A/N: Photobooth results!

***

Thursday, 10:23 AM

Curious.

I always hated being curious. The feeling overpowered me no matter how much I tried to repress it. It drove me into some shit that were often times complicated. Curiosity can be compared to those nosy cockroaches that crawled into the minds of unbeknownst people. I was one of the victims that fell into this kind of situation.

Curiosity had urged me to force Seb to divulge the name of the supposed old friend. All I got was tongue-out emojis or that he refused to tell, which further stimulated both my eagerness and plain irritation of him. Instead, he repeatedly instructed me to come to Gelato Cafe to fulfill my mental thirst.

I had lost count on how many times I rolled my eye this week. Regardless of everything, I still listened to Seb and decided to go along his play. Straightening up my brand new shirt that my father got me, I buttoned it up in front of the mirror. I also chose a pair of khaki shorts because for me, they fit in together. I proceeded to brush my hair with my hands.

With everything on set, I left my room and went downstairs. Myla greeted me with her cheerful barks, pawing on my knees as usual. I briefly tousled her furs, before seeing Kei, my sister's zebra finch. It was sitting casually on its opened cage, but it acknowledged my presence.

"Morning, Ed." My mother greeted and smiled as she appeared from the dining room. I noticed that she was holding a handkerchief on her hands, but I didn't pay much attention to that. She tidied up her forelocks that fell into her forehead.

"Morning, Mom." I replied back.

"Whoa, I'm kinda surprised that you've been going out for these past few days!" She remarked. Well, as she took in my appearance, she was pretty much surprised. "Thought you're going to stay at home the whole time like last year."

"Not really. I do wanna stay at home some time, but yeah..." I responded, my voice trailing off in the end. "Where's Lu, though?"

"Hmm, she's still sleeping." She beckoned her head upstairs and simultaneously sighed in frustration. Her gaze wandered over the clock hanging in the wall above the TV. "It's almost 11 in the noon, but she didn't wanna wake up."

"Just let her be, Mom." I advised. "It's holidays, anyway."

"Well, you're right, but still." She breathed.

On the other side, Myla implored me to give her head some pats. This explained why she was incessantly leaping up and down like a rabbit. She rarely got tired of doing such things, reflecting her energetic personality.

I have no choice but to squat and do what she asked for. Her tail wagged with might as she rolled out her tongue to lick my hands. She barked once to show out her pleasure.

Meanwhile, my mother decided to take an advance towards me.

"Where are you going this time?" She asked, lifting one of her eyebrows.

"Just chilling at Gelato Cafe with my friends." I didn't reveal the childhood friend that I am about to be met up with. Maybe, I will just do it right after I get home. "I don't think it would take that long."

Right after I finished with response, Myla suddenly hopped onto my chest. Upon colliding with my body, I almost lost my momentum, but thanks to my reflex, I managed to stop myself before I hit my ass with the floor. Of course, her heavy weight and her size were mainly responsible for my temporary unbalance.

There, I kept in mind that Myla is not a puppy anymore. I used to easily carry her anywhere because she used to be so light. I knew she loved it and wanted more.

Now, she was closer than ever to my face. Her miniscule, black eyes had a hint of excitement and her hot breaths made a contact against my stingy skin. She also had the need to lick one of my cheeks, causing me to shiver at the touch of her slightly sharp tongue.

"Ed, have you taken Myla for a walk?"

Fuck. When my mother questioned that, something dashed inside my mind like that of a knife. I could compare it to a mental lightbulb that was suddenly switched on.

I seriously had forgotten about the fact that I should take the dog for a walk. I had reminded myself three days ago, but probably because I have been with Rena and my friends for the whole time, I neglected my job.

"No, not yet." I decided to be honest. "I've been out with my friends the whole week, so I have no time walking her."

"That's fine." She didn't seem to be mad about my disregarded task, much to my relief. "I could just ask Lu about it. She's been in the house the whole time. Well you're free to go, Ed."

"Oh, alright then." I gently placed the pomeranian dog into the floor and stood back up. I watched as she subsequently sprinted for the back door, probably wanting to hang around the backyard. When she was gone, I brushed my clothes off some dirt, before facing my mother briefly. "I will be going now."

"Have fun." She saluted, giving me an assuring smile. I only stretched one of the corners of my lips, wanting to return her back with mine, but it came out as a failure. Shaking my head mentally, I put on my shoes and gradually went outside.

