she sings to the haunted sea | gabriella

At the response to the text he smiled briefly before pocketing the phone, not seeing the point of replying further. They would meet up in Tim Hortons and talk there.

When she approached his table he lifted his chin and offered a smile in greeting, his gray eyes much warmer and demeanour a lot more welcoming than it once would have been. He still remembered the days of awkward tension, how she'd seen him knock the tennis ball through the window and how he hadn't trusted her not to rat him out. Then he remembered discussing their college choices together, remembered talking at the wedding when Joshua couldn't keep the smile off his face, realised how far they'd come. How far we've all come. God, it had been so long since he'd betrayed his element. His life had changed so much since then. "Hello, Gabriella. Were you close by?" He asked due to the relatively short time it had taken her to reach the coffee shop. It benefited them, actually, for it meant that Joshua would not have to replace his coffee five minutes after her arrival.

He had not yet opened his box of donuts but he did so now, taking a jelly donut first but not biting into it right away. Instead he held the powdered good and gestured toward the box with it. "You can have some if you'd like. I don't mind sharing." He usually ended up sharing his donuts whenever he went to Tim Hortons with one of his best (and secret) friends, Skye, so he had grown accustomed to allowing the box to become fair game. Just as long as they didn't touch the jelly donuts. Those were his favourites.

She asked after him, which Josh appreciated. Though things such as these were often considered the necessary pleasantries of conversation it was still good to have a friend express interest in his mood. He might not have enjoyed talking about himself or his past or much of anything at all but the concern was appreciated. "I'm fine," he said, the smile hopefully backing him up. 'I'm fine' was his answer to everything whether he was fine or not but sometimes the answer was in his facial expressions instead. "I got accepted into MHU. Guess who's going to medical school in January?" Though he did not grin like an idiot, squeal, or jump for joy, the delight was evident. It was not as strong as when he'd first opened the letter after returning home from his honeymoon with Nell but it caused a stirring of happiness in his gut whenever he thought about it. This was it, this was his dream falling into place. "I applied for BCU and a couple others as well but they don't start until June and I want to stay close to home so I've already made my choice." He had a wife now and a little sister to take care of, he didn't want to relocate for medical school. It was nice to have the option of staying in his hometown. "Next year it'll be your turn, eh?" She was a year below him but it wasn't long yet.

He and Nell. He liked that, liked how they were asked about together. No longer Joshua and Nell but the Dales, two parts of a whole. Subconsciously he twisted the ring around on his finger as he answered. "We've been great. France was amazing—every bit as breathtaking as they say." Then there had been the issue of Nell getting drunk and making a slip-up in front of a Parasian native but he left that part out for his wife's sake. Embarrassment aside, the rest of the trip had been phenomenal. And it had been a honeymoon. It wasn't just the country that he'd been enjoying. "Then we had a Halloween party when we came back—did you hear about that?" It had been pretty big news around Maple Hollow. News travelled fast in a small city. "It was a lot of work but it was worth it." Even though it had meant wearing an uncomfortably warm and electric blue turtleneck the whole night. The sunglasses had been a plus, as well as the permission to go around making loud references to The Lonely Island. "What about you?" he returned. "How have you been?" He asked after her both out of courtesy and out of genuine interest.

He nodded and took a bite of the donut, feeling no need to give a verbal response. He could tell that the donuts had been made fresh and the warmth of the donut itself was contrasted by the cool jelly. He took a moment to savour the taste before swallowing and offering to share with his friend. While some people wouldn't mind in the least, his mother had always taught him that it was rude to eat in front of your friends. He might not have been the most cheerful or approachable guy but he'd learned his manners from his mother and he tended to remember them.

He could tell that her congratulations were genuine and the smile that touched his lips was one of gratitude. He was so proud of himself for getting accepted into medical school and it felt nice to have others share in the excitement for a moment or two. He was too proud to jump up and down or wave the letter in the air when it had come in the mail but he'd certainly grinned like the Cheshire Cat for hours afterwards. The smile on his face was much less wide now but his happiness was the same. "Did you end up deciding where you want to go?" He remembered talking about college choices with her last year when he'd only been about to enter his senior year. So many important decisions had been made since then. It was weird at times to reflect on the past, realise all the things that changed. He brushed aside the feeling. I don't remember her saying. Perhaps she had and he just didn't recall but Joshua had a fairly sharp memory and so he hoped that it hadn't failed him. His skills in memorization were one of the things he prided himself on. He wasn't a braggart but he did not deny his own skills when he knew they existed. He had an ego, after all. Most did.

