The call was from Gio oddly enough.
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He rarely called, he was more of a texter. He asked if I could meet him at the tracks sometime this week because he wanted to talk to me about something. I hesitantly agreed to it. I thought it was weird for him to be calling me for that when he could have texted but his tone was somber and distant so it seemed serious.
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I brushed it off and after heading out the shower, leaving Frankie in there alone, I threw my clothes on.
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We left to the arcade downtown called Games Galore. Although I've driven through the city a thousand times it never got old. The views were insane and the atmosphere was chaotic and lively which excited me. It felt good to be around warm bodies, personalities and colorful people.
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We started off playing a shooting game called Cowboy's Buck. She was horrible at it but it was funny seeing her so focused on trying to win knowing she wasn't going to. We moved to another game similar to the last and I won again, no surprise.
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After 30 wins and 1 loss, the loss being to a color matching game which I think was stupid considering I'm partially colorblind, we took a break.
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"Let's go watch a movie now." Frankie's mouth was full with a deep fried chocolate churro.
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"You're not tired?"
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"No. I missed you so much while I was away and you didn't even text or call. The least you can do is spend a day with me without complaining." I huffed out a sigh. She always knew how to make me feel guilty.
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"I wasn't complaining, I was just asking."
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"No you weren't, your tone says otherwise." She pouted rolling her eyes.
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"I would love to watch a movie with you Frankie."
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She doesn't reply, instead she continues eating with a look of satisfaction on her face. Games Galore had its own movie theater attached to it so all we had to do was walk across the building to get there. I didn't know what movies were showing but it didn't matter anyway because I planned on sleeping through whatever we watched because I was exhausted.
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"I'll get us the popcorn, you get us the tickets?" She agreed grabbing my credit card and went to the booth with the long line of customers waiting. Since it was the grand opening, there were hundreds of people around and plenty of them were in line. "I'll hold us a place in line, go grab us some snacks." She confirmed our plan furthermore.
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We split up and I made my way to the concessions booth where kids were running frantically around the candy bar station. A little boy bumped into my leg shouting. "I'm sorry sir." He quickly apologized looking intimidated and frightened. I smiled at the freckled little boy with messy curls looking up at me with doe eyes. He reminded me of myself when I was his age, he couldn't have been older than 6. "It's okay little man, are you trying to get in line?"
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"Well, not exactly. I was looking for the silly straw candies." He scratched his head looking around.
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"You mean these?" I grab a green bag off the shelf with sour candy inside the packaging.
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"Yes! How did you find them?"
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"Magic." I teased.
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"My mommy gave me $5 so I could get them." He flashes five ones in my face with contentment. I chuckled at his boastfulness and reached into my wallet.
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"How about you get yourself two." I placed a twenty in his hand on top of his ones and his eyes grew wide. "Woah! Are you serious?"
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"As a heart attack."
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He scratched his head again confused. "Uh, what does that mean?"
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"That means it's all yours buddy." I smile shuffling his hair around. He jumps up joyously and runs off to who I presumed was his mom. I smiled to myself watching him tug on her shirt.
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"Thomas?" A gentle voice came from beside me. I turn away from the boy and his mom and my eyes are met with disbelief.
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"Summer?"
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I couldn't believe it. I had to blink a few times to make sure I hadn't begun hallucinating. Surely enough, a few blinks later she was still standing in front of me, as beautiful as ever. She was almost glowing. Her skin was that beautiful shade of golden mahogany with warm hues like the sun on a summer day. Her hair was longer, but not much longer. It looks like she kept it trimmed. She has glitter specks down her nose and her eyes and glossy red lips. Was she wearing makeup? Come to think of it, her cheeks were rosy and her eyes were darker. She was wearing makeup and was even dressed in a short red skirt and a white dressy top. She looked more dressed up than she usually was when I saw her last, which was almost three months ago.
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"Oh my gosh, how are you?" Her eyes still widened with shock. She seemed just as surprised to see me as I was her.
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"I'm good." I answered awkwardly shuffling my feet and placing my hands in my pocket not knowing what to do with them. An anxious feeling came over me and I'd become self conscious about the way I looked. I didn't plan on seeing anyone I knew so I had basic sweats and a graphic T shirt on while she was dressed so beautifully. I'd let the scruff of my incoming beard grow slightly since it's been a month since I bothered to shave it. "How are you?" I genuinely wondered.
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"I'm okay. It's good to see you, it's been awhile. I hope you've been taking care of yourself." She tilted her head slightly studying my face with a glint of worry showering over her expression.
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"You look pretty." I scratched my head moving my eyes down to her attire and back to her face where she was now biting her lip looking away.
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"Thanks." Her low tone showed her shyness towards my compliment. "Are you here alone?"
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"No, I- um I'm here with Frankie. You remember Frankie right?"
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"Your girlfriend?"
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"Something like that."
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She nods slowly.
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"What about you? I mean, are you here with someone?"
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"I'm here with Jason. He's just in the bathroom he'll be here shortly." My shoulders tense to his name. I remember him from the banquet. I had no reason not to like him but I didn't like him.
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"Oh yeah, I remember him. Are you two like...is he your boyfriend?"
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"Something like that." She responds with the same words I used on her earlier. I respond with a nod as well slightly disappointed.
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"Where've you been these days? I don't usually see you around." I questioned.
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"I went back to Portland for a couple of weeks to see my family. Other than that I'm usually at work or just home with Juniper."
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"Juniper?"
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"My cat." She smiled. "I got her last month. "
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Her contagious smile prompted me to return one and I released a small chuckle at the way she lit up while talking about her cat.
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"Are you still in therapy?" She inquired with a more serious tone.
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"Yeah, I am."
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"That's good. It was nice seeing you here and I'm glad you're okay."
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I didn't want our conversation to come to an end, I wasn't ready for her to walk away. I still had so much more to say to her. How I couldn't stop thinking about her, how much I missed her, how she consumed my thoughts even three entire months after not contacting her. I didn't get to mention how I worried about her or wondered what she was doing every single day. How I wondered if she thought of me during her day even a fraction of the amount of times I think of her. I didn't get to say any of that but I knew it wasn't smart considering the last moments we were together were cut short because of a mistake I made. If I would've never kissed her and stopped caring about her like she told me to I would still be able to see her everyday.
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She was getting ready to walk away and I had to think of something to stop her. I needed to see her again and not by chance.I honestly don't think I could bear not knowing when I'll see her next.
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"Wait-."
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She stopped in her tracks and turned to me expectantly.
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"Can I see you again?" I cursed myself mentally for the lame excuse of a request I blurted out. "I mean- can we catch up properly? Over dinner? Or lunch?"
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She took a second to reply giving me time to overthink the way I expected she'd respond.
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"We'll see."
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She left me with those words. I didn't know what they meant but it gave me a glint of hope that there would be a next time.
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"The movie tickets for Love Unrequited are sold out." Frankies head popped in place of Summers.
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"What did you want to watch instead?"
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"Nothing, can we just go home? I'm tired now." She slumped her shoulders down.
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We ended up back at my place where she fell asleep on the couch watching cartoons and I lay up, my mind lingering on the words "we'll see" until sleep found me.
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