You Look Familiar

The universe has an odd way of pulling people together; as if there’s an invisible string that connects one person to another. For some people, it’s a blessing, a way for them to meet their soulmates or the love of their lives. For others though, a curse meant to break a person’s heart, most of the time never allowing the person to pick up the pieces and mend what was left of it. 

“Woooo! The semester’s finally over!” 

Sam groaned at the noise. At times like these, Sam really just wanted some peace and quiet; not the shouting of her overexcited friend, Daisy. She’s happy, really. The endless hours of reviewing and studying for her finals hopefully paid off. Being a psychology student really sucked the life out of her. Right now though, she needed a couple of hours of sleep, some medicine for her headache, and a good dinner. Sam smiled slightly at the thought of her warm bed waiting for her at the dorms, and so she decided to walk a little faster across the campus. I can’t wait to watch the couple of episodes of Suits that I missed; after I take a nap, of course. Man, a night of relaxation is all I need right now—

“You’re coming to the dinner tonight right?” 

Sam stopped mid-step, making Daisy bump slightly into her. With wide eyes and a sheepish smile, Sam slowly turned to her friend, an apology and an excuse ready at the tip of her tongue. The words got stuck in her throat though as she was met by furrowed brows and a slight frown on Daisy’s face. 

“I know that you already plan on sleeping the day away and then binge-watching Suits when you wake up,” Daisy said flatly, “but you promised a couple of days ago that you’d eat with us. Lucas is also supposed to introduce us to her other friends. You need more friends too, not just Lucas and I.” 

There was no point in arguing against Daisy anyway. Her friend was stubborn that way. 

“Okay, stop frowning already, you don’t look cute at all,” Sam smirked at her friend, “I’ll see you at the restaurant at seven? I still need to go take a nap and fix myself. I really look like death right now.” 

Daisy grinned at that, “Same. I need at least two hours to prepare my outfit though. Dress nicely okay? We don’t know, maybe Lucas’ friends are like, super pretty while we look like the broke college students that we are.I heard that the restaurant is fancy and all. Oh god, I hope Lucas pays for dinner, I have no money yet.” 

The two shared a laugh as they walked across campus. “I’ll see you later. Don’t be late! I’ll hit you if you oversleep!” Daisy called as she jogged to her dorm. Sam shook her head and continued walking to her own dorm. She glanced at her wristwatch. Three o’clock. I can take a nap for two hours, watch an episode of Suits, prep for 45 minutes, and walk to the restaurant for 30 minutes. I wonder if Lucas’ friends are nice. 

As Sam arrived at her dorm, she quickly set an alarm for later and soon enough dozed off. 

She was late. Sam completely slept through her alarms and ended up sleeping for three hours and thirty minutes. “I guess I’m that tired, huh,” Sam thought out loud as clothes flew across her dorm room, “what the hell is ‘dress nicely’ anyway? It’s too vague! Am I supposed to wear a dress or what?” 

As Sam briskly walked to the restaurant in black jeans and a simple white button up shirt with a white coat to protect her from the chilly December air, she couldn’t help but wonder once more about the new people joining their friend group. Sam felt an odd feeling in her chest, but she couldn’t exactly place what it was or what was causing it and passed it off as excitement and anxiety from meeting new people. 

Sam saw Daisy leaning on the restaurant wall wearing pants and a blouse and looking slightly cold. Daisy noticed Sam approaching her and smiled widely. 

“You look better rested,” Daisy started, “let’s go inside. It’s getting cold already.” 

Sam simply nodded and followed Daisy inside. 

The restaurant was nicely lit, with fancy overhead lights. Not a lot of people were dining, probably because of the price of the restaurant. Sam didn’t know how expensive the food would be but she really just hoped that her friend would cover for the cost of dinner; she was a broke college student, after all. 

Sam and Daisy were led to a table for six in the middle of the restaurant. The pair waited awkwardly at the table, looking and feeling slightly under-dressed. 

