LEYLA RUBBED HER eyes from under the thin-rimmed Bottega Veneta eyeglasses and perched her chin atop her interlocked hands while analyzing photos from the latest photo shoot.

She went through each photo meticulously, ignoring the slight sting that surfaced in her eyes whenever the proximity between her and the screen diminished. 

Her phone vibrated beside the sleek silver laptop, indicating the arrival of a new voicemail. She leaned back into her seat and turned the device over to so see that it was Matthew. It had been a while since he had contacted her, excluding the occasional birthday and congratulatory texts but in some little nook of her brain she knew that a lot of things were about to change between the two of them.

"Hey Leyla! It's Matthew... Four eyes? haha but uhm.. give me a call when you're free alright."

She called him back after sending out a few emails and finishing her report.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of your time, kind Sir?"

A muffled laugh voiced out and a few jokes were thrown around before he spoke, "It's been a while hasn't it?"

"Almost eight years," She whistled, palm resting against her cheek.

The two reminisced on old memories, sweet and sour. From when they stole Freya Winston's cat to their last days in Victoria, British Columbia.

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

It was almost seven in the evening when she received another text from Matthew, the pale moon peeked from behind the fluffy dark clouds that had shrouded the twinkling stars.

'Are you up for some ice-cream shakes?'

The fluorescent glow from the small device illuminated her soft yet prominent features. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard as she agreed to his invitation.

She grabbed a pale blue pullover to tie around the shoulders of her simple white cropped tee and finished her look with custom powder blue swoosh white Nike Air-Force 1s.

A claw clip kept her hair away from her face as she stepped out and got into her car to drive over to Crema Dolce. As usual, her ruminating mind kept her occupied the entire drive, this time the debate was between whether Matthew was doing this with a romantic motive or if he was being his usual affable self.

The lilac sign glowed, it's reflection appearing on the clear windows of her car as she parked beside it. As soon as she placed one sneaker clad foot besides the paved sidewalk, three steady claps rung in her ears

And it was no surprise that it was none other than the hazel eyed man, "You finally learnt how to parallel park! Bravo."

She shut the car door and narrowed her deep brown irises at him, "Haha, I'm wheezing. Literally."

He grinned at her and swung his right arm around her shoulders pulling her in as they walked into the parlor.

Aleena raised her fluffy yet perfectly shaped eyebrows whilst widening her eyes from behind the counter at the two and smirked to herself as she tended to a customer.

When he went to order for the both of them, she took a seat and took note of how much he had changed since she last saw him. He ditched the eye-wear probably with the aid of LASIK or maybe contact lenses? His hair was effortlessly styled too. The way she absolutely adored on men, bedhead-ish but tamed.

He had clearly started working out more as well because he had the perfect amount of muscle in all the right places. She pulled her calculated gaze away from him in fear of being caught.

As expected, in the next few minutes, he placed her shake in front of Leyla and sat across from her. For a few beats all that could be heard was the sound of thick, creamy, sweet concoctions being pulled up clear straws.

It was until he spoke up again that she put her cup down, "How's Uncle? and what about that brat Yusef?"

She bit her lip while smiling in hopes of stifling an inevitable laugh. "Baba's fine, just a little under the weather lately and Yusef." She shook her head lightly, "Is his usual idiotic self but a tad bit serious now because he has enormous responsibilities coming his way soon."

He nodded with a soft smile before continuing with his questions, "And you? Last time I checked you were in law school and well on your way to become a lawyer huh?"

The corners of her lips lifted slightly as she widened her eyes looking down, "Yes, and I was a practicing one too but life has funny ways of creating detours."

He nodded and sipped his own creamy shake. Leyla despised the way the silence danced around them, they were always so chatty together, their mothers would joke together that they'd tape their mouths shut.

Not being able to bear it any longer, Leyla pushed the dancing silence away and began with her own small set of questions. "So, I heard you set up your own software company?"

Almost as if someone had fed the inner child in Matthew candy, his eyes lit up. "You've heard right, after moving here three years ago for a job offer, I worked there for about 13 months until I thought why not do something from scratch, somewhere I'd have more freedom to put out ideas, you know?"

Leyla nodded to his words in understanding as he continued, "And so Fitz came to be."

She smiled at the hazel eyed man's eagerness to discuss his tech start-up and inquired more until the subject of family resurfaced.

Their chat went way over-time and hopped from one topic to another, as if there were no eight year gap to catch up on between them.

His mother and Leyla's mother had become the closest friends during the time they were neighbors, which was almost about fourteen years and counting until Leyla's mother passed away when Leyla was in her last year of law school.

Leyla's mother was the sweetest, most polite woman you could have ever met and it showed in Leyla who always strived for the better. Matthew's mother was that one mouthy friend in every friend group but equally kind if not more, she always called out people whenever they did something out of line, without ever thinking of the implications but that's what made her who she was; a strong, opinionated and thoughtful woman.

When the two left for further education, the two women fretted and cried, watching their little birds leave their nests.

Both attended prestigious universities, Leyla went to Yale Law School in New Haven, CT and Matthew to M.I.T in Cambridge, MA. Despite being in the same country, they never re-connected until now which was ridiculous because it felt good to be this close again.

Life works in unexpected and beautiful ways, right?

Soon, it was time for each of them to part ways, time literally flew by in one cool breeze.

He held the door for her while she walked out. Leyla turned around to look at him, "Where were you four eyes? Should've come around sooner."

He grinned wide and goaded the petite woman in front of him, "Hold on, so my presence was craved by the Leyla Aydın?"

Leyla rolled her eyes and turned to walk to her car, without a preamble Matthew yelled again, "Go out with me? This Friday?"

The brunette stilled, with her back to the nervous wreck of a boy. A slight smile sneaked it's way onto her plump lips as she glanced over her shoulder, "Are you asking me out, Fitzgerald?"

He shrugged with his hands in his pockets and hair falling slightly over his eyes, "Call it what you want."

The two gazed at each other under the street lights and it's soft glow mixed with that of the parlor's sign, glints of an unknown emotion present in their eyes.

It really was good to be this close again.

a glimpse into the sorta 'it' couple of the story, i'm actually really excited for you guys to uncover each exciting detail in the forthcoming chapters!!

i really hope you guys like it so far and don't think it's trash 🙈

do let me know what you think about this, it's super fun going through your comments <33