Rebound: A 2nd Chance

Jason and Samantha took the bus back to Jason's apartment. The ten minute long ride went by with Samantha talking for most of it.

After they got off at the bus stop the two of them began walking toward Jason's apartment complex.

Samantha smiled as she looked at Jason who was walking along side her "Hey Jaya. Have you ever gone to see the lights at the Mission Inn before?"

Jason thought about Samantha's question for a second before answering "I've gone to see the lights before with my parents, Uncle Jin, and Tory before but that's about it.

I've never gone out to watch the lights with a big group of friends like this before. Actually, now that I think about it this is the first time I've had a group of friends.

It used to just be me and Tory. I never really hanged out with anyone other than my parents and her dad."

Sammy went quiet after hearing Jason say that 'How can he say that so casually? Did he just get used to the idea of not having people around him?'

But a split second later Samantha had a bright smile on her face again as she cheerfully said "Well I guess that's all in the past now.

You have a whole bunch of awesome friends now such as myself and I don't think that you would ever be able to go back to not having friends."

Jason turned to Samantha and chuckled before patting her on her head "Thanks Sammy. I guess even you have your moments where you can be nice."

Samantha threw up her hands and pretended to throw a tantrum "What do you mean moments?! I'll have you know that I am always nice."

After the short walk they reached the apartment complex. Jason scanned his card and the door opened up.

They walked up the stairs to Jason's apartment. Jason scanned his card again and the door opened to his apartment "Remember to take your shoes off Sammy. I just mopped the floor this morning."

After closing the door Jason looked over at Samantha "I'm going to go take a shower and change. Feel free to help yourself to some drinks in the fridge."

Jason walked into his room and when he came back out he had a new set of clothes in his arms as he then walked to the bathroom.

The sound of the shower turning on could be heard as Samantha was sitting around in the living room.

She had her phone out but she couldn't help but glance at the bathroom door every once in a while. 

Her face had a slight blush 'Wow... Okay... Just chill Sammy. Play it cool. Cool like a sub zero ice cube.'

She stood up and went to the kitchen. As she was about to open the fridge for a drink she noticed a bunch of pictures that were hanging on there.

Stuck to the front of the fridge were a lot of family pictures. There were photos of Jason's mom and dad when they were younger and photos of Jason as a baby.

Some of the photos were clearly candid as they showed baby Jason and toddler Jason with his usual deadpan face 'Guess his RBF was a thing ever since he was a baby.'

For some reason she felt that the candid photos were the best ones as she couldn't take her eyes off of them.

After looking at all of the photos on the fridge Samantha realized something 'I guess Jason wasn't kidding. He really didn't have any friends.'

The only people that were in any of the pictures were Jason, his parents, Uncle Jin, and Tory. Besides the five of them there weren't anyone else, not even any grandparents. 

Sammy was so interested in the pictures that she didn't even notice Jason walking up to her "Nice pics right? I tell my mom and dad all the time that they could have been models." 

Samantha was startled but she managed to not freak out. She coughed to clear her throat before awkwardly chuckling.

"Hehe yeah. Auntie and Uncle are drop dead gorgeous in some of these pictures. They could have for sure been models if they wanted to.

Even right now Auntie and Uncle are really good looking. You would never think that they have a kid in middle school. 

They look like they could still pass off as twenty something year olds. But how come you don't have any pictures of your grandparents."

Jason replied normally "I honestly don't know Sammy. My theory is that both of my parents had a falling out with their families but I have nothing to back that up.

My parents never really bring their parents up. Or even their other family members. I never really thought about asking them about it either.

The family in my life has always been more than enough so I never really had the urge or the desire to look for the family that wasn't there.

So to me my family was always just my mom, my dad, Uncle Jin, and Tory." Jason then turned around and pointed to Samantha.

"But ever since I transferred to Jefferson there have been so many people that have had my back and looked after me. So I guess all of you guys are kinda added by default."

Samantha had to fight back the tears that wanted to come out. She turned to the side and lightly punched Jason on his arm.

"Why do you have to say something so freaking nice?! You're going to make me ruin my makeup man."

Jason just laughed "Let's go over to Kyle's place. We can chill over there and see if the other guys can make it tonight."

Jason and Samantha walked a few doors down to the apartment complex where Kyle and his mom had moved into with Tory and her dad.

Jason knocked on the door and less than a few seconds later Kyle's smiling face could be seen as he welcomed Jason in.

"Yo what's up Jaya. Bro you would not believe how many cuties have been hitting me up on all of my social media pages."

Jason just stood there laughing "Good for you bro but I don't see why you're sharing that. It sounds more like a you thing."

Kyle shook his head with a smile "Nah bro. It would be if they were hitting me up for me. But all of these girls are hitting me up for you.

They know that you don't really post stuff and that you're not that active on social media so now they're trying to get at you by going through me.

I might just be the middleman but I have to say that all of this attention is pretty nice. Some of these girls are even in high school bro!

I'm talking freshmen and sophomores! Check this girl out. She has so many pics of her at the beach wearing this really hot-"

Kyle was talking and he didn't realize that Samantha was there until he tried to close the door to the apartment after Jason had walked in.

A hand holding on to the door frame from outside held it open as a clearly annoyed voice spoke out.

"Wow Kyle. You like pictures of girls at the beach huh? Maybe I should have you swimming with the fishes. That way you could see girls at the beach more often."

Kyle gulped as he looked at Jason "I-Is that?- S- she's actually?" Jason had a blank look on his face as he nodded his head.

"Oh yeah. I almost forgot to tell you. Sammy's here. We're just going to hang here while we wait to hear back from the rest of the guys."

Before Kyle could even get the apology out of his mouth he heard Samantha's chilling voice once again.

"You are so lucky that you're in crutches right now Kyle. Mind letting me see your phone for a bit? I would love to see these pictures that have you so giddy and excited."

- - -

After a few hours of waiting it was finally time to go see the lights. Jason, Samantha, and Kyle got off the bus as they looked on in amazement.

The Mission Inn along with all of the other restaurants, shops, stores, and businesses were covered with bright Christmas lights and an assortment of decorations.

Jason sighed out in amazement "I've seen it a couple of times already but it still looks pretty amazing."

Kyle nodded his head "Yeah bro. This really gets you into the mood for Christmas episodes filled with romance and present openings."

Samantha sighed as well but for a different reason. She looked at Kyle "Can't you think of anything not related to anime?"

Kyle shrugged his shoulders "Does manga count?" Samantha threw her hands up in defeat "I give up."

As they were thinking of what they should do while they were waiting for the rest of their friends to show up Jason's eyes shined with excitement.

"Let's go over there. They have a bunch of games set up with prizes. And I see one booth that has some basketballs and a hoop!"