𝗣𝗶𝗻𝗲-𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘀

ᴘɪɴᴇ-ʜᴇᴀʀᴛꜱ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ꜱɪxᴛᴇᴇɴ

-Gabriella, age 18-

It took Luka a little longer to text me than expected, but that was a good thing, seeing as I managed to unpack my bags as well as attend my morning lecture before the notification lit up my phone screen.

Alexia perked up immediately when she heard my phone buzz from across the room. I'd given her a brief summary of my interaction with Luka when I got in the door, and she had been teasing me about it ever since. Not in a malicious way- nothing she did was ever malicious when it came to our friendship- but rather in a mischievous way, because she had come to find that I went beetroot red whenever she brought it up. Specifically when she claimed outlandish (and completely incorrect) things like 'he was totally flirting with you', or when she made suggestions for insane pictures or words I could text him.

I grabbed my phone from my new bedside table (which had been covered in at least 80 reels of ribbon and a few hundred sewing needles before I cleared it) and clicked on messages.

Luka: Hi Gabby

He typed for a few more seconds as Lex clamored to know what he had sent (to which I completely ignored her, opting to nervously chew on my lip instead).

Luka: I don't really know what to say so I guess I'll start at the beginning

Luka: How have you been?

With that question, I expected my heart to be thumping in my chest and for panic to set in... But by the grace of Luna, I was actually calm. I supposed that I'd never been completely confident with speaking out loud: I could do it just fine now, sure, but sometimes when I got in my own head or was tired, I always reverted back to silent. My default settings. I preferred being quiet, at the end of the day, and always had. Because of this, texting was a brilliant method of communication for me (usually used with Lex if we were somewhere noisy and I was overwhelmed). It seemed the same relief I got from texting instead of talking face to face remained in tact when it came to Luka, too.

My thumbs hovered over the screen as I contemplated all the things I could say. It took a few minutes until I was able to form a legible, non-weird response. Luka stayed online the whole time as I typed, and deleted, and typed again, which I was grateful for.

Me: I'm doing alright thank you. Uni is going well so far, and I'm happy I got on the track course. What about you?

I opted out of mentioning that I'd only made one real friend, that my relationship with my mother had crumbled, that I continued to struggle with body image and self esteem to a devastating level, and that I still cried when I thought about him and Will... That may have crossed the line a little for the first conversation in two years, and I was taking things slow this time.

It didn't take long for him to reply.

Luka: Glad to hear it. I am also doing alright, for the most part, but I've missed you a lot these past two years. I'm glad we're on the same course now. It will be nice to hang out again.

The tips of my ears went bright pink at his message. It seemed he still lacked a filter, then. But his unapologetic bluntness made me stupidly giddy instead of causing any shock or alarm. The realization that he'd actually missed me, and the feeling hadn't just been one sided, made my whole face heat up. I wasn't sure whether I should say I'd missed him back, or whether that would sound ridiculous (seeing as I was the one who left). The last thing I wanted to do was make him mad and mess everything up again.

"What is it? What did he say?" Lex plagued me. As I attempted to come up with a response, I looked over at her where she was watching me intently from her bed. She might as well have had popcorn.

"He says he missed me." I replied, almost in disbelief.

"Knew it." She grinned, and tucked one of her earphones back into her ear. "Keep me updated, Missy, or I'll come over and check your phone myself." Was her final threat before she let me be.

Me: Yeah, it will be nice to see you around again. I missed you too.

I clicked send before I could regret it.

Please, Luna, don't let him get mad at me.

There was a minute's pause before his next response; I held my breath so long my fingertips almost went blue.

Luka: Are you free Saturday? Maybe all of us from the track team could walk down to the shops. I know that me and the others from Oakgreen would really appreciate it.

My heart sank a little. I knew it wasn't on purpose, but it felt that he'd kind of ignored what I'd sent in my message, which was incredibly embarrassing. Then again, he didn't owe me anything -especially not validation. I quit my internal whinging as he began to type again.

Luka: I'd prefer if it was just us so we could catch up properly, but I guessed you would prefer other people around.

Luka: Feel free to correct me though.

He had me blushing like a schoolgirl yet again, and we weren't even talking in person... Well, I supposed I was a schoolgirl, so he just had me blushing. And, honestly, it wasn't all that hard to make me blush. Still.

Me: Yeah, a group sounds good for now. I'd like to have a proper talk with you at some point though. I owe you an explanation.

Luka: We can save all that for later, Gabby. For now, I just want us to be friends again.

Luka: If you're ok with that.

Me: Sounds good. I'll see you on Saturday in the car park?

Luka: See you then :)

[A/N: sorry for the short chapter! Hoping to have a long one coming up soon, so that should make up for it.]