The first day of Spring was another of my favorite kind of day: warm and rainy. Sky water always had a sort of isolating effect, isolating me from the stresses of other people and the modern day. It made me feel one with nature, like I had a place in the world.
Sebastian, who was with me once again as I fished… I wasn't sure what he loved so much about rain. His thing was probably that it kept everyone inside.
"I ran into a bunch of frogs on the way here," he told me. "Actually, as soon as I approached, all but one of them hopped away as if their lives depended on it."
"All but one?" I said. "How long did that one stay with you?"
"A good few minutes, actually," he said. "He even hopped onto my hand when I extended it. Eventually, though, he hopped away from me, too."
"That's cool," I said. "I'd love to hold a frog."
"I feel like it represents life," he went on. "If you're different, you get left behind."
I chuckled a single chuckle.
"Also kinda reminds me of my friendships," I said without thinking. "At least, all the ones leading up to now. Eventually, they all leave."
There was a 3-or-so-second pause before Sebastian spoke again.
"You know, if Sam were here," he said. "He'd be all like 'Don't talk down on yourselves. Those are my friends you're talking about.'"
"I'm assuming he's told you that before, then?" I asked.
"Yeah," Sebastian nodded. "Sometimes, I wonder how he and I ever became friends. He's a ray of fucking sunshine. Sometimes, it gets annoying."
Only sometimes?, I wanted to ask.
"How did you guys meet, by the way?" I asked instead.
"We're two of the only three… well, now, four 'geeks' in this dump heap of a town," he answered. "You know how extroverts adopt introverts? That's exactly what happened. I was his friend the moment he stepped foot here."
"Hm," I said. "I… Well, dang. You could say he adopted me in much the same way."
He'd technically met me for the first time when he found me passed out, if I remembered correctly. We mutually met when I left the saloon that night, when he'd been the one to catch up to me. Then, he'd spend time with me whenever I was at the beach. The rest was history. Yep, he'd totally adopted me.
"He's just that much of a saint, huh?" I sighed.
"You could say that," Sebastian shrugged.
Later on, I went home, hauling more fish than a day would usually provide, though less of a variety.
Once I got to the farm, I raised a brow when I saw the flag up on my mailbox. I could've sworn I'd checked the mail that morning. Did extra deliveries get made throughout the day?
Once I got all the fish put into the shipping box, I opened the mailbox to find perhaps the fanciest envelope I'd ever been sent. The foil was certainly shinier than any credit card offer I'd ever been sent, anyway. I quickly dashed inside with it.
The return address had the name of one of my distant cousins on it, Amy. The golden foil design immediately screamed "wedding" to me.
And wedding, it was. I opened the envelope to find the invitation to her wedding, to take place on Summer 12. She was marrying a guy named Eric, who I'd never heard of in my life.
I read on, though, to find that the location was a church near a mountain range maybe an hour away from ZuZu City… and that every two guests had been given one room in the nearby five-star resort for a week-long stay. Guests were expected to check in on Summer 11.
I didn't ever expect to even look at that resort in my life. I'd heard that people staying there ultimately spent billions of gold for the full experience.
This wasn't just a wedding. This was a frickin' vacation.
I almost felt overly materialistic for getting hella excited for this. Almost.