Snowbound Hearts

4.

Aiden

"Here you go, just as you ordered," the waitress comes by with our drinks in hand. She's really pretty, she wore her chocolate brown hair in a ponytail and seemed to have this certain glow to her, "one Frappuccino, one Pumpkin Spice Latte and one Caffè Americano." She says placing each of our orders on the table in front of us.

Damien thanked the waitress, telling her that we didn't need anything else for the time being. I took a sip of my Caffè as Damien, with a bright smile on his face, exclaimed how he missed these moments. Michael rolled his eyes, obviously displeased, as if he would rather be anywhere else but here, but we both knew that was a lie, that he missed this as much as Damien, as much as I did. Where every weekend we would agree to meet up and just hang out and have fun, it almost makes me miss the old days. Almost...

But even though it felt good relieving old times, someone was missing in our group. Elena. She was one to never miss our weekly encounter, but then again she used to never miss any of my calls and now...it's like she's avoiding me, but why?

I thought...I expected her to be here with us, relieving old times. I expected her to come, if not for me, at least for her brothers, but no. According to Damien, Elena at this moment at home having a cleaning day with her mom. Elena? Spend the day cleaning? Since when?

I know Elena well enough to know that she would rather die them spend the day cleaning. I couldn't even believe it when Damien told me that Elena stayed at home cleaning, Elena was unorganised, messy, absolutely insane in a good way of course. No. You shouldn't be thinking about Elena, Elena's not here. Although I wish she were. I wanted to talk to her, ask her about why she was acting so weird.

But maybe it was better this way, I wouldn't want to talk about these things in front of her brothers. I take another sip of my Caffè as I try to regain focus on what Damien is talking about, but for some reason, my thoughts linger back to Elena, to yesterday, to the way she looked at me when she asked me if I was okay. I never noticed how beautiful her eyes were, especially the glowing lights. Or maybe they have always been beautiful and I just never noticed them.

"Aiden?" I look up to see both Michael and Damien staring at me with a quizzical expression on their faces.

"Hm? Sorry, what were you guys saying?"

"Dude, for a second there I thought you were walking on the moon," Damien says with a half-heated smile on his face, "What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing much, I was just uh- You know don't worry about it. It's nothing." I wanted to ask about Elena, but maybe it's best I just let it go.

We continued at the café, Damien and Michael deep in conversation. I forced myself to pay attention but if I was being honest I felt a bit out of place. Usually, Michael and Damien would stay talking, while Elena and I would go for a walk, she liked to look around even though she probably knew everything like the back of her hand.

I'm then brought back to reality when I hear the sound of a phone ring. I look to see it's Damien's. I notice his face light up and wonder if it is one of his flings calling to meet up, but to my surprise it was Elena. Damien answers the phone and puts it on speaker, never forgetting to brag about how he's having an amazing time with me and Michael. But Elena didn't seem to care if we were having a good time, in fact, the only reason she had called Damien was to accuse him of using her shampoo.

I couldn't help but laugh. I couldn't believe that Damien and Elena were arguing about a bottle of shampoo. Elena's voice, a blend of assertiveness and tenderness, came through the speaker as she requested her usual, shampoo. Damien, as always instead of arguing back with his little sister, happily obliged to buy her a new bottle the ask her if she wanted anything. I leaned against the chair, a smirk playing on my lips as I watched them to lost in their conversation. I couldn't help but be amazed at how unchanged Damien was over the years. Despite everything, his devotion to Elena remained unwavering.