“Dylan!” I hear my name being called as I walk into the café to meet my friends. I quickly scan the room to locate where they’re sitting and where my name was called from.

            I walk quickly and quietly to their table with my head down and my eyes watching my feet, silently hoping no one is looking at me. “Hey guys,” I greet them as I take a seat next to Sam.

            “Hey Dylan, long time no see,” Eryn chuckles. I laugh quietly in response, considering I saw her this morning, by chance, leaving the mall, I know she’s being sarcastic.

            “Yeah, it’s been forever,” I speak with equal amounts of sarcasm as she did.

            Suddenly, a loud ringtone blares throughout the café. Eryn looks down at her ringing phone. “Sorry, I have to take this… Excuse me.” She stands from her chair and quickly answers the call as she walks outside as if to not disturb anyone.

            The rest of us stay quiet for a while until Sam speaks up. “I don’t know why she didn’t just stay here,” he laughs.

            “Because she’s polite and doesn’t want to bother anyone,” Leo chimes in.

            “But who would it bother?” Sam laughs again. “None of us are really talking while she’s gone anyway.” He’s got a point… We’re practically waiting for Eryn to return before the conversation resumes.

            We sit in silence as we wait for Eryn to come back.

            “Sorry about that guys,” Eryn apologizes when she sits down, next to Sam, again.

            “That’s fine, no worries,” Sam smiles reassuringly at her. “Would it be nosy to ask who called you?” he adds with a laugh.

            “It was my friend, Madi, I was telling you about the other day.” I look around the table to see Leo and Jeff with the same confused expressions on their faces, matching mine. Eryn looks at us. “You guys don’t know her yet… so far, only Sam kind of knows who she is,” she laughs lightly at our confused states.

            “Oh, okay,” Leo speaks for all of us.

            “Do we get to meet your friend?” Jeff and Sam ask at the same time.

            “Yeah, she’ll be back tomorrow,” she smiles.

            “She’ll ‘be back’?” Sam asks the question we’re all thinking.

            “She went away for school but now she’s done and graduated so she’s moving back,” she explains.

            “If she gets back tomorrow, wouldn’t she want to unpack and get settled first?” I ask no one in particular. That probably sounded rude…

            “Oh, she’s actually back and doing all that today! I mean, we’re all meeting her tomorrow. Sorry if I confused you,” she apologizes.

            “I was just confused. And sorry if what I said sounded rude,” I apologize to her now.

            “He speaks!” Sam cheers. Seriously dude?

           “What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask him, trying not to burst into laughter.

           “You’re so shy, you know, you don’t talk a lot because you’re quiet.”

            “Yeah I’m quiet and shy but not with my friends, just people I don’t know,” I shrug.

            “That’s okay,” Eryn speaks. “Madi’s the same, you’ll see tomorrow,” she laughs. “Madi’s super shy and quiet around new people so please don’t make her feel more awkward than she probably already is.”

            “Is she basically another Dylan then?” Jeff asks, laughing as he speaks.

            “Almost,” Eryn laughs, “She’s shy and quiet but she calls herself awkward a lot.”

            “We’ll get along just fine then,” I chuckle with everyone else.

            “She’s also very sarcastic once you start to get to know her,” Eryn adds.

            “My kind of people,” Sam’s voice raises slightly.

            “Yeah, she’s sarcastic, sometimes savage… I think you’ll get along,” she says.

            “Perfect,” Sam smiles again. “Well, we can’t wait to meet her tomorrow.” The rest of us nod in agreement.

            “You’re so weird Sam,” Eryn teases.

            “And your point is..?”

            The five of us erupt into laughter. I notice a few heads turning at the volume of our group.

            “Guys,” Leo gets our attention. “We should probably go somewhere else before we get kicked out,” he suggests.

            “He’s right,” Jeff agrees.

            We all stand, “Where to now?” I ask.

            “We could go to the park around the corner and just chill there,” Eryn suggests but it sounds more like a question.

           We all agree and quickly leave the café to go to the park around the corner. Luckily the park is outside so we can be as loud as we want.

           As we walk, I admire the day that is today. Seemingly the perfect temperature and not a cloud in the sky, but there aren’t very many people out.

            I thought there would be more people out today..?

            “I thought there would be more people out today..?” Sam speaks up.

            “I was, literally, just thinking the exact same thing!” I comment.

            “We’re here!” Eryn exclaims before her and Sam run down the small hill the rest of us stand on. They do this every time… We get to this hill and they just run; they run towards the playground for kids every single time. Each time they start running, Leo, Jeff, and I can’t help but laugh and sigh.

           “Why do you two do this every time?” Leo shouts to them as they stop running. The remaining three of us simply walk towards them to catch up.

            “We do this every time because it’s just a thing now; it’s just something we do and we’ll continue to run to the park when we reach the hill until we probably die,” Eryn laughs as she looks at Sam. “Right Sam?” He nods as he tries to catch his breath.

            When Sam can finally breathe properly again, he speaks. “You’re right,” he chuckles. “By the way, what did you plan for tomorrow so that we’re not all completely clueless?” he asks, referring to the plans made of meeting Eryn’s friend.

           “Honestly, I don’t know for sure what exactly we’d be doing… And, Madi doesn’t know she’s meeting you guys,” she admits.

            “Why?”

           “Because I know how she is and she’d already be awkward all day before meeting you so I thought, maybe, if she doesn’t know beforehand that she’ll be meeting new people, maybe it might help some,” she explains.

            “Should we pretend to randomly bump into you whenever you and your friend meet up?” I sarcastically suggest.

            “That could work!” Eryn exclaims. Oh gosh.

            “I was kidding,” I tell her, laughing awkwardly as I speak.

            “Dylan, that’s actually not a bad idea though… because then, one of us can suggest just all hanging out as a group. Ta-da! That might work.” She continues to explain a couple ideas and everyone asks a few questions about her friend in general as we continue talking. Her name has been said multiple times… Why can’t I seem to remember Eryn’s friend’s name? I’ll remember it tomorrow, hopefully.

            “Okay, so, that’s what we’ll do tomorrow then,” Eryn interrupts my thoughts.

            Wait, what? I look at Sam confused. He nods as if to say he’ll explain it to me later. Thank you Sam!

            We spend several hours just chilling and hanging out at the park. The entire time, I’m distracted, trying to tell myself not to be awkward tomorrow meeting someone new. But, knowing myself, I predict that I’ll be too shy.