𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭 | Matt Sturniolo

Twenty

It was around one in the morning when Venus left the triplets house and decided to go to the coffee shop to get a hot chocolate. She was in line to order, distracted by the numerous texts she was getting from Matt. Surprisingly, there were a substantial number of customers considering the late hour.

"Hello, what can I get you?" The worker asked politely, tapping away at something on the screen in front. "Wait, Venus?" The man said confusedly, causing her to look up with a furrowed brow.

"Zian? What the fuck I haven't seen you in forever!" She laughed.

"Bet it's been like two years since graduation?" He asked, easily making conversation which she was glad about. The two have previously been best friends in high school but drifted when they left. That was one thing she missed, having easy conversations where nothing mattered.

"Sounds about right, that's so crazy that you work here, I come here all the time!" She exclaimed giggling like a kid.

"That's funny anyways what can I get you? I still gotta do my job," he continued with a small chuckle.

"Just a hot chocolate," she replied. He made the drink and brought it to her. Venus sat outside in hope that the cool morning air would clear her thoughts. Zian spotted her and hesitantly walked over and sat in the opposite chair, smiling uncontrollably at her.
"Thank you," she said, "so how's things been?"

"Very different. My parents divorced and I'm still saving to get my own place so I'm working night shifts here for some extra cash but I work a small photography business on the side and it's been going good. I've had quite a few commissions for weddings and shit so it's fun," Zian said.

"Ahw I'm sorry, that must suck but the business sounds so cool, congrats!" She exclaimed happily.

"Yeah It did for a while but it's fine now. And thanks, I'm just focusing on myself and getting my shit together," he replied.

"As you should," she laughed. They began to reminisce on past memories, she never realised how much she missed his company until the boy who seemed like a distant memory sat before her as if it was just yesterday they were sitting in class together.
"I'm just wondering why we stopped talking," she said off topic, "like how can we go from being so close to strangers? And I'm not just talking for myself, I mean Divina and Laylah too."

"I was just thinking the same thing, I guess it's just life. People come and go even the ones you don't want to, I believe we were just at different points in our lives and if we stayed friends we may have held each other back for what was to come, even if we didn't realise it. But hey, our paths collide once again," he responded, making the girl think about their friendship group. They left things on good terms and there was no reason to have drifted, apart from if they knew somehow that it was the wrong time and their lives were changing too fast for the other to keep up.

"That's really philosophical jeez but so true I believe in that too. I missed you a lot," she said smiling as a small shade of pink graced her cheeks as the last words escaped her mouth.

"You look pretty, if I haven't said it yet," he said quietly, disregarding the last point. The girl tried to bite back the smile creeping on her face and couldn't help let out a small laugh. This moment reminded her of the summer two years ago, senior year, when their group was sitting in the field at lunch; Laylah laying on Divina and Venus on Zian. They were laughing about something insignificant when Zian looked around then randomly placed a small kiss on her cheek without anyone seeing. That was the first time she had ever gotten that feeling of butterflies in her stomach. The teenager never understood why he did that to the present day but the memory resurfaced her thoughts every so often.