Intertwined souls ; a.irwin

"You're the only friend I need"

"Hey, new girl, you're already here!", said Michael just as I walked through the door.

"Have you forgotten my name already?", I joked.

"Of course not Ivy... I mean, Eva...what was it again?"

"Ava", I bluntly responded with a straight face.

"I was just joking, I knew it", he claimed.

"Sure you did", I said and walked away smiling.

Something was telling me we'll both become great friends. I was really scared about feeling alone in my new job due to the fact I have certain difficulties socialising. I fortunately don't have an anxiety disorder but it is true I find it a bit hard to talk to new people or bond with people. Michael makes me feel at ease so hopefully a possible friendship might start developing.

"What do you need me to do?", I asked.

"Could you please go to the bookshop area and place the books in the red boxes in the right shelves? They should go in alphabetical order and divided by genres, got it?", he hurriedly asked. He was obviously on a rush.

"Yep, got it", I said not that convincingly.

Michael noticed my obvious state of confusion but decided to trust my word and walk towards his office without further communication.

There were 20 boxes yet to unpack, there were approximately 20 books in each so I guess you could say there was a lot of work to be done.

5 minutes into my task, the shop's bell rang emitting a sweet sound, new to my ears. Along with the melody came the third guy I was going to come into direct contact with that day.

The first thing I payed attention to when it came to him was his jawline, sharp as knife. Definitely an easy thing to notice. After admiring it for an approximate second, I squinted my eyes to prove my thoughts right and they indeed were telling me what I had been suspecting. It was Calum, Calum hood. My first ever best friend and possibly first heartbreak.

"Ava? Is that you", Calum asked with a white toothy smile.

I smiled in response along with a "Calum?"

"I cannot believe you're here, it's been what? 10 years?".

"Yep, we haven't seen each other in a literal decade, time flies...", I responded in an attempt to keep the conversation going.

"Wow, the last time I saw you, you were in tears, as well as me not gonna lie. I have had that image engraved in my mind for so many years it's actually weird seeing you happy and grinning".

As soon as he said that I had one of those movie flashbacks in which the mentioned moment began playing in my mind. Calum and I had been neighbours all our lives but everything changed when I turned 6 and my parents decided to move to Boston since my dad had got a new job. The dark haired boy was two years older than me and was always nice to me and never hesitated to play with me whenever I asked; this obviously made my toddler self think he was the most marvellous person on the world which made me develop a tiny silly crush on him. Our friendship developed and both of us cried a river when we were told we needed to be separated. I needed to leave my Prince Charming and he had to leave the girl he considered to be his little sister. There still wasn't a day, even ten years later, in which I hadn't wondered about him and now he was here.

"I can say the same", I said trying to not make it apparent I was struggling to hold back tears. God, how I missed that guy.

There was a silence but a comfortable one and I decided to interrupt the brief pause to ask what had brought him to Boston.