A Warm Reunion

Jack adjusted his black leather jacket and checked out his fit. He was wearing a fitted dark gray crew neck t-shirt with a small ghost icon smoking at the corner underneath his leather jacket, black cargo pants, black leather sneakers, a silver chain around his neck, silver watch, and he also wore a hat.

"Good thing I still had my big brother's clothes. After growing my own clothes don't fit as well." Jack muttered to himself as he felt he looked quite stylish if not a little edgy for liking.

"Alright, it's time to face the outside world." Jack said to cheer himself up and left.

He didn't have a car in his life so he had to take public transportation. Luckily, in his prior bank account he had a couple hundred dollars saved up so he could afford to eat and travel.

Arriving at the bus stop near him, Jack sat down on the bench and pulled up his phone. According to Google maps, this bus stop would only take half way before he had to switch to another bus then walk five minutes to the Chile's restaurant that he and Sarah agreed to meet at.

Which would take him forty minutes if everything went well.

They planned to meet in about half an hour.

Jack's eye twitched as he sighed. He was going to be late again. He really had to fix this habit of his.

"I guess I'll let Sarah know I'm going to be late." Jack muttered to himself and sent her a text message.

He quickly got a response saying that she called it and was going to be late herself so it was no biggie.

Another ping followed—a selfie.

"Hmmm, she sent me a selfie?" Jack said with surprise.

Sarah grinned at him from the screen, her crimson eyes framed by short black hair tipped with bright red. A white lab coat hung loosely over her shoulders, and the badge around her neck marked her as an intern. She looked... different.

Memories flooded Jack's mind as he recognized the girl in the selfie even though she had changed a bit from when he last saw her. She had lost some weight and returned back to her natural hair color from having it dyed blue for most of high-school.

In this world it seemed that natural eye and hair colors were far more diverse compared to his universe. Mostly due to the viruses that have entered most of humanity's bodies. Although these viruses weren't harmful they did affect certain properties like natural eye and hair color.

Jack fell silent as he could see the similarities between the Sarah he knew and this Sarah. This Sarah was younger, had different hair and eye color, and shorter. But other than that she was exactly the same.

Jack smiled and looked at the text message below.

[Sarah Griffin]: Changed quite a bit. I'm now a looker so don't mistake me for someone else when you see me.

Jack chuckled before taking his own selfie and sending back his response.

"As good as me?"

At the same time as he sent his selfie, in front of an underground lab a small girl blinked her ruby eyes as she cursed under her breath.

Her jaw slackened as her fingers zoomed in on the picture. "What the—" she muttered, earning a few curious glances from nearby interns.

"Is Jack taking steroids? How is he so ripped when he didn't go into military service? Also in the picture he looks taller." Sarah muttered with speechlessness.

She had the same feeling as back when she hadn't seen her friends since summer break only to find out they all had growth spurt yet hers was nowhere to be found.

Her doctors lied to her.

"I thought I was doing great but Jack seems to be really hitting the gym lately. I should ask him what's his routine." Sarah muttered and sent her response before putting her phone away.

She entered the laboratory behind her and saw dozens of strange looking plants under hanging lights while numerous interns like her study them meticulously.

The lab smelled faintly of damp soil and chemicals, the buzzing of fluorescent lights overhead merging with the soft murmurs of interns.

She eventually found her station where two other interns about her age were studying a plant that looked like the short king of all corn. It was only up to her chest yet it was quite burly and dozens of corn were growing on it.

One of the interns at her station was a young girl with black wavy hair, who was using tweezers to delicately open the leaves of a corn. While her partner took pictures in every angle.

They had stern faces as they took their study seriously and only paused after they noticed Sarah coming over.

"Sarah? I thought you said you were leaving early. Did you forget something?" The female intern asked with curiosity.

"My friend said he was going to be fifteen minutes late. But with his record that fifteen minutes is going to turn into thirty minutes. So I came back to help you take the final notes for the day." Sarah said with a smile.

The two interns shrugged their shoulders and handed her a clipboard that was filled with papers.

Sarah grabbed it and went to work.

Twenty minutes later, Sarah arrived at the Chili's that she and Jack had agreed to and blink.

