Frozen Hearts || Matt Struniolo AU

13

“You end up doing anything Yesterday?” Amaya turned to see Matt walking up to her.

“We went to that painting spot right down the road.”

“Oh, cool.” He readjusted his backpack as they continued to walk together. “Do you like to paint?”

“Yeah.” A smile grew on Amayas face. “I'm actually an art major.”

“What kind of art?”

“Digital.” Amaya added, “But I like to do pretty much anything.”

“I'm more of a musical artist.” Matt, jokingly puffed up his chest. “I was a beast on the cello.”

“I have a bit of a musical background as well.”

“You do?” Matt relaxed his shoulders. “What did you play?”

“I was in the pit for my High Schools marching band for a couple of years.” She told him. “I quit though. It just wasn't really the crowd for me.” She explained. “But I also play a bit of guitar!”

“Oh, that's cool.” Matt smiled. “Maybe you could teach me something sometime?”

“Yeah, maybe.” Amaya smiled back. “I'm that great of a teacher though.”

The two students continued to talk as they walked side by side. As they talked, Amaya realized how easy it was to talk to him. Usually she would have to force the words to come out or grow a bond with them. But, even though they only passed a note every now and then, asking how their day was, Amaya found it easy to speak with Matt. She felt comfortable around him and her words would naturally flow out of her mouth.

“So, what class do you have?” Amaya asked after they've been walking for a while.

“Oh, I don't have one right now.” Matt answered. “I was just walking around, trying to find something to do while I waited for my next class.”

“Oh, I don't have one either.” Amaya laughed. “I was going to go over to my reading spot but then we started talking.”

“Oh, well Maybe we could find something to do together?”

“I mean… We could continue talking,” Amaya suggested.

“Yeah, alright.” Matt agreed. “Do you want to find a place to sit down?”

“Yeah,” Amaya started walking again. “There's a swing right over here.”

Matt followed Amaya as she led him over to a patch of grass. In the middle was a swing that could fit four people; two on each side, facing each other. Amaya sat on one side while Matt sat on the other, the two face-to-face.

“I don't think I asked you what you're majoring in?” Amaya asked.

“Psychology.” Matt answered. “I have anxiety and so I want to be able to help people who also have to deal with that.”

“Well, I don't know if you've noticed,” Amaya started. “But I too have anxiety.” She joked, recalling the time they met at the party.

“Yeah, I remember that.” He gave her a bit of a sad smile. “I remember you laying in the grass, looking up at the sky? Does that help you?”

“Yeah. Nature helps to calm me.” She tells him. “So does figure skating. That's why I love it so much; it also has helped me to grow out of my shell a lot.”

“Well that's good.”

“Yeah. I like that I've been able to find those things. The only problem with that is that I can't really always do those things. Like, if I'm going to the grocery store in the middle of the day and I start getting that anxious feeling, I can't really just go outside and look at the stars or throw on my ice skates and start skating, you know?”

“Yeah,” He relaxed his shoulders. “Have you ever tried Journaling? I like to write how I'm feeling in a notebook. That helps me.”

“As simple as that is,” Amaya chuckled. “No. I haven't.”

“I think you should try it.”

“I think I will.” Amaya smiled.

=====

Just a short, kinda cute little chapter.
I think it at least kind of makes up for the atrocity of last chapter tho (or at least I hope it does)