serena-matthews:
Now that Summer was out of the equation, Serena rarely made visits back to Harwich anymore. If it weren’t for visiting Bryce and occasionally her father, she probably wouldn’t have come back at all, but this time around she had other matters to attend to, like sorting out her grandmother’s affairs and selling the home they’d lived in all her life. The only plus side she could think of to it all was getting to see the friends she’d actually maintained once she’d left for college, Nate included. They’d suffered long and hard together working at the Blue Dolphin, and she’d always appreciated his knack to make even the worst of shifts bearable. So when she heard his voice, she recognised it immediately, her lips slowly curving upwards into a bright smile. “Not long enough, apparently. I could have recognised that deep fry oil scent anywhere. Did you stop showering once you left town or something?” She pulled him in for a hug, which was defintely a testament to how much she missed him considering she’d never been one to show such explicit affection. “You have no idea how good it is to see you. And out of the apron, too. Marvellous.”
The calm of Harwich during the times he visited almost made the town unfamiliar to Nate. Sure, there were still a new generation of high school students with the teenage drama everyone expected, but without a book deal bearing their secrets, the chaos seemed much more controlled, much more mundane - as mundane as it should have been for Nate and Serena and their other friends, as well. With different colleges having different schedules, there never seemed to be too many familiar faces, and the worry that people might have connected his name to his secret had faded from his mind, just as the paperback passed around the school faded after its fifteen minutes were up. His smile opened up to release a laugh at Serena’s remark, thinking back to the shifts they had suffered through together. Surprisingly, that job - well, mostly the people he worked with - provided some of his best memories of high school. “No, I just think everything ever cooked in that kitchen somehow absorbed into my skin from working there so long - basically, I’m forever the essence of the Blue Dolphin.” Of course it wasn’t true, but he couldn’t stop such a playful nature from being brought out as they hugged. “What? I thought I pulled that apron off. But I’m really glad to see you, too. How’s everything been?”

