“Where the hell is Lucas? It’s already 7:15. He’s late.” Sam whispered to Daisy who was busy ogling at the menu.  

“Why the hell do expensive restaurants not put the prices on their menu? How am I supposed to know how much I’ll—” a loud boisterous laugh was heard across the restaurant, cutting off Daisy’s rant about the menu. The friends immediately smiled at the familiar sound of their friend’s laughter. The pair stood up as Lucas arrived at their table, smiles still playing on their lips. 

“Hey guys, I missed you so much,” Lucas greeted, “I can’t believe finals are finally over!” 

“Yeah we barely got to meet up and eat out,” Daisy said in faux annoyance, “by the way, this place is like super fancy and A, you’re just wearing your varsity jacket while we tried to look really nice here but obviously failed, and B, Sam and I have no money and expect you to pay for us.” 

Lucas laughed once more at the rapid-fire way Daisy talked, “Sure I’ll pay for all of us. Let’s sit, shall we?”

“We missed you too, Lucas. Here’s to finishing our finals then?” Sam toasted, holding a glass of water. The trio clinked their glasses and took a sip. 

“Where are your other friends? I thought they’re coming too?” Daisy, the ever-so-sociable one asked and looked around the restaurant. 

“Oh they just parked the car, they should be here— oh! There they are!” Lucas stood up slightly and waved at the newcomers. One was a tall girl with jet black hair, she was followed by a boy who looked extremely excited. Behind the two was another person that Sam couldn’t see properly because the two blocked her view. Sam, Daisy, and Lucas all stood up to greet each other.

“This one is Sam and the other one is Daisy, both of them are third year psychology students.” Lucas introduced. 

“Hello, I’m Ella, a third-year physics major. It’s nice meeting you.” The first one said. Ella was a tall girl, with straight black hair and a serious look on her face. 

“Hey, I’m Jackson, education major, third year too. Nice to meet you!” The bubbly one said, bouncing slightly on his toes

Sam felt her heart drop and the world stopped turning for a moment as the third person stepped out from behind Jackson. 

Oh.

Who would’ve thought that she would see an overly familiar face after all these years?

“Hi, my name is Joan, I’m a music major. I hope we can all be good friends.” Joan had a kind smile on and was dressed nicely for the occasion, wearing a simple red dress that flowed down to her knees. Her wavy strawberry blonde locks rested on her shoulders. Joan quietly let her eyes travel through the trio before her. Her smile faltered a bit as she saw a familiar face staring back at her. 

Oh. 

The group went around shaking hands and exchanging formalities; minus Sam and Joan who avoided each other like the plague. 

Sam knew that she couldn’t avoid Joan the entire night; and that was how she found herself seated directly in front of said girl, zoning out. Rendered speechless since the introductions, Sam could only offer a tight smile to Daisy who asked if anything was wrong, noticing the off atmosphere. 

Sam believed that any normal person would have the same reaction after seeing their long lost high school friend after almost three years of having no contact with each other, right? The same person who held Sam’s hand throughout her high school years, supporting her in whatever way; the person who hung out with her at the empty hallways of her school, laughing at everything and nothing, sharing stories of each other’s experiences; the one who hugged her tightly on graduation day and promised to keep in contact; and failed to do so, was sitting in front of her; only a few inches away from her, so close that she could feel the warmth that she was once accustomed to. Right, this is perfectly normal, we were bound to meet sooner or later anyway, the universe is weird that way, as if there’s an invisible string pulling everyone together; no matter how far they’ve grown apart. Fuck the universe. 

A slightly shaky hand was thrust in front of her. As Sam stared at it in shock, a soft voice broke the silence. Sam’s eyes looked at the owner of the voice and saw honey brown eyes that were slightly glassy, looking back at her. She looks like she’s holding back her tears, Sam observed. 

“You look familiar,” Joan said, a teasing lilt in her voice, “I’m Joan. Nice to meet you.”