SEVENTEEN | Imagines

Dino (II)

Dino

Dino, you didn't miss me too much didja? I'm kidding. No I'm not, 'cause I missed you loads. I'll see you soon!

He didn't know how many times he had already reread the message, the number was probably on its way to the two hundreds by now. He had wanted so badly to text you back and to ask, why, how, what, and most of all when?

But every single time he worked up the courage to type up a message, he would look at it and chicken out. He had no idea what to say to make it seem like he cared less than he actually did.

So he left it.

Maybe it was because he was still bitter over the fact that you had left without so much a good-bye and that he had to find out via your parents. But you had explained that you had been given a crazy opportunity abroad and jumped immediately at the chance to go.

He knew he wasn't supposed to think of it as you choosing something else over him, but that was exactly what he thought. He had been and still is hopelessly in love with you and feeling as if he mattered little to you hurt more than anything.

But you were coming back, after years. You were finally coming back.

. . .

When you arrived home via your parents car, you couldn't help but to feel nostalgic. It really had been too long since you had visited; you were truly unable to as it was much too difficult to leave where you had been working for the past three years.

Although you missed the place you called home for three years, it paled in comparison to the feelings of happiness upon returning to where you felt like you truly belonged. You glanced at your phone again, a pointless action you knew, if Dino wasn't going to reply three days ago, he wasn't going to reply now.

You wondered if he was still angry at the fact he had been abandoned, every time the two of you managed to speak to each other, it would always end up with him throwing obviously passive-aggressive comments.

But it didn't matter to you really, the two of you had been friends for much longer than you had been apart.

Perhaps that was why he was so hurt, the two of you had both planned to go to a nearby university, but you had suddenly left to pursue your ambitions. He could only try to adjust his life without you in it. Not that the past few years had been totally awful, but it did seem much more dry compared to when you were around.

You smiled broadly when you entered your childhood home. I'm finally back.

. . .

Dino wasn't sure what he was expecting to see when he stepped out of the house that summer morning, but he definitely wasn't at all prepared to see the sight that greeted him.

You were sitting peacefully on an old wooden swing set that had been there for the past decade, old ropes clearly fraying. You weren't swinging so much as gently swaying, the movement caused your hair to flutter playfully and Dino wondered what it would be like to slip his fingers between the strands.

A small chuckle left your lips as you read the book you held in your hands, you hadn't changed.

But then, as if you knew he was there, you looked up and angled your head slightly to the side to catch Dino's eyes.

You had changed, he thought dazedly as he was ensnared tightly in your gaze. Somehow your already compelling eyes had an even greater depth and maturity to them. And he just couldn't look away, not even as you began to stand and make your way towards him.