After the initial awkwardness faded away, Kaden chatted with Sophie a bit. Since they had been friends before it was easy to fall back into old patterns.
A few minutes later, Sophie twirled the strands of her long auburn hair with a mischievous smile. "So, do you want to go back in there, or should we just escape through the kitchen?"
Kaden laughed heartily at her suggestion. "Tempting, but I guess we should face the music. Our parents would probably hunt us down if we ditched."
"You're probably right," she said with a giggle, pushing off the wall.
As they made their way back to the table, Kaden realized that, awkward set-up aside, it was nice to reconnect with someone from his past.
He also did not want to miss opportunities in this second chance and regret it later. So.. "Hey, do you want to catch up sometime? Maybe over coffee?" Kaden found himself asking as they reached the dining area.
