mutuality | wroetoshaw

twenty five

"Look who's back!" A cheer came from my right, and I saw Vik, Josh and Ethan stood side by side, large smiles plastered all over their faces.

It brought a grin to my face almost instantly, and I walked over to them, greeted with hugs from all three boys.

"I've only been gone just over a week!" I laugh, but the warm welcome is appreciated, and I come to realise that I have missed all of their familiar and comforting faces.

"A week too long! How was your time off, though?" Josh asks, as the other two dig into the snacks in front of them.

"It was good. Relaxing, for the most part, but the hike with Harry was good. Nice to be out in the fresh air," I say to him, and he seems genuinely interested in what I have to say, and it's nice to have that from a friend.

"Ah, yes. We heard about that. You guys went over to Somerset, right? I went there for a video once. It's nice over there," he says, and I remember him saying how he'd gone to a maze once in the area.

"It's lovely! The climb was a bit tricky at some points, like we were literally just clambering at rocks for a good ten minutes, but it was nice to be out of my comfort zone. Harry seemed to enjoy it, too, so overall a win-win."

"He sent some sick pictures over. If I enjoyed hiking I'd go myself, but I just get out of breath climbing. Not sure if it's entirely worth it," he admits.

"Yeah, probably explains the grey hairs then," I laugh, and he fake glares at me, before giving me another brief hug, waving goodbye and saying he'd see me later.

The next person I encountered was Tobi, and this was a face I'd missed so much. Except for Harry, and Kon obviously, he was my closest friend I'd made here. Although, I wasn't sure if I'd count Harry as a best friend anymore. He'd kind of fallen into...being my crush? It sounded like I was back in year nine again, calling him my crush. Maybe I'd stick to...confusing best friend.

"Matilda Tate!" He shouted, jogging over to me and giving me the tightest, most comforting hug I'd had in a while. "I have fucking missed you," he says jovially, and I share the feeling.

"I've missed you, Tobjizzle," I grin, using his youtube alias to greet him.

"I have so much to tell you. Literally, so much I feel like I could burst. You free for a couple minutes?" He asks, talking quietly in my ear. The sudden secrecy makes me think it has something to do with Mollie, the girl that Tobi had been pining over for two years.

It kind of made me think about my own situation with Harry, and for a brief second I debated whether or not I should tell him, but ultimately I decided against it. That was not something I wanted to tell one of Harry's closest friends, regardless of how loyal I knew Tobi was. I didn't want to have to put him in that position.

"I am indeed," I say, not wanting to stay in my head for too long, because Tobi would get suspicious and my most treasured secret would be at risk. "Meeting room?" I ask, knowing that it'll be empty at this time in the morning.

"Let's go," he agrees, and we both make our way over to the meeting room, and I await anxiously at the revelation he's going to make. Realistically, I haven't heard any updates about her since November, purely because we just haven't had the time to catch up or talk about anything since. Our schedules had both been so busy, work was the only time we really saw each other.

As I predicted, the meeting room is in fact empty, and provides a suitable, secretive environment for Tobi to tell me whatever his treasured news is.

"Okay, spill," I say, not able to wait any longer. It also looks like he can't wait any longer, either, which makes two of us.