Broken Communication

You can't bring yourself to tell Gwen about running into Alex in the mall. Things were conflicted enough as they were, and if you told Gwen, you'd tell her how you felt and you couldn't imagine her liking that. So you decide to keep it all to yourself and focus on your new clothes.

It was weird pulling all of your old clothes out of your dresser. It felt like you were throwing away part of who you were. With your mother's help, you won't your freshly cleaned and dried clothes away, occasionally hearing comments like "oh, this is so cute" and "you'd look lovely in this".

Your dad seemed happier now that you were going on your trip. He was back to his old self, giving anyone who would listen pointers on how to catch fish, all of which you knew by heart.

As you packed for the your trip, the fondness for Alex that had sparked in you quickly found itself dying away each time you checked your phone to find no new messages.

All four of you settled down to a nice dinner. Things actually seemed normal that night.