Gabriella mentioned studying for a paper and he chuckled, shaking his head. "Sounds fun," he said in a tone that suggested it was probably the opposite. Even academically inclined guys like Josh weren't fond of the grind that tended to occur at the end of the year. Everyone struggled to finish up the last of their projects and papers while also studying for the exams and it was a huge, stress-filled headache until they were released for winter break at last. "Good luck with it, though." His words were genuine and he lapsed into a brief silence to nibble on the edge of another donut. He knew it probably wasn't in his best interest to eat (almost) an entire box of donuts in one sitting but he couldn't help himself sometimes. He loved his sugar.

The subject of school was an easy one for Joshua. He didn't like to talk too much about his personal life, a habit from when everything had been negative and he wanted to avoid the subject, and so school was something he had a strong opinion on and a lot of experiences with. That said, it was fairly easy to segue into further conversation with, "Been studying a lot for the exams? I try to get a few hours in a day, at least." He might have had a brilliant memory and a sharp mind but that didn't mean he wanted to trust all of his marks up to luck. Studying ensured that he reminded himself of all the material he'd learned over the years and that he didn't have an inconvenient lapse in memory when sitting finals. It was the stuff of his nightmares. "Bit hard to believe I'm graduating at the end of the month. I can still remember freshman year." He chuckled, reminiscing. He'd still been very much a Fire back then, never having met Nell Shepherd and making his distaste for all Earths and Waters plain. He was glad there were people like Gabby who could get past all that and treat him like a friend.

When Gabriella spoke of studying abroad, Joshua was reminded of his younger days when he had still held fantasies of Harvard's medical school in his mind. It was Ivy League, it was prestigious, it was the very picture of success to an eight year old that wanted to be the very best doctor that he could be. That dream had stuck, too, until recent years when family and friends had started to anchor him to Maple Hollow. Now he had a reason to stay. His lip twitched at the memories. "Ah, I used to think about that myself," he admitted. "Didn't have the heart to leave in the end. I grew up here, Maple Hollow's all I've known." It was partial lie, partial truth. If anyone wanted the real reason he was not applying to schools like Harvard and McGill they'd need to figure it out on their own. He did not like to discuss himself and his life too in depth. It was not that he did not trust Gabriella (or any of his other friends, for that matter) it was more that he'd developed a habit over the years of not revealing a whole lot of personal information.

To divert the topic away from his own ditched plans to study away from home, he asked, "Did you have a specific place in mind?" Some liked to study abroad in Europe but he didn't see the appeal as they did. He was happy in Canada and his only desire to study in America would be to gain the sort of bragging rights that prestigious schools like Harvard gifted their students with.

After a brief silence during which they both sipped their drinks and ate their sweets, the talk shifted from medical school to studying and Joshua nodded sympathetically when Gabi mentioned the drain that studying had on her. "This time of year is always hard. I'm glad we've got the break afterwards, to be honest." As driven and intelligent as he was, Josh did not know if he could handle going straight from the stress of finals into a whole new year of fresh material, or in his case, the first year of medical school. He'd heard that it was tough and he was looking forward to a month of rest and recuperation before he was tossed back into the academic fray. "I try to put in some extra hours on the weekend but I generally pace myself. A few hours each day and I'm not brain dead by the end of the week." He chuckled, being a slight bit modest with his answer. In truth it was intelligence and skills in retention that let him off the hook. He did not have to study until his eyes closed on themselves in order to pass a test.

Finishing off the donut that he'd been working away at, Joshua wiped his fingertips on a napkin and washed it all down with a long sip of coffee. The drink really had been an acquired taste—acquired during long nights staying up late to study or proof-read assignments that were not due for days. He was diligent, a hard worker. It was his system, his way of doing things. It did not work for everyone but it worked for Joshua. He yawned, more of a reflex than any sign of exhaustion, and set his drink down before asking, "Do you have plans for the break? I've barely gotten anything done for Christmas... damn exams have taken a lot out of me." He'd have a lot of shopping to do over the holidays, he could see it now.