《Ｌｏｖｅ Ｔｈｅｓｅ Ｄａｙｓ》

1. The same story, twice.

We often talk about how incredibly intense and insufferable our high school days are, as if it gets better once you're out of it. During my first years in college and "adulthood" I have learned that life doesn't get easier at all, love is still a mystery to be solved, friendship is still on a tightrope, and I'm still unemployed, questioning my career choice every single day. The only thing that has changed for me so far is that I no longer live with my parents, in fact, I live with my grandparents now.

When I was fifteen I thought I'd have everything figured out by eighteen. I turned eighteen and I knew nothing. I thought maybe I would have something figured out when I reach my twenties.

I turned twenty one a few months ago and I still know nothing.

All these thoughts I ponder while I wait for the bus to go back home after class, winter is close so it's pretty dark already. I hear my friends talk but I'm not really paying attention, although they don't mind my lack of presence at all. I guess they're used to me spacing out every now and then.

"So, you want to invite all of them? I thought it was just Alex" our classmate, Evelyn Ross, questioned but I couldn't focus enough to even acknowledge it. "Ava?" She was talking to me.

"Sorry, what?" I returned from my inner monologue.

"I'm talking about the hangout, were you serious about inviting all the boys or do you want to just invite Alex?" she repeated for me.

We don't know many of our classmates and we don't even see the same people in every class. The only students who attend every single class this semester are us and a group of boys. Alex Taylor is one of them, we first talked to him once when he walked with us to the bus stop, and I quickly realized he's what you would call a social butterfly. He never stops talking, he laughs as loud as a siren and he seems to have a special superpower for figuring out every inner joke he hears. The girls and I thought it would be cool to hang out and eat pizza at Evelyn's place, and we thought of inviting Alex, but I told them it would be rude to only invite him when there are other three boys in his group.

Actually, if I'm going to be honest, I just said that because I want Luke Hensley to come.

Luke is a guy that never speaks. He's always sitting in his silly little desk with his silly little phone, ignoring everyone around him. He's a big nerd, always studies and does the homework, he only acknowledges the other boys' existence, and he always looks moody. Somehow I found that tremendously attractive and I want to talk to him, probably because it seems impossible.

Plus, he has warm brown eyes and an intense gaze adorned with insanely long eyelashes and perfectly shaped eyebrows. His jaw sharp as a knife. His teeth perfectly aligned and white, though I've never seen him smile. He's not very tall, but he's not shorter than me so it's fine. He's always wearing baggy clothes so I don't really know how his body is. Everything about that dude is a puzzle.

"Ah, yes. I was serious about that." I answered. "It wouldn't be nice to invite just one of them, that wouldn't sit right with me. Also, it's just Luke that we don't know. Charlie is a nice guy, I've studied with him before and Darcy is friends with him, Right, Darcy?" my friend only mutters a soft mhm and continues to focus on her phone.

Darcy Kerrigan has been in my life for quite some time, we went to the same high school and we talked at a few parties but we were never really friends. I didn't know her very well so when our paths crossed again in college I didn't dare to approach her.

She never had trouble getting to know people and starting conversations, so when she saw me on our first day she just said "come sit with me" and we became friends. We have been hanging out ever since. It's actually very funny because, if you saw her, you wouldn't think she's very friendly; her eyes are incredibly intense and her eyebrows are shaped in a way that makes her look like she's always frowning. She reminds me of the Grumpy Cat, actually. But she's very beautiful. She has dark brown hair with bleached tips, a tiny nose and a ridiculously huge butt. Plus, she trains a lot. A whole lot. But she also smokes so it's hard for her to live in both worlds.