Nana's Secret One Shots -- Jamie Flatters imagines

- Pancakes for dinner -

"Okay, what's one thing you wanna do with your person when you've finally found them ?"

"Honestly ?"

"No, I really like the idea of you lying to me." she deadpanned, looking at him straight in the eyes with a wry smile. "Of course honestly, dumbass !"

"It's silly... I'd wanna eat pancakes, for dinner, at like 1am on the rooftop of a building.." He looked at her again, eyes meeting. "I told you, it's silly" he said, laughing it off.

"No, it's beautiful.."

Alis remembered it like it was yesterday, even if it was almost 8 years ago. They were sat on a bench in Battersea park, under a cherry tree. It was Spring, and being the hopeless romantic he was, Jamie had insisted they go see the blossoming trees after class, to which she had agreed, secretly really wanting to too.

"And you, what would you want to do ?" he asked back.

"Oh no, you're the romantic one. For your information, i don't even want to find someone : loss of energy, time and money." Alis simply listed, counting every point on her fingers. "Plus, it's too much commitment, you have to fully trust the other, and it's also kind of a loss of freedom you know..."

"Alis ? You're really ruining the mood here."

"Yeah well, I'm not into it." she shrugged.

And it was true, at the time. Technically, it is still true but.. only partially.

Alis was now slowly walking in Battersea park, alone this time. It was Spring again, the cherry trees blossoming, their petals falling gracefully to the floor with each gush of wind flowing through the branches. The girl delicately picked up a flower that fell, still whole, on her sweatshirt, putting it on a nearby part of the pond to take a cute picture before resuming her walk. She was going to Jamie's flat, on the other side of the park and while there was a subway station closer to his apartment, she deliberately chose to get out a station before, to see the cherry blossoms again. It had been so long since they were 15...

A lot of things had changed in 8 years. She stayed in London the whole time, and he went to Los Angeles for two years to act his biggest part to date. When he came back, they both graduated high school, and Jamie kept on pursuing his dream of becoming an actor, screenwriter and director, while Alis went to get her professional makeup degree. Then she finally got her diploma, he got to work on a project with Netflix, and life almost succeeded on pulling them apart.

But one thing that didn't change was them, after all, they stayed the same, only maybe becoming a better version of themselves. And being them also meant being best friends, it had become part of their identity. They hung out when they could, they facetimed even when the time difference was of 8 hours, they texted whenever they had a break... Nothing could tear them apart.

Maybe there actually was one thing that changed about Alis, she did not stay completely true to her previous words. Because, yes, love didn't interest her in the smallest, all she wanted was to get a job paid enough to finally have that apartment with glass walls and a panoramic view. But when it fell upon her... she did not have a real control over her feelings after all, something she came to learn. She tried to get rid of it, distancing herself all she could without it being weird, but how much distance can you put when you're used to sharing every detail of your life constantly ?

Honestly, she despised that feeling. If she could, she'd go back to that day, two years ago, at her graduation, when Jamie scooped her up in his arms and twirled her around, when she saw those sparkles around him she had never seen and had always since then. She'd take a step back and simply hug him, and maybe nothing would've changed. Maybe that way she wouldn't feel those annoying butterflies when around him, maybe his annoying voice wouldn't sound like out of a symphony, maybe the annoying blue of his eyes wouldn't seem so entrancing... maybe she wouldn't miss him that much when he was away...