strawberry lemonade - walker scobell

12. the meeting

DAYLIST
lowkey - niki
24/7 - celina sharma, harris j.

THE BOY was dreaming again. But this time, he wasn't dreaming his usual, nonsensical dreams. He dreamt of memories, long buried.

Walker was 13 again. Or 14, he wasn't quite sure. He was...in a skate park. With Momo, Charlie, and Dior.

"Hey, is it okay if my friend comes over?" Charlie asked. "She's cool. She's really good at skateboarding too."

"Yeah, what's her name?" Momona asked.

"I think you all know her. Ridley Sun? I co-starred with her in Charlie Thorne."

Walker paused.

He knew Ridley Sun. Before he'd met her, he'd been a big fan. As a young child, he read the Charlie Thorne series and had been obsessed with it. When the movie came out, he'd been more than excited by it.

She was an amazing actress. And, from the videos he watched of her online, an even better person.

But when she'd come up to him...he froze. He didn't know what to say.

Walker could act. That much was true. With acting, he felt like he could socialize normally and talk to people easily. And technically, he could do those things when he wasn't acting. Especially now. But at the time when Ridley had greeted him, he hadn't known how to properly talk to anybody who he didn't know his age. His only practice was the cast in the Adam Project and his own family.

So, naturally, when he first saw her, he completely shut down. It was as if he couldn't even comprehend how to speak to her.

And then there was the awards ceremony.

He cringed. He'd been such an idiot speaking to her like that. Why even did he? For some stupid wish to be with a friend group that sucked?

Past Walker was a bit stupid, he acknowledged.

He hadn't run into her any more after the awards ceremony. This would be his first time interacting with her in person for some time. He was strangely...looking forward to seeing her.

"Ridley!" Charlie called, bringing Walker out of his thoughts. His friend ran to hug her.

Walker tried not to stare. He remembered how she'd greeted him before, enthusiastically waving at him with a toothy grin on her face.

This was not the same Ridley. Her eyes glanced over the area, vaguely passing over Walker in a disinterested expression.

Walker suddenly felt a chill overtake him.

The rest of the hangout proceeded similarly. Ridley was friendly to almost everyone but him- who she seemingly ignored. Walker, on the other hand, was practically silent, filled with regret from his previous actions.

No. He'd just act like his normal self. Make a joke. Laugh. Whatever.

The dream began to become blurry, but Walker still had a sense of what was taking place.

He'd made a small comment- a jest on Ridley's skateboarding form. He didn't remember what exactly was said nor what happened, but Ridley turned the joke back on him. Before he knew it, they were bickering, each sending insults the other's way.

Charlie hadn't exactly been thrilled.

He pulled him aside (and this part, particularly, Walker didn't remember) and began speaking.

"Stop fighting with her."

Walker was 15 again.

"What do you mean? I have?"