Epilogue - Found

                                    

                                          
Vincent was not a person who loved crowds, but there was still a threshold where he perhaps could consider it bearable, and the one he was in right now was beyond that threshold.
It was so far away from it, it was comparable to the distance between the Earth and the sun itself, which was quite ironic considering the distance between him and the people around him was non-existent, just like his enthusiasm for this whole concert. Noise, noises everywhere, noises in every nook and cranny of the air, from the blasting music threatening to burst his eardrums—which was probably made worse by the fact that he was standing quite close to the stage already—to the loud shouting, sometimes borderline screeching, from the crazed fans wanting to express their excitement in probably the most ear-piercing way they could think of, paired with the surges of people constantly pushing him around like they were trying to find more space for themselves as if there was even any remaining place to breathe in the first place. This was definitely not where he belonged, anyone who had ever known him even just for a day would perhaps be able to guess that. Where he belonged was in his dorm room, alone, at his desk and buried in a pile of textbooks, unfinished assignments and the sense of doom looming over him as he wondered how in the world he was going to complete said assignments before the week ended, because he would rather be tortured by the voices of his own head than the voices of hundreds of overly energetic, rock music-loving maniacs.
This was not where he should be, which got him to question why he was even here in the first place.
"Wooooo! Let's go!"
Oh right, the reason was standing right behind him, also screaming from the top of her lungs before turning over him with a stupidly big smile on her lips.
"So? So? How was it?" She grabbed his arm while still bouncing as if trying to get all of her excess enthusiasm out. "That was an absolute banger, right Vince?"
"I suppose." Vincent shrugged before taking out a handkerchief that he used to dab her face with. "Geez Manon, you're full of energy tonight, huh?"
"Of course, because you're here with me!"
Vincent blinked a few times at her, seemingly caught off guard by her remark that was delivered with a nonchalantly joyful look in her eyes. "Because... I'm here?"
"Yeah! I mean, sure I've been waiting for tonight since forever, but I'm even happier that I get to enjoy it with you. It only happens once a year, after all!"
Manon hugged Vincent's arm, throwing him a huge grin that was beaming with nothing but utter joy as her light brown hair swayed along with her excited movements, curving the corner of Vincent's lips into an adoring smile.
Yeah, he was here because of this girl that he called his best friend, the person he would do almost anything for. Almost. Being in an uncomfortably tight space with an overbearingly loud crowd was teetering on that line, but for now, he would include it, and he was glad that he did.
Making friends in college was hard and there was a chance he would have to get used to not having any friends at all, that was what he was told by his family when he decided to pursue his culinary career he had always dreamt of at a university miles away from home. And unexpectedly enough, he was fine with it, if the life his roommates led was a reflection of what his days would look like with any close friends. Instead of getting dragged to parties every weekend, he got to stay in his room, either scrolling his life away on his phone until he fell asleep or, more often than he would like to admit, cramming for an exam he definitely shouldn't have procrastinated on until literally the night before. He got to sit in lectures in peace without anyone disturbing him with small talks, he didn't have to worry about people distracting him during cooking classes, he could be wherever he wanted, do whatever he desired, and made any plan without having to consider the ones he already made with other people. For many, leading a life such as his would be the equivalent of solitary confinement itself, one that consisted of simply enjoying his own company in silence as he washed his days away on the waves of mundanity. However, to Vincent, if it meant going about his days without having to worry his already loud mind over unnecessary socialization and putting himself in spaces that served him no purpose besides helping him "blend in", then he would happily follow those waves people deemed boring but was pure blissful solitude to him towards a freeing life void of friendships that added nothing to his happiness—he had had his fair share of them, those relationships that were created with a rushed start and ended up drifting away or breaking apart in a fit of anger just for him to realize they meant nothing in the first place. Therefore in college, in a fresh start where he knew no one at all, he decided it would be within his best interests to avoid them.