NOSTALGIC.

Her expression softened as the little girl spoke, Sage's eyes landing upon the novel that had garnered so much excitement. "Oh, you've read it too? I finished it a while back and I'd love to hear your thoughts! Kenneth Sorkin has become one of my favorite authors over the years, so I usually have one of his novels on rotation."

He had only ever talked about his writing with his grandparents, back in the day, and very briefly now when his mother decided to ask; and mostly because his family were the only ones who knew. Knowing that Kenneth's writing resonated with Sage meant that they still had something of their old friendship, in a way. "I think I'm gona need a re-read, to be honest. It was... A lot. Uh, the way he describes feelings is what definitely stood out for me. But what I'm getting is you're the Kenneth Sorkin specialist here, so maybe you can help me out."

A long stretch of silence stretched between them as Elliot finished. It was after a few moments that Nathan finally let out a slow breath. "You always were stubborn as hell." There was no bite behind his words. No, it was familiarity more than anything. "Part of me knows you're right." The admission fell from his lip. "I've known for a long time."

His gaze drifted to the window briefly before returning to Elliot. "I can't tell you how many families I've stood in front of to know how this works. If someone sat across from me and told me the same exact story, I would tell them it wasn't their fault, too."

Because he would. Without hesitation.

"I've spent so much time being angry at you. Some of it was deserved, some of it wasn't." Nathan paused for a beat. "Truth is, it was easier to be angry at you than I was just as angry at myself."

Elliott heard a strange, humorless laugh coming out of his own mouth. "See, I don't think there's a world where there's a type of anger I deserve and a type of anger I don't. But what I do know, for sure, is there should not be any anger directed at you. I hope the day comes when you can see it like that too. Truly see it." He stared at Nathan for a while, taking it all in again.

It was the first time he saw his best friend in more than a decade. They were both so different from the newly adults they had been when it all happened. And even more different than the two kids who met and were never seen without the other ever since.

He finally got up, quickly grabbing his daughter's stuff and only then taking a look on what she'd been doing the whole time instead of homework. A quick sketch of Nathan with a serious expression, likely the one he'd kept on during the entire conversation, a milkshake in front of his face and the words sorry again about your pants! drink up or it's gonna go bad :) scribbled. Elliott turned the drawing to Nathan's side of the table, now with an actual smile on his face. "She's heard a lot about you and thinks you're the coolest so I just know how embarrassed she is about this whole thing." In the distance, he saw Juniper outside the bathroom, patiently waiting by the door. The man took a few steps and said goodbye with a light squeeze on Nathan's shoulder and a quick "Take care." before walking away.

Nadia's expression shifted the moment he said it, like the ground under her was suddenly shaky. High school. Tutoring. It should've clicked, but it didn't quite. Her body certainly knew something her brain didn't. It almost felt like.. he was talking about her. No, it couldn't be. "I think I knew an Elliott once. He was.." she trailed off, shaking her head as the memory brushed too close. Honestly, she didn't actually remember.. but she remembered looking up the accident many years ago, and learning about the driver of the car she'd been in. Her gaze stayed on him a moment longer, uncertainty creeping in now where recognition should've been settling. Then she exhaled softly, forcing a small, apologetic smile as she glanced down at the counter, suddenly feeling a bit foolish. "Sorry," she murmured. "I think I've got the wrong person. That just.. threw me off for a second."

Redirecting her gaze back down toward the ground, the brunette took another deep breath before speaking. It wasn't that she hoped to avoid him around town, but rather that she found it difficult to ignore the elephant in the room. "Listen, it's been a long time. I appreciate your apology and I'm willing to start fresh if you are. Whether that means we rebuild our friendship, I have no idea. But we can at least be civil with one another."

