Now
He stepped onto the train, before he even thought of a destination.
Getting far away from his home, from that street, from this platform where he’d met Nina almost every morning for the past couple of months, was what he needed.
As he secured a seat, the same one he always shared beside Nina, Seth rested his forehead against the glass pane. The ghost of her lingered beside him, and he could almost hear Nina’s voice. Telling him about her day, about a movie she’d recently seen, or a story idea she’d suddenly thought of at 3pm.
His fingers closed around his phone, gripping it, and he itched once more to text Nina.
I can’t offer the love she deserves.
His phone started to ring halfway through the trip, from both his Mum and Dad. He sent them a text stating that he was staying at his friend’s place tonight, to prevent them from submitting a missing persons report.
It wasn’t until Seth was three stops away from Central, that he called Jae. Other than Nina, his was the first name that popped up in his head.
He hadn’t even realised that Jae had become that sort of person for Seth, one that he could feel vulnerable with openly.
“What’s up,” Jae greeted.
When he was met with silence within the first ten seconds, Jae’s voice dipped into one of concern.
“Seth, man, what’s wrong?”
“Can I stay at yours?” Seth asked, “I had a massive fight with my parents and I - I just need to be somewhere that’s not there right now.”
Without hesitation, and almost instantly, Jae said, “Of course bro. Anytime.”
Seth’s shoulders relaxed, his entire weight slumping against his train seat, not even realising it’d been tense. Jae was not Joshua. He was not like his other friends before, where it’d been all for show, all for superficiality and rank climbing.
No - Jae was a true friend. His only true friend, and for that, Seth was grateful. At least he’d done something right.
Before arriving at Jae’s step, Seth stopped by a Mexican takeaway joint and picked up a couple of burritos for them both, and some crinkle cut fries. He was already beginning to feel bad for springing this sudden sleepover on Jae, so the least he could do was provide their food.
It was already dark by the time Seth arrived, even though it was only 6pm. Night came quicker during winter, which Seth despised.
“Hey man,” Jae greeted, clapping Seth on the back.
He asked no questions, other than what Seth felt like watching on Netflix. Jae also had a subscription to CrunchyRoll, so they started a popular anime calledOne Pieceinstead. It was a fun show that Seth was able to lose his brain to.
“You had no plans with Anya, tonight?” Seth asked, as he finished up his burrito.
Jae shook his head.
“I saw her yesterday, and she slept over the night before. Today, she’s out at a hens night for her best friend.”
Relief washed over Seth. At least he hadn’t rudely impeded on any existing plans.
At one point, Jae’s sister, Lina, stepped out of the room to greet Seth, before retreating back inside.
“She’s like that, ignore her. Love the solace of her own room.”
They watched a couple more episodes of One Piece, until Jae declared he was going to get desert. Desert, being a chocolate paddlepop from the fridge.
As he did so, he asked, “So, is everything okay Seth? Did you want to talk about it?”
In all honesty, no. He didn’t. All he wanted to do was keep watching episodes of these pirates on adventures, trying to find the titular one piece.
But that was what Seth always did. Run away. Distract himself. Never face the issue.