Obviously, today was yet another sunny day, only there were more clouds than before. Maybe it was going to shower this afternoon, even though the weather prediction was simply cloudy. My hands instinctively tried grasping for my hood, but then I realized that I was even not wearing a hoodie, but a simple shirt.

Sigh.

Walking to the bus station, I was still interested on learning on who was that one childhood friend Seb had encountered. I was still searching for hints and clues, even though I might not obtain the correct answer until I met in person. Asking Seb hints would be just out of question, so I have to figure it out myself or patiently wait until he comes.

Pulling my phone from my pocket and turning it on, I saw a pop-up notification on the screen. It indicated that I just received a recent text message from my best friend.

Are you at the cafe yet?

I immediately went into Seb's message board, then typed in my response.

No, not yet. How about you?

Still at home getting ready

Just order your food with Christie first when you get there

Alright.

You're the one planning the meeting but you're still at home.

Idiot.

I snorted at the thought, but I managed to control myself when I noticed I was not alone.

From the corner of my eye, I quietly observed the oblivious stranger standing ar the corner of the bus station. She was a brown-skinned woman in her middle age. Her long, dirty blond hair was pulled back by a hair claw. She was busying herself with her phone, so she didn't pay attention to her environment. I decided not to look at the stranger for a longer time, and focused more on waiting for the bus.

A few minutes later, I plugged in my earphones and blared some Coldplay music. To kill my boredom, I checked into my Facebook account and looked through the feed. Asher was trying his best to impress his crush, and Seb was at it again with his seductive pose and shit. When a notification with Rena's name, suddenly popped up, my heart stopped beating.

Well, almost, but still.

Serenity Wilton added a photo of you.

My finger hovered over the tag notification and clicked on it. It directed me to Rena's recent post, where she put up the picture of the photobooth yesterday.

Serenity Wilton
Lovely ❤❤

My thumb immediately pursued after that like button and punched on it like any other. I didn't regret my decision at all, nor do I have had second thoughts about it. I fervently swallowed my breath as I stared down at the comments.

Alyssa Farthings
You both are totes adorbs!!!

Samantha Natalia
ERENA WILL ALWAYS BE SAILING

Naomi Walker
WEHEHEHEHEH

Mark Fairmont
Awww you two

As I continued skimming through them, an unknown force gradually overwhelmed my body. My heart couldn't take the building pressure, so I have the urge to exit Facebook immediately. However, Seb's comment in the end caught my attention, and temporarily stopped me from leaving.

Sebastian Allington
ED HAHAHAHA DUDE MY STOMACH HURTIN' 😂😂😂😂😂
You looking good Ren👍

At the last sentence, something kindled a flame inside of me. I tightened my jaw altogether, squinting my eye into a slit. As I thought more about it, my frown deepened and I felt my own skin starting to burn. He was just trying to get Rena's attention by giving her compliments. He was probably raking her up and down like a creep at his computer or phone.

As usual, a fucking idiot on the loose.

When I closed my phone, the bus coincidentally arrived. I shook my head to clear the annoyance I was having and boarded in. After paying, I slumped into my seat, fixing the earphones that threatened to fall from my ears. When I calmed down, I leaned back, faced to the ceiling, and slowly shut my eye.

There, slowly, a memory came sipping into my blank mind.

***

July 2007

It was a hot day today.

I didn't want to stay at the house, hanging around like there is nothing better to do. However, at the same time, I didn't want to be in the middle of the scorching heat. I decided that it was the perfect time to invite Buttercup, Rena, Seb and Raphael into the house. I wanted to invite Lynn, but she said she was on a family vacation.

We were in the living room, playing cards, when Raphael suddenly stood up.

"Can we go outside now?" He asked, throwing the cards into the table. "I really wanna swim!"

"Dude, it's like still 2 pm," Seb's brown eyes looked at the clock beside the TV. "Look, it's still hot outside."

"Yeah, I don't want to get those nasty sunburns!" I said, cringing at the thought of those things. "Maybe, we should wait for like, one more hour!"

"Awh fine..." Raphael groaned, and slouched back to the ground.

"While for that one hour, let's watch a movie!" Aly suggested. "Ed, what kind of movies do you have?"

"Hmm, I have some action films." I replied, standing up and looking through some CDs on the shelf. "My older sister collects a lot of romance movies, though. She literally binge watch them everyday."

"Do you have any like... romantic movies?" Buttercup asked, a little bit too excited.