"I'll make it up to you, Miss Sage! I just reaaaally needed to... Hey! Dad, look!" The girl suddenly pointed at the book, no subtlety in sight. Elliott's face went pale and he closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head. "Oh, yes. I've just read that book, right, June? Huh... Are you enjoying it?"

nah. one thing about me buddy is that i want authenticity. always. so start things off however it feels to you and and throughout the email that's all i want. just be real. the good, the bad, and the ugly.

i do. is that weird for you to hear/read? i'm guessing you had a dream or passion to write and you made that happen for yourself. not a lot of people follow their dreams or pursue them to the point of success. some people even turn away after they've tasted success because they're afraid lightening won't strike twice. you also put out a story your way rather than conventionally and you've stood your ground on that.

compliments are tough. i see you on that. either you don't feel you're worthy of them or you're not used to praise of any kind.

because it didn't feel like conversation. it felt like you telling me things and then arguing against any point that i've made. of course we're each going to believe that we're right. they're our opinions. but a conversation is being open.

do you know the definition of remarkable? it generally means something worth remark. just because something is noteworthy doesn't mean its of excellence, it's more about the discussion it can create. yeah, my life is remarkable, as is yours i'm sure. because we've all done things, missed things, good or bad, great or small that affect the paths of our lives. you're unforgettable to someone. it sounds like you're writing them off and then feeling sorry for yourself about it.

the only thing i say against that, because write what you want and it clearly pulled feelings and a response from this reader, is most people read to escape. yeah we can relate and be confronted with things in stories but i think you more so wrote something that frustrates people.

that's fair and you're entitled to write and share that. it's not a bad thing reading that story and getting that perspective. you clearly created something that made me want more for those characters.

you're not the first and wont be the last. i'm just wondering what's next for you. my story? yeah, it's got some feelings in it. there's a reason why i focused on the subject. i'm a filmmaker, or, well, i used to be?? i made a documentary called ripple and it's about the ripple effect a single moment can have through the span of people's lives. it was a finalist at sundance film festival and got selected to show at others.

paige

So, something cool happened. Well, for me, at least. Alice's back and we started looking at possible editors for what could be my third book. It's insane being this excited for something that has many "if's" yet in the process, but I've been giving the whole acknowledging the positive things a go ever since someone told me it makes you look less a like a prick. ;)

It does feel weird, I'm not gonna lie. Probably because it's the first time someone said/wrote that to me. It feels nice at the same time, too. I think I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it means, but I know whatever the feeling ends up being, there's gonna be a lot of it. So thank you. I guess for me this whole journey felt like just a guy trying to get through it, and not this journey worthy of admiration.

Writing came pretty late in life for me. I don't have one of those stories of always wanting that for myself, like we're used to see with most artists. It came out of necessity and it was fucking hard to get the words out in the beginning. It always should be, I guess. Dreams are hard to follow; success's hard to get. The day it becomes easy, maybe it's not worth to dream about it anymore. Maybe being afraid isn't so bad, Paige. Maybe you can use the fear in a way that gets you back into filmmaking.

Sorry about that. I can get a bit defensive, but I feel like mostly I'm just actually curious to hear about you, I think that's why I kept pushing.

Wow, okay. I guess I deserved that. But remarkable has more than one definition, and I thought we were going for the other one; the one more on the extraordinary, exceptional, striking side. Do we agree do disagree, then?

I can understand that, because I too mostly want to escape when I'm reading or watching something. But I don't think I ever wrote a single sentence thinking about what most people wanted. And, yes, you probably just thought I'm a pretentious asshole again, but I mean it in the most honest way possible. I didn't think about making my writing public, I just needed a vessel to get things out. I read to escape, and wrote to confront. I was frustrated myself at the beginning, but after years of rewrites, edits, and life going on... I feel relieved.

Alice asked me that question recently. Said it was something for me to think about while she was off. Are you two secretly onto something? I've been thinking I'm not ready for what's next yet. There's still some previous that I'd like the world to see. And, also, I have to actually live the next stuff so I can write about it. Right?

Oh, a filmmaker! Congratulations, Paige! This is actually remarkable (by my preferred definition of the word). Would you allow me to watch it, maybe?

Kenny