He was strangely acutely aware of the way their knees were brushing slightly against each other. Seth clamped his lips shut, fighting the urge.
Instead, he asked, “So, are you still in contact with anyone else from high school?”
Nina met his eyes again.
“Of course,” she said, “I’m still very close with Veronica -”
Veronica Ho and Nina have been friends since Seth could remember. He was pretty sure they had lived on the same street since they were children and remained best friends throughout high school. The two were always at each other’s side.
“What about Bianca and Celine? Theresa?” he asked, surprised at how he remembered the friends she hung with.
At that, Nina shook her head.
“Still close with Celine, but not Bianca or Theresa. Fell out of touch after graduation.”
She gave a nonchalant shrug, and Seth wondered if she was truly nonchalant about having drifted from a friend he remembered was always with her throughout high school.
Seth also remembered having a crush on Bianca at some point. He wondered if Nina ever knew about that.
“How about you?” Nina asked, training her eyes on his.
“Well…”
There was a time, for a few months after graduation, when Seth and the group of friends he’d always stuck with in high school stayed in contact. Then, there was a time where it just…stopped. No more gaming nights. No more memes sent to the group chat.
The friendship fizzled, as if it was locked in high school, and that’s it.
Did he want Nina to know that? Does it even matter?
“The same old boys,” he said.
“That’s sweet,” Nina said, and a soft smile graced her lips. Her smile was the same, too.
The air between them had softened, the previous awkwardness having lifted slightly. Still there, but not as much.
Does she remember how you broke her heart?
Quashing the thought, Seth continued, “And are you working anywhere at the moment?”
At this, Nina sighed loudly.
“Not at the moment. I just quit a retail job at my local IGA supermarket at the beginning of this year, because I’m praying the next job will be, you know, in the industry. So, fingers crossed that I’m lucky with upcoming publishing internships,” she professed, and lifted her crossed fingers. “Are you?”
“I was working at a shoe store for a bit, but quit last year,” Seth said.
He’d actually enjoyed his time at the shoe shop, having gotten the gig sometime at the end of Year 12, just before his graduation. It distracted him alot from the emptiness of both his Mum and Dad’s houses, back when they lived separately. Where many didn’t want to work gruelling, long hours, Seth always loved when he’d had to work the longer 8 hour shifts. At least, there, he had his coworkers to talk to.
But he wasn’t going to tell all of that to Nina.
“Like you, I’m hoping I get lucky with a placement at a good gaming tech company, you know?”
Nina’s head tilted, her gaze clouding over in sentiment, her lips quirking up slightly.
“Look at us, all grown up.”
“I know right. We really are grown up.”
Outside, the train emerged from the tunnel, unveiling Sydney’s cityscape. Nearing their destination.
