cruel summer | wroetoshaw

one

In hindsight, maybe she should've stayed at the library that night. Maybe she should've put up a fight when her friends insisted she had taken a break from her studies. Maybe she shouldn't have agreed to meet up with everyone at her older brother's flat for drinks.

Truth be told, other than the fact it would have been the more responsible thing to do, none of it would've made too much of a difference. The reality of it was that there's no pinpointing where everything had started, because what had happened had been years in the making.

Because for Elizabeth Minter, none of it mattered. Her heartbreak had already been written in the stars long before that night, and whether or not she walked down those library steps- it was bound to happen one way or another.

"Hurry up already," A voice called out from the window of the black Tesla illegally parked on the side of the road that was in front of the library steps, "You've got me growing old in here!"

Liz rolled her as she reached for the handle on the car door, pulling it open and practically throwing herself in the passenger seat. Her breaths were practically heaving as she settled in the seat, struggling to pull down the zipper of her drenched coat.

"You're already old, Lux." She sighed as she threw her coat in the back seat, "Don't try and pin your grey hairs on me."

"All my grey hairs are because of you, Lizzie," Lux chuckled as he turned on the car before changing the subject, "How have classes been?"

She had moved to London to attend university when she was 18 after earning herself a scholarship, one that had probably cost her more emotional stress and trauma than any amount of money would. It was nonetheless an opportunity that changed her life, an opportunity which allowed her to not only excel in her studies but in her social life as well. She was no stranger to London, and by extension she was no stranger to London's infamous YouTube scene. In fact, she was quite the opposite considering she grew up right in the center of it. As Simon Minter's younger sister, Liz had known the ins and out of the entire community for as long as she could remember. If anything, she was quite literally a part of London's YouTube scene herself.

"Finals are coming up, so I'm probably 2 seconds away from throwing myself into the Thames," Liz joked, but her stress was evident as she spoke. She had so much to do, and the only reason she had agreed to go out that night was because she was convinced if she had spent another second studying that her brain would have been permanently fried.

The two were headed to her brother's flat, where a handful of their friends were meant to be meeting up at. Simon, and his flatmate JJ, almost always ended up being hosts to their friends, probably because of their central location. Mostly because they themselves were too lazy to go anywhere on most days. Also because they usually had the best drinks, considering JJ liked to buy expensive drinks but didn't really care much for drinking them.

"Well if you do end up jumping in, let me film it, yeah?" Lux asked as he began the short drive, a laugh falling from his lips as he saw her roll her eyes.

"In your dreams, mate."

He let out another chuckle as he turned the wheel onto the road where Simon and JJ's flat was, "The only thing in my dreams, Lizzie, is you."

Liz rolled her eyes, letting out what sounded like a cross between a laugh and an annoyed groan, "I thought you flirted with me exclusively in front of my brother?"

"It's been a while since I've seen the two of you at the same time, needed to warm up a bit, innit?" He grinned, his smile only growing bigger as she rolled her eyes.

"I'm convinced you boys have a death wish at this point, it's mad."

"It's worth it to be fair, seeing how angry Simon gets is basically what gets me through my days." Lux snickered as he pulled into an empty spot near the front of their building.