Right in front of her Jack yawned as he waved her down while walking over.

"You're late." Jack said with a smile.

"Jack, how are ya?" Sarah said as she skipped over with a bright smile.

"Pretty decent. But you seem to be doing great. I almost couldn't recognize you without your selfie." Jack said smoothly but also literally.

If he hadn't seen her he would still have thought she looked like Sarah from his world.

Sarah rolled her eyes, it was clear to anyone that in terms of looks he was doing much better.

"Thank you don't have to butter me up. Treat me like back when we were in school."

"Like shit?" Jack said jokingly.

"Hahaha, exactly."

After their small talk, they both entered the Chili's and ordered some fries and a burger while they caught up.

The faint smell of sizzling fajitas mixed with the hum of chatter around them. Jack leaned back in the booth, sipping his water as he watched Sarah poke at her fries.

"So, what got you so busy that you couldn't even bother to keep up with your best friends?" Sarah asked while pouting her lips.

"Have you ever heard about Starry Cloud Studio?" Jack asked before taking a sip of water.

"Yeah, I haven't played any of their games but I heard that recently they got into hot water after they illegally removed their games. Their fans were so pissed off it got Steam's attention and they put the games back up."

"Why do you ask?" Sarah asked as he played with her food.

Jack smiled when heard that even Sarah knew about his work. However his good mood left when he heard her continue before sighing.

"I'm working for Starry Cloud Studio." Jack's voice was flat, but his hand clenched the water glass just a bit tighter.

"In fact I'm the creator and sole game developer."

Sarah's face froze in shock as she exclaimed, "No shot! How could such a small but well known gaming studio be yours? You were kind of…you know back in high school."

"Kind of shit? Yeah, I know but my talents were recognized by a gaming company and they hired me to help them break into Timber Woods City."

"Unfortunately, I only found out that they were a Shadow Gaming Company yesterday when they deleted all my accounts, games, and even took out my money without even a warning."Jack said and took a bite of his fries.

It was very salty but good.

"So that's why. It does explain things." Sarah muttered.

"I wanted to tell you guys but they made me sign a NDA that I couldn't break until I officially started. And after that they worked me to the bone which took up all my free time." Jack said without a hint of shame on his face.

"Well I guess that's a good enough excuse. What are you planning on doing now?" Sarah asked intrigued.

"Well I'm trying to get back on my feet. I need to start making some games to pay the bills and to pay for my extension."

"But that's enough about me for now. What have you been up to? How's college? Did any interesting things happen? Did you finally get a boyfriend?" Jack asked with curiosity.

Sarah smiled bitterly when she heard his last part.

"No boyfriend I'm afraid. But everything else is good. I've been minoring in Botanist so that I can be a specialist in plants in video games to make it easier for me to get signed into a good studio. Plus, I always liked learning about plants so I might as well put this extra knowledge to use." Sarah said as she poked her head.

"As for anything interesting? Not much, I made a few friends but none of them are the same type of nerds like us. I haven't been able to play Magic the Gathering or DND with anyone."

"Really? I thought there was basically any kind of club in college. Or you could just make your own." Jack said with some surprise.

"I wish I could but I don't really have time or desire to go through the process of setting up a club and recruiting people. Already have my hands full with classes and my internship." Sarah said with a soft sigh before her red eyes sparkled.

"But now I don't have to. You can play with me."

"Me? What about the others? Couldn't you play with them?" Jack asked with surprise.

"I kind of lost contact with Davin and Flipp. You know Davin left the City to attend Fast Streak College in Long Lake City and Flipp's internship had turned into a full time job."

"So he has been busy with his own life. Last time I talked to him he was thinking about proposing to his girlfriend." Sarah said as she put her finger on her lips.

"Basically the gang had been reduced to just me and you." Sarah added before falling silent.

"Just us." Jack muttered.

"It's still better than my old universe." He thought to himself.

Back then he completely lost contact with everyone from high school. He made new friends from college and work but those relationships didn't have the same deep spark he had with the gang.

Seeing Sarah again stirred something in him—nostalgia and relief. Back in his old world, their friendships had unraveled. Here, there was a chance to hold onto them, even if the gang was down to two.