California Day 3!!

To: (123) 456-7890 -- From: Raven

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Song: [Symphony - Clean Bandit (feat. Zara Larson]

Book: [The Book Thief - Markus Zusak]

Keywords: [California trip, trips]

I once again find myself sitting on the balcony late at night, staring out at the stars. I'm relishing the chill in the air; you can't get weather like this within 500 miles of the mid-Atlantic (don't fact-check me on that, just go with it). I stole one of my grandmother's hoodies, and I'm comfortably cool :)

Today was much more leisurely. I went for a walk with my grandfather, went shopping at the mall which was mostly a bust (no fall clothes yet!!), and called a bunch of friends. It was nice to have a low-key day though; we're going to be pretty busy the rest of the week.

But the best part of today was dinner. We met up with 3 of my grandparents' friends at a Mexican restaurant; a couple who I met for the first time, and my favorite person in California besides my grandparents <3 Hal is so kind and just generally lovely to be around; he gives amazing hugs and always treats me like an adult. We talked about my new school, music, learning Chinese, the pros & cons of AI and machine learning, and my goals for the future. I always get so excited to come out here because I've known Hal and his wife for as long as I can remember, and seeing them fills me with indescribable happiness.

At one point, Hal asked me about my plan for boys at my high school. I was caught off guard a bit, and we joked around as I asked him what he meant. He was serious, but lighthearted about it, so I told him about my girlfriend :) Best reaction ever: he said "really? Good job!", gave me a fist bump, teased me with "so boys aren't really necessary then?", and thanked me for trusting him enough to share that with him. 10/10 coming-out reaction, would recommend to other gays in need of a supportive ally and a hug <3

Ok, story time is over as it is currently 11:53pm. I swear, I stay up until crazy hours here every single time. Must be something in the air...

--Raven