"Ew, I would rather watch a paint drying than a sappy chick flick." Seb's nose scrunched up in disgust.

"Shut it, you jerk!" She snapped, causing Raphael and I to snicker. Her face turned red as a result. "It's not funny!"

On the other hand, Rena sat quietly on her seat, her arms on her lap. She only stared down at the cards that she was holding, and started playing around with one. I didn't want her to feel left out, so I decided to direct my question to her.

"How about you, Rena?" Calling her name made her jump from her place. Every eyes lay upon her, causing her to lower her head as to hide her face. "What do you wanna do?"

"Um... I don't really know..." Rena stuttered. "...It's up to you, but I kinda w-wanna swim..."

At this, I watched as Raphael's dull eyes glinted with hope. He looked up from his cards, as his disappointed face turned upside down. He then strode towards Rena and plopped beside her. "See? Even she wants to swim!"

"Hmm, but..." Buttercup placed her cards on the table and walked towards the window. "...well, it's kinda cloudy now."

"Awesome! So, that means we all can swim, woo!" Raphael was overly excited, as he jumped up and down his place. I admit, considering his small build, it was kind of funny seeing him leaping like that.

"Really?" Seb followed her soon after. "The last time I checked, it was hot as heck."

I decided that it was the time for me to speak out of my opinion. I wanted to show them that I was a good leader for this group, the one who commanded and the one who ruled. Other than that, I just wanted to make my friends happy and all, especially Raphael.

"Well, screw the sunburns and all of that stuff!" I exclaimed, putting my hands into my hips right after I stood up. Everyone then snapped their heads at me, listening to my explanation. "I wanna go swimming too, you know! It's kinda boring if we keep on chilling out here until the sun comes down. You know, there's a sunblock for a reason!"

I paused at my sentence to cast my grin at them, convincing them to go with me.

"I just bought a ball from the store, so maybe we should play water polo! The loser team gets to buy us snacks!"

"Yes! Oh my gosh, that's going to be fun!" Raphael screamed, until his voice cracked.

Buttercup seemed silent at first, but then she opened her mouth to exclaim out her words. "Oo, I'm so pumped right now! I wanna make Sebastian buy me some snacks, hehe!"

Seb rolled his eyes, but his determined expression told me that he was in. Rena didn't seem to disagree too, as a smile made its way into her lips.

When everyone finally agreed, I laughed in satisfaction as joy filled me.

Making my friends pumped out was one of my favorite thing to do. Seeing their excited faces just made me happy too.

Good job, Ed. I gave myself a mental shoulder pat.

***

"Downtown station, Downtown station. All passengers, please do alight at this station."

The speakers on the bus boomed an announcement, snapping me out of my nostalgia. My eye literally shot open, only to find out that I was still facing the ceiling of the bus. In reflex, I scanned around the area, only to see all of the people inside was nearing the exit doors. This drove me out of my seat, assimilating myself with the group to prevent some sort of oddity.

My sentimental attitude always caused me to be unmindful of the present. I have to be more aware of the reality, and not to fucking refer to the past.

As the bus' doors opened wide, people pushed their way out, including me. While most of the group went to the left, I went right and crossed the street when I have the chance, then went inside the cafe.

When the customer bell rung as I pushed the door, three pairs of familiar eyes suddenly stopped at me. Inside I jolted at their boring gazes, but I tried coping with it. When I briefly stared at the group, I instantly recognized them from their faces: Alyssa, Rena and Florence. Rena was the one waving her hand at me, signalling me to go to them.

"Hello, Edward." Christie suddenly showed up after serving a customer. She was holding a menu book in her hands. "I think your friends are waiting for you."

"I know." I replied, even though I didn't even know why the hell they were there in the first place. Seb never told me anything about the girls, so they probably planned it themselves. I didn't want to disturb their moments, but their looks told me they invited me to join them, so I obliged. After all, it was better to be with someone I knew rather than being alone in the cafe.

I slowly followed Christie behind, nearing the girls' table. While she was looking for a chair for me to sit on, Florence was the one who initiated the conversation.

"Hey Grumpy!" She lazily raised her hand. I noticed that her hair was greener than before. It looked fresh and new, so my guess was that she colored it over the course of the holidays. Like her usual style, most of her hair were tied into a side ponytail. "Long time no see."

