Chapter Text
Yashiro had imagined today going a million different ways but this was not one of them.
Bawled up at the edge of the bench at a bus stop, Yashiro wished she would’ve checked her messages earlier before heading out. Aoi and her were supposed to meet up at an old bakery they used to visit in high school, but something came up and she had to cancel last minute. Unfortunately Yashiro didn’t notice Aoi’s text until after she had already arrived at the bakery. Which lead her to the bus stop, that because of her luck was delayed and wasn’t coming for a while.
As she laid her head against the frosty glass next to the bench, she began to pull out her phone to read the time. It was one-thirty eight, meaning she had been waiting for a little over half a hour now. It wasn’t much of a surprise to her since her hands were starting to get numb from the cold, her nose was bright red, and her eyes stung. Her only other alternative to becoming a human popsicle was to ask someone to pick her up, but everyone she knew had plans this weekend. Regardless she opened her phone and began to scroll through her contacts, at this point she wasn’t above begging someone to rescue her. She was about to lose all hope after a few minutes of scrolling until she reached the bottom of the list and saw a name she hadn’t seen in a while.
Amane Yugi.
In high school they were best friends, practically inseparable but once they started college everything changed. They started seeing each other less and less. Yashiro always assumed it was because school was just more stressful now but sometimes she wondered if that wasn’t the case. Could it be that he was avoiding her? It wasn’t like neither of them had time to hang out once in a while.
If Yashiro was being honest with herself, she missed the days when they would spend weekends watching movies and eating ice cream. She missed going to the library with him to study for upcoming tests, even if most of the time they’d just end up talking. She missed making him doughnuts for lunch just to surprise him. She missed how he’d tease her, and play with her hair. She missed being able to talk on the phone for hours with him, she missed how gentle he was when comforting her after getting her heart broken. Did he miss her like she missed him?
Would he even pick up if she called him?
Before she could think twice she pressed the call button and placed her phone next to her ear. Each ring that came from the phone made her more and more nervous. After five rings she decided to hang up, but as soon as she did her phone began to ring again. Shocked she answered the phone as quickly as she could.
“Hello?” The sound of shuffling was heard on the other line.
“Hi. Sorry I didn’t pick up right away I was doing something.” His voice sounded groggy as if he had just woke up. Tsukasa had mention before that he’d stay up most nights studying, sometimes till the break of dawn. She really hoped she hadn’t woken him up.
“No it’s all good.”
“So uh was there something you wanted to talk about?” The more she gave it thought the more anxious she got. Perhaps this wasn’t the best decision given the fact they hadn’t talked in over a year.
“Oh well sorta but you seem busy so I can just ask someone else instead.”
“I’m not busy at all. I was just about to leave the lab so what’s up?”
“I was wondering if you could drop me off at my place because I don’t exactly have any other way to get back right now.”
“Yeah no problem, so where are you at right now?”
“I’m at the bus stop next to the old bakery we used to hang out at in high school.”
“Okay got it. I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes.” He said before hanging up the phone.
With mere seconds of being off the phone she was already regretting her decision. But it’s not like she had many choices, the bus was taking forever and she didn’t feel like waiting any longer, she didn’t know how to get back home by foot, and everyone else was busy. She knew this was her best chance of getting out of this cold the soonest. Dropping her phone back in her lap she decided to watch the snow flurries to pass the time.
She remembered a time not too long ago when her and Amane would snuggle up by the fire on nights like this. She’d be over at his house drinking the hot cocoa his mother would make as they both shared a warm wool blanket sitting as close as possible. Their knees bumping into each other, her head rested against his shoulder. However the moment would never last long because Tsukasa would complain about wanting to share the blanket with her as well. But since the blanket was never big enough for all three of them the twins would just end up arguing about who should sit next to her.
Many would say they were as thick as thieves, for anywhere one went the others followed. There wasn’t a single memory Yashiro could recall that didn’t include the twins. Every cheerleading competition, every breakup, every argument her parents had, every high and low, they were there. Especially Amane.
She wasn’t even sure why they drifted apart and it was eating her up inside. Had she said or done something to upset him? Had he gotten bored of her just like every boyfriend she ever had? All she wanted was her best friend back but she wasn’t even sure how to get him back.
“Yashiro…?” Snapping back into reality she noticed Amane was standing in front of her waving his hand back in forth. “Hello? Anybody home?”
“Yeah sorry I zoned out there.”
