What if second chances come a second time?
Long ago, Hannah and Jonah called it quits. Long ago, Hannah stopped trying to make things work, and Jonah let her go. Long ago, Jonah mailed back all of Hannah's stuff from his apartment, and Hannah blocke...
Hannah Taylors kissed him like she was saying goodbye, but she also told him that she would've said yes, if the timing was right, and so Jonah goes back to his scheming.
Something tells him that she would've never kissed him if she were in love with her husband—would've never agreed to go with him back to the hotel room unless Fred Archer was actually telling the truth that their marriage is over. So, the next day, right as he touches down in Los Angeles, he sends an e-mail to the other man—something very very very vague about a dinner and a stroll along Washington Square and how he, after all, finally decides to accept the offer (yes, italicized). An hour later, fred (at) archercorp (dot) com responds with a bunch of questionable emojis, which has him quirk an eyebrow—for some reason, the man doesn't look the type to use emojis, especially not in what's supposed to be a formal e-mail, but alright. He doesn't bother responding to it.
Jonah remembers the throwaway line in Freddie's e-mail about a high school reunion in the summer, which doesn't make sense because it hasn't even been a decade since he graduated. Still, he asks his parents if they've received the invitation in the mail, just in case someone from his old high school actually managed to track his family's new address down. When his mom replies with a no, Jonah goes to check the inboxes of a few e-mail accounts that he has, including the one he hasn't checked in years. But nope. He asks Clara, in case his heard about it from her old friends, and only gets a quirk of her eyebrow in response. Then he smacks himself in the face and rushes to check the school website, but there wasn't any info about the reunion either. Shit.
The problem with having exactly zero friends in high school is that he has absolutely nobody to call and ask about a possible reunion that Hannah might show up at in the summer. He has half a mind to contact her high school best friend Gina about it, but ultimately decides against it because (a) she most definitely hates his guts; and (b) he also doesn't have her current phone number.
He could ask Hannah about him, but... he kind of doesn't really want to. It might sound silly, but a part of him wants to make it a surprise—to show up at the reunion and catch her off-guard and then make it a whole thing. Hannah was a big romantic and she used to love his little surprises, his small declarations of love. Maybe this could be the perfect moment to catch her off guard and watch a happy surprised smile bloom on her face.
So, here's what he ends up doing: he shoots an e-mail toward Hannah Taylors's husband that says, Mr. Archer, I'm planning to come to a high school reunion in the summer. Hopefully, it won't clash with the gala dinner. What date is the event again? It's completely slipped my mind. Regards, Jonah.
It takes a long while for the response to come, and Jonah is starting to get worried. Has Fred Archer changed his mind? Maybe he regrets letting his wife go on a dinner with her ex. Maybe he doesn't actually want to see his marriage failing? Maybe they're finally reconciling. Oh, god. Is he too late?
But then, one afternoon in July, there's a new e-mail with no subject sent from Fred Archer's corporate address, of a blurry picture of... an invitation card? Oh! For the Northside High reunion! July 22nd, he makes out from the picture. There's no further explanation but Jonah immediately books his flight anyway, and it's only as he's watching the city lights sparkle below from the plane that it finally dawns on him: he doesn't even know if Hannah will actually be at the reunion tomorrow, because he never asked her about it.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