"Hello." I greeted, slumping myself down on the chair that Christie had given me. I decided to choose an empty spot beside Rena and Alyssa. Both of them slightly moved apart, apparently giving me some space. I restrained myself from staring at Rena, who was wearing a sleeveless white lace top that showed off her bare arms and a pair of short jeans.

She was really pressuring me.

"When is that guy coming? He's taking so long." Alyssa interrogated me, interrupting my thoughts. As usual, she let her wavy, brown hair loose, with a star-shaped hair clip on the left side of her head.

"Did Seb invited you girls?" Instead of answering, I asked back in surprise. The three of them nodded in unison, which confirmed my suspicion. Well, hearing about his whereabouts from them was the least of my expectations. I thought that they were normally hanging out and not minding about my intentions.

"Seb i-invited us because he wanted to introduce us to an old friend." Rena explained, looking straight at me.

He didn't even tell me about the fact that Rena and the others are coming. I huffed inwardly, but I knew that it was something immaterial to argue with, so I shrugged it off.

Whatever.

"Oh right." There was a good chance that Seb revealed the friend's identity to the girls, especially Rena. After all, I could see that he always treated her specially than the others. It never failed to make me uncomfortable and fitful, but I would always hide my feelings from boiling over. "Do you happen to know who's the guy?"

"Neither of us know. Sebby didn't want to tell us and say that it would be a surprise." Florence shrugged, crossing her arms. "However, I know that it's obviously a boy."

"What kind of surprise? It's just meeting an old friend, that is." Alyssa sneered, before she sipped on her tea.

"Salty aren't you, girl?" The green-haired girl remarked, throwing a mocking look at the fuming Alyssa. Simultaneously, she twirled a strand of her hair. "Let me tell you a good news: it's getting on my nerves."

"Well then, let me tell you a good advice. Stop being such a stuck-up bitch. You're like those spoiled girls at school who think they can order people around and judge them." She fussed, the menancing expression on her face was enough to send the weak to cower. "I still couldn't forgive you calling Rena naive and stupid."

"Aly..." Rena called out her best friend's name silently. While the latter didn't catch it, I did and I knew that she didn't want the argument to escalate into a big fight. I have to find ways to stop this. I fastened my lips altogether, contemplating about any words that might put this to an end.

"In the past, it was the truth, but Serena has changed a lot ever since I met her." Despite everything, Florence remained mostly calm and unagitated. She casually placed her hand on her face.

"You can't just go around and shove insults on people's face!"

"Okay, okay, sheesh. I apologized already," Florence sighed, "so stop with all the racket-"

As I was about to butt into the fight, the bickering was abruptly stopped when the bell above the doors. Our table finally fell into silence, as Alyssa and Florence glanced at the upcoming customers. On the other hand, Rena taciturnly let out a breath of relief, as she clenched her hand on her chest. I was able to recover as well.

When I focused on the entrance, I noticed that Seb had finally arrived, but he was companied by a particular someone. They seemed to have a lighthearted conversation, the opposite of us right now.

They were chuckling midway while a waitress came to serve them. When Seb saw me, he gave me a brief grin. He showed the mysterious guy our group by pointing his finger. The latter then brightened up when he saw me, and muttered something inaudible to Seb. Due to the noise of the crowd, I couldn't catch what they were talking about.

I stood up from my chair when the two of them decided to approach us. My so-called friend then stopped in front of me, taking a look at my appearance, and I did the same too.

I can't help it but to harbor deja-vu vibes with this dude, only to discover that he was the same guy that I had bumped into exactly two days ago.

His mouth was stretched in a smile to induce welcoming, warm aura that surrounded him. He was wearing a short-sleeved sweater and a denim, with a thin, black scarf adorning his neck. He possessed a short, midnight black hair, and it looked like it was recently cut. Like what I described before, he has golden tones underneath his brown skin.

Now that I had analyzed his features, I finally remembered him, but I was definitely far from happy. It was the person who I didn't want to meet again... and I have no more reasons to talk to him.

Beside me, there was a ghostly outline of my kid counterpart, grinning as he grabbed the hand of my late friend.

They disappeared into thin air when Seb started introducing me to him.

"Ed, do you remember him? This is Raphael."

***

A/N: Woo, finally Ed got to meet his friend from the past, but he seemed so not happy with him... Do you, readers, wonder why? Hehe, if you're still not able to find the answer, tune up next week! XD

I hope you enjoy this chapter, and don't forget to vote and comment. :)