The last time I met my high-school sweetheart
I know what you are thinking. You are thinking: “ugh, this blog is going to be so cheesy. high-school sweetheart? Who even uses that term anymore?”. Well, for those that are thinking that, you are right. This blog post is going to be cheesy. Here’s a joke related to cheese to prepare you for what is coming:
Q: What did the blind man say after being handed a cheese grater?
A: “That’s the most violent book I’ve ever read.”
Have you ever talked to a person on the internet, but not in person? If so, my relationship with my high-school sweetheart is similar to your relationship with that person you only talked to online. My high-school sweetheart’s name is Ashe. I basically liked Ashe from the start or the 7th year until the end of 10th year of my schooling life. In those 4 years of liking this girl, the only in-person interactions I was able to muster up the courage to do are: 1) Give her a Hi-5 after she did really well in a swimming race. 2) Hug her 3) Sit next to her on a 10 minute bus ride, saying nothing but “Hi” when I sat next to her 4) Offer her a piece of cake. I was a shy person to say the least, so was she. But online, we were totally different people. We would talk for hours on end. Sometimes literally for the whole day. From when I woke up, till I went to sleep. I know, we were really, really weird.
I have been living in the Philippines for the last 3 years and I go back to Australia for a month every Christmas break to see my family and friends. I always meet all my friends when I go back, because I only get to see them once a year. But for some reason, I didn’t get to see Ashe the first two times I went back. I only got to see her the last time I went back. The third time since I left Australia. That makes three years of not seeing each other for those who struggle with math *laugh*
It was one day before I left Manila to go to Sydney. December 19, 2016. I was watching a movie when I got a twitter dm at 3am. I remember thinking: “Who the hell would dm me at this time? My mum? Wait, she doesn’t have twitter.” I opened twitter and saw that It was Ashe. I was pretty surprised, because we hadn’t talked in about a year. But it made sense that it was her because she always slept really late. It said: “Hey!!!! When do you get to Aus?!”. She is a really upbeat person to chat with, so she uses a lot of exclamation marks and capital letters. I felt like replying “HI!!!!! TOMORROW!!!” but I can never feel upbeat enough to type like Ashe. So instead I said: “ Hey :) I get back tomorrow morning. My flight is tonight”. She then told me that we have to see each other when I get back because It’s been 3 years. She saw my tweet where I said that I’ve never been to the Opera House in my life and suggested that we go there together. I said yes. And that was that. I was finally going to see Ashe after 3 years of wanting to. Unless my plane crashed (Which it didn’t, thank God)
It was January 3. The day I would see Ashe. I was at the train station waiting for her to show up so we could catch a train to the City, then walk to the opera house from there. We were talking the night before about how bad we both were with directions, so it was going to be a real adventure. Then we somehow got on the topic of best friends. I asked about a girl named Fiora. Fiora was, when I left, Ashe’s best friend. They would ALWAYS be together. I’m talking always. They were more than two peas in a pod; They were just one pea. Basically one person, inseparable. I asked if they still talked, and I got a story of PURE betrayal. I got a whole lot of capital letters and exclamation marks explaining how Fiora was basically the worst person alive. She made it seem so bad. I mean, Brad Pitt leaving Jennifer Aniston for Angelina Jolie bad. But that’s what I love about Ashe. She is so fun to talk to. She is the type of person that makes you smile and laugh at your phone in public until you look like a psycho. The quote “ thinking that if people were rain, I was drizzle and she was a hurricane.” always reminded me of us. Ashe being the hurricane. Anyway, back to the story..
I was waiting for Ashe at the train station. I got a text from her saying she was there. My stomach felt so weird when I saw that text. I felt so nervous and excited to see her. I started looking around, left, right, and I spot her around 20 meters away. Everything was in slow motion now. THERE SHE WAS. All my feelings got replaced by pure nervousness. I felt my shy high-school self coming out of me again. I shook it off and thought of a plan. I told myself: “THIS IS CRITICAL THINKING TIME”. I had thought of a plan in what seemed like half a second. Here’s what went through my mind in that half second;
SITUATION: Ashe is around 20 meters away from me. We are at the train station
GAME PLAN: THIS IS NOT A MOVIE, I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A MOVIE. You are NOT going to run to her and sweep her off her feet. You are at a train station for God’s sake. There are so many people around and you will embarrass her if you do that. THIS IS WHAT YOU’LL DO. You will act like you don’t see her and wait for her to walk in your direction. She will call you if she can’t find you. Once she’s approximately 5 meters away, you will say “Ashe!” either on the phone when she calls you or when she’s near enough to hear a miniature scream of her name. (this was all planned in half a second)
Back to real life.. It’s probably been 5 seconds since I spotted Ashe and I see her finally walking in my direction. She calls my phone. I pick up. Here’s the conversation we had on the phone:
Where are you. I’m waiting for you at the train station (even though I already see her)
I’m here. I can’t see you. Where are you?
Wait, I think I see you.. (she’s around 5 meters away from me by now. MY PLAN WORKED)
Back to real life.. I do a miniature scream: “Ashe!”. She see’s me. I remember putting on my brightest smile, and walking in her direction. Ready to give her a hug that would make up for 3 years of not seeing each other. A hug so damn good that she wouldn’t want me to let go. A hug so memorable that she wouldn’t forget it even if she lost her memory. I’m 3 meters away now. 2 meters..
I see something running towards me from the corner of my right eye.. That’s not Ashe I thought. Ashe is right in front of me. I turn around to face what’s coming at me from the corner of my right eye, out of pure instinct. It’s Fiora. Fiora screams out something I don’t even remember. Something like “IS THAT? OMG IS THAT?”.
Fiora had seen me walking and recognized me. She ran up to see if it was me, at the same time I was on my way to Ashe. I am not making this up. This REALLY happened. Fiora screamed at me 2 meters before I got to Ashe and totally ruined my entire game plan. It was going so perfect. Now it was ruined. I scream “OMG FIORA IS HERE, OMG FIORA IS HERE” out of pure instinct, knowing Ashe was a few meters in front of me. I honestly nearly shat myself, I was that shocked. I turn to face Fiora and greeted her before I even got to greet Ashe. I hugged fiora, then turned to see where Ashe was. Ashe by then was literally right in front of me. I turned to hug Ashe, but by then the whole setting was completely ruined. And I knew it. It was such an awkward hug. Definitely memorable, but in a bad way. After I hugged Ashe, Ashe hugged Fiora and they sort of faked like they don’t hate each other. But we all knew what was going on. Then Fiora left and I went with Ashe to buy train tickets going to the city.
That is the story of how Fiora totally messed up my first encounter with Ashe in 3 years. It is also the story of “The last time I met my high-school sweetheart.” What happened after that? What about our trip to the Opera House? I will have to tell you all in a future post. I don’t know when I’ll post it though. Stay tuned!
vaporwave
origamiaround
discoholicmusic
izzy806
