texas, uk

2

"ARGH, FUCK!"

Awsten's high-pitched shriek rings out clear as day and he leaps off the couch, immediately pulling himself into a stance of attack aimed at me. He looks like a ninja, a very pale ninja with blue hair, but a ninja nonetheless. It's taking everything I have not to piss myself laughing at him, but once he sees me that all changes.

His arms go limp and drop by his sides, he stands up straighter so he no longer looks like he can't decide whether he wants to launch an attack or run for the hills and he just stares at me. Any laughter from me instantly dies down and I just stare right back at him.

Unlike Geoff, who looks virtually the same, Awsten couldn't look any different. He may not have grown taller, but skinny, gangly Awsten has been replaced with a body that fits his height; his shoulders have broadened out; the muscles in his arms are evident through the t-shirt which also fits snugly over his back, again drawing attention to well formed shoulders; his legs look slightly less skinny, although not much, but they don't look like they'll snap underneath him at any given moment. His face is different, too. He's clean-shaven but instead of the smooth baby skin, there's a clear shadow where he's shaved. His face is less thin, again losing the scrawny teenage boy look and replacing it with a handsome young man, somehow his jawline has managed to become more defined and through his slightly parted lips are rows of neat white teeth, he finally got his braces off.

To say that Awsten was a late bloomer is a bit of an understatement, I'd got my period before he'd had started to get body hair and that's saying something - he's a fourth Greek. I never really brought the topic up because I knew he was sensitive to it: some of the bigger boys picked on him a bit for being the smallest and his immature personality didn't help. But come fifteen and he'd finally stopped being the shortest boy, and quickly became one of the tallest. The decision to fix his teeth was made later, so the four-year brace began at that time too. But regardless of growth and a sudden hormone influx, he has always stayed the same skinny kid that I adored. It feels so weird now to see actually mature Awsten and there's no doubt that the scene-kid attraction he had has changed into a downright male model look.

I can't stop staring at his hair, the emo brown mop has been with him since he was fourteen and I can't believe he's actually cut it off. I always liked his long hair, but I'm loving this short but messy cut. The blue must be freshly dyed because it's so vibrant, and so blue. And so different to what I'm used to, but already I like it so I'm sure it won't take me long to get used to this new Awsten.

He doesn't say anything to me, just takes a step forward and pulls me into his arms, I instantly wrap my arms around his neck and relax into the familiar feeling of his body. I bury my head in the crook of my neck, reaching up on my tippy toes to do so, and inhale the scent of him, of home. Of Light Blue by Dolce and Gabbana and soap and the cotton-scented laundry detergent and that indescribable natural boy smell and, faintly, oranges.
My eyes burn as I realise that I truly am finally here, in his arms. Reunited with my best friend and partner in crime once again. I don't have to awkwardly hug my laptop, or try and make him out through the pixels of my phone's poor connection. He really is right here. In the flesh.

Awsten isn't one for sentiment. Well, he is, but he says he doesn't like it much because it makes him feel things that everybody and their mother doesn't need to know about, which is why he hides a lot of what's really going on behind the obnoxious and annoying personality he's created and also is why he's such an incredible songwriter, because that's where all his feelings go. I've only ever seen him really be lovey with girlfriends he's had over the years, the band are shown love through offhand insults and being dragged around with him. And me, we just ignore the deep stuff completely, but it's good like that. I know what I mean to him, and he knows what he means to me. Some things just don't need to be said to be known and I like that he knows it because I like it like that, too.