?”

“Come on ,” Seth teased, and he knew that the high schooler buried within him was taking the reins.

“You know .”

At that, Nina’s smile faded, her lips pressing into a straight line. Her eyebrows furrowed downward.

“Oh shut up ,” she said, “That was ages ago.”