Later in the day, after I’d showered and eaten, I went online to do a quick email check. My gaze fell on an older message still sitting in my inbox from Zakk—Stellan—and on impulse, I decided to write him.
It wasn’t as though the pain and humiliation from high school had suddenly disappeared, but I realized that I needed to figure out how to put that incident behind me and move on. It was messing with my life.
I apologized for yelling at him the night before, and asked if he was still in town and had time for coffee somewhere. Stellan’s response was immediate. He wrote that he could meet at the Starbucks in the shopping center where I bought my groceries. I agreed.
One hour and a cab ride later, I sat across from my high school nemesis as we both nursed black coffee. It was so surreal.
