BLOOM • awsten knight

80

APRIL 2019

Awsten is going through his camera roll. He knows he probably shouldn't, but he's doing it anyway.

His elbows are resting on his knees as he's lent forward, his eyebrows dipped together, while he scrolls through pictures of him and Elle.

"What're you doing?" Jawn's voice catches his attention, causing him to jolt out of his daze.

"Oh, nothing," Awsten clears his throat, but doesn't bother clearing the pictures off his screen.

Jawn can clearly see the images of him and Elle displayed, and raises his eyebrows. "Should you really be doing that?"

"It's fine," Awsten shrugs it off, and Jawn tilts his head.

"What're you thinking about?" He narrows his eyes, noticing that there's likely something specific on his mind.

"She, uhm," Awsten starts, after a pause, looking back at the current picture on his phone, which is of both him and Elle; they're looking at each other as if they're the only two people in the world - and he knows that in that moment, it really felt like they were. "She used to get so excited, every time she saw me," he mumbles.

"Right.." Jawn nods along slowly, signalling for Awsten to continue.

"I haven't seen that in a while," he shakes his head. "And I get it, I do, trust me like— before you give me that look of, 'yeah, well, what do you expect? You fucked up'," Awsten looks towards Jawn, with a brief eye roll, "I know that, okay? But, I just miss it. Am I allowed that?"

"Of course you're allowed to miss it, Awsten," Jawn replies, with a reasoning tone, sitting down beside him. "You just have to remember the reality of the situation you were both in. It was bad for you, and you've both admitted that, but—"

"Yeah, I know we—"

"Will you let me finish?" He cuts Awsten off, causing him to hold his hands up in surrender. "If you both work on where you're at now, you might just come back together, better than before."

"So, you're saying I can get that back?" Awsten asks, looking back at the picture, with a hopeful tone, which makes Jawn's heart ache for his friend.

"I'm saying, maybe," he returns, realistically, earning a nod. Jawn has a good feeling, though; he isn't normally wrong when it comes to this, and he hopes like hell that he isn't wrong about this - in his eyes, Awsten and Elle are meant for each other, and it's only a matter of time before they have to realise it themselves.

"Come on, you two," Daphne calls, making her way into the living room to join them. "Shouldn't we get going?" She raises an eyebrow, fixing her earring.

Awsten looks down at his watch, his eyebrows dipped together. "Already?"

"Yeah! Whats gotten into you, Mr I'm-Early-For-Everything?" Daphne retorts.

"What's gotten into me, is that this is Elle we're talking about," Awsten responds, with a light laugh.

"Seriously? You think she'll be late for her own event?" She rolls her eyes, grabbing her hand bag, as she ushers them towards the door.