"Weirdo"
"Pfft so are you"

"Hey Ash," I begin hesitantly.
They glance up from their notebook, "what's up?"
"I uh-" I break off, "did you notice anything while we were at Great Wolf?"
"What do you mean?" Ash straightens up, taking their focus away from their drawing.
"Anything with Zack and I?" I press.
Ash shrugs, "nothing out of the ordinary, I don't know? Was there something I should've noticed?"
"Not exactly," I shake my head, "I was pretty sure we hid it well."
Ash tilts their head and I continue speaking.
"We held hands," I smile, shrugging slightly, "quite a few times actually."
"Wait you did!?" Ash asks, eyes wide.
I can hear excitement and disbelief I their voice as I smile and nod.
"Yeah," I feel my face is hot and red.
"Thats-" Ash breaks off, "Whoa- are you two together then? Wait- that was in June-"
I tilt my head down for a moment, careful that it doesn't look like the start of a nod, "we're not together," I glance down again, "but we're talking every day and we had a few moments while you guys were here too..." I trail off.
"What kind of moments?" Ash asks eagerly.
"We held hands at like, every opportunity, we kinda snuggled on the couch a bit," I shrug, "mostly we looked at each other a lot- and we stayed up late texting every night. Pretty sure he was ultra suspicious of Clyde-" I laugh a little.
Ash smiles, "awww that's awesome!"
"Yeah!" I smile.
"Do you think you're gonna get together?" Ash asks.
"Only if I move back," I sigh, "Im not sure either of us would quite benefit from starting our relationship while across the country."
"Thats fair," Ash nods, "but you two are so good together-!"
I giggle, "I got him to start playing with some filters so now I've got a billion pictures of him too."
Ash snorts, "cool."
"Wait, look at his contact picture," I laugh as I open his contact and send them a screenshot of the page.
His contact had been changed a couple days ago to this image of him with a cat filter surrounded by glowing golden hearts.
"Awesome," Ash laughs.
I nod, "it's perfect."

~•~•~•~•~

9-3-2022
It's been a while since I've opened this journal, but now that I have, I have a lot to write down.
I am so glad I finally told you about Zack and I recently. The two of us have been texting every day and even call on occasion. I've finally eased his worries about Clyde- at least for the most part- and I'm really happy. I know that we're not actually together, but I think we might be eventually. I've got hope for the first time in a while and I can't stop smiling just thinking about him.
A few other updates:
•Riders Birthday was absolutely epic. Dudes richer than anyone back home and I swear to God he lives in a mansion.
•I've actually

I pause my writing as Scales jumps up onto my bed, shaking my hands slightly and almost causing me to smudge ink on the page. I pet Scales then go back to writing that line.

started writing a little more in my free time. I'll probably send it to you soon so stay tuned!

I write a few more things about the past few months since I'd opened this notebook and then go on to rant about how happy I was to see her- and the others- this summer.
I eventually close the notebook and put it back into my backpack then crawl back onto my bed and sprawl out.
I wish I were home, I sigh, there's so much there that I can't have here...