“It’s alright you just had me worried.”
“Worried?”
“Well it freezing outside, you aren’t really dressed warm enough for this weather, and by the looks of it you’ve been out in this cold for a while.”
“How do you know that?”
“Yashiro you’re shivering and your face is almost entirely red from the cold.”
“Oh.”
“Come on lets get you home.” He replied as he took her hand in his, leading her to his car. He was taller than she remembered, last time she saw him he was shorter then her but now he was several inches taller. “So how long were you actually outside in this snow for?” She hesitated as he opened the passenger door for her.
“An hour I think.”
“A what?!” He practically yelled as he watched her duck into the car. “Why didn’t you call me sooner?”
“Because I didn’t know the bus would be delayed for this long.”
“What am I going to do with you?” He sighed as he walked around the car and got in.
The car ride was quiet . Too quiet. Yashiro usually didn’t mind quite car rides, she actually enjoyed looking out the window and watching the scenery. This though, this was different. It felt almost suffocating to not say a word, but then again what would she even say? They hadn’t really talked in a little over three years, this space between them was too wide to fix with one little conversation. But it wouldn’t hurt to try, would it?
“So-“ They both began to say at the same time. “Sorry you go first.” Yashiro suggested as she fidgeted with her fingers.
“I was just wondering if you went on a date or something earlier today, since you’re all dressed up.” She was a little dressed up she supposed, and not at all dressed for the weather. She really should’ve given her outfit some further thought before leaving her apartment.
“No. I was supposed to meet up with Aoi at a bakery but Aoi canceled last minute because of a family emergency. I didn’t see her text though until after I was already there.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Yashiro hits his arm in response. He just chuckled and went back to looking at the road. “Oh what were you going to say before?”
“Oh, I just wanted to ask how things are, you know since we haven’t talked in a while.” He took a hand off the steering wheel and scratched his cheek with it.
“Sorry about that. I’ve just been busy lately. But I’m good.” He gave her a toothy smile.
“We really should catch each other up one of these days, like the old days.”
“Yeah but back then the only thing you really wanted to talk about was your dream guy.” His fingers began to tap on the steering wheel.
“There is nothing wrong with wanting love.”
“No, but you took it to the extreme.” He chuckled. “You’d only date tall blondes with pretty faces. Your ideal prince as you would say.”
“I’ve changed since then.” She huffed even though she knew it was the truth. Back in high school all she cared about was if the person was attractive and popular. It was no surprise that with such high standards she’d ended up getting her heart broken constantly. She’d like to think she wasn’t as superficial as she was back then though.
“Tsu has mentioned that you have.” Had they really drifted that far apart? So far that his brother had to tell him what was going on in her life? It made her sick to her stomach to realize they hadn’t just stopped being best friends, they stopped existing in each other’s life. Sure his name would get brought up here and there with a mention of how he was, but thats all it was. Small comments that would only shed a crevice of light into what once was a completely open door into his life.
She needed to know why. Why he never called or texted or meet with her. Why he suddenly stopped hanging out. Did they have some kind of disagreement she forgot? Was it something she said or did? He didn’t seem upset to see her now, in fact he looked quite pleased.
“Why did you never reach out?”
“Huh?”
“After we started drifting apart, you didn’t try to reach out.” His fingers stopped tapping on the wheel and instead readjusted his grip. His face looked a bit tense with his lips screwed shut as if he was too scared of what those lips may reveal.
“I don’t know, it didn’t seem like we were drifting apart. And when I realized we were I didn’t know how to reach out. Everything felt too different.” His eyes were laser focused on the road but she could tell his mind wasn’t. “I guess I was waiting for you to make the first move but you didn’t.”
“I missed my best friend.”
“I missed you too.” He parked outside of her apartment complex before getting out of the car to open her door. “Would you like me to walk you inside or…?”
“No I’m good. Thank you for driving me though.”
“Dont worry about it, you know I’d do anything for you.” For a second she wondered if that was true. Would he do absolutely anything for her? She dismissed that thought before she could even give herself enough time to think about it. “If its not too late for us, do you maybe want to have dinner to catch up?” He hesitated, almost like he wasn’t sure if he should go through with asking her.
“I’d love to.” She smiled, causing him to break out into a huge goofy grin. It had been a while since she’d seen him smile like that, a warmth had spread through her chest as she walked away. Starting now she was determined to fix the gap between them no matter how long it took.