Heart Strings

A Friend in Hand

Arya was in a sleepy daze as she made her way out the front door and across the road into the park. It was far too early to be awake.

She cut straight across the centre field to the little black bench on the other side, a young man, about her age, with fairly long chestnut hair and subtle grey eyes was already sitting there, a take-away coffee cup in each hand.

"Hey Max, you're early..." She stated simply, a small smile taking over her lips.

"Yeah, well I couldn't be bothered to listen to you go on about me being late again..." He let a small giggle before passing the girl her coffee mug, "hot chocolate?"

"You know me oh so well Maxy..." she drifted off as she took a deep inhale of the deliciousness arising from the cup.

"Well I have gotten you the same thing three days a week, every week, for two and half years." a small smile played across his lips.

"Alright smart ass, I was thanking you, but I take it back now."

"Well okay...I'll just have these hot triple chocolate cookies all to myself..." He trailed off, waving a white paper bag in the air and letting it drop into the bag that he had left lying on the bench. Arya huffed, stomping in the direction that they would be heading to their lecture. She puffed her cheeks out, pulling her lips into an angry pout.

The rustling of the paper bag, a zip, and light footsteps could clearly be heard close behind her. The waft of freshly melted chocolate filled her nose.

But she kept the pout and heavy foot steps.

The rustling of paper.

She kept the pout plastered on her features.

The sight of a large triple chocolate cookie waved back and forth under her nose almost made her lose her cool.

But the pout stuck.

Eventually, after a few moments of pouty silence, Maximilian gave in.

"Open up and eat the cookie then."

"Yay! Love you Maxy!" She grinned and took the cookie, removing a huge chunk of it with her teeth. "Pheshe are phe besht!"she muffled with a mouth full of cookie, crumbs all over her lips.

A light hearted laugh travelled over what was left for them to walk of the park. As they walked through the gates and crossed the road, the atmosphere seemed to shift a little, unsure of what was causing the change, Arya looked over at Max, a subtle frown on his face. She moved closer to her friend, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Maxy?" She questioned, he looked up, but was still lost in his own thoughts. "Hey Maxy, what's wrong?" He shook his head, looking at the floor. Raising his head again, his smile returned.

"Nothing, I'm all good, lets get to our lecture, otherwise we're going to be late, and it won't be my fault this time." He laughed a little, but it wasn't as happy as before.

"Maxy, I swear to god, if you don't tell me what is wrong with you, I'm going to wrinkle your Batman poster!"

"YOU WOULDN'T DARE!"

"Then tell me why you're so...." Arya waved her open hand in a dramatic gesture to all of her friend "....meeeh."

"So that's how you'd describe me....as meeeh?" Max let out a small huff, then took hold of the delicate wrist belonging to Arya, "lets just get to our lectures shall we?" He pulled her along with him as they arrived on campus and dragged her to outside their Biomedics lecture hall, Arya huffing and complaining all the way, but he just ignored her protests, not wanting to spread his gloom.