Young God [GirlxGirl]

13. Past Lives And Green Eyes

"What are you doing here, Matt?" She didn't bother putting up the pretence of being happy to see him. She wasn't.

"I live here now." He said, almost apologetically, as though he knew that was the last thing Violet would want to hear. "My dad got offered a promotion but we had to move here for it, so I'll be living in London for the foreseeable future."

Violet wanted to be sick. She knew just by looking at him that he was thinking back to their final few weeks together; that he was thinking about her in the way she assumed he always did - as an unstable lunatic. He wouldn't have been the only one that replayed those events in his head day in and day out. Violet could never truly forget them either, as much as she tried to.

"Sorry, how rude of me. This is my new friend Nate, he lives next door to me." Matt clapped his friend on the back of the shoulder and in response he waved a little awkwardly. Nate didn't look like the kind of people Matt would usually surround himself with; he was tall and a little bit lanky, sporting a pair of thick rimmed glasses and loosely permed brown hair, and clearly he wasn't the greatest at social interactions. "How about you guys?" Matt looked at Blake and Ash, evidently expecting them to introduce themselves.

"We're the ones that are only refraining from kicking your ass because Violet hasn't asked us to yet." Ash responded coldly.

Matt looked between the two of them with a forced and blatantly uncertain laugh. "All right. I guess I deserve that." He admitted, before facing Violet once more. "Listen, Violet, I'm going to be starting at your college soon so we're bound to start seeing each other around more often. I don't want things to be weird between us. We were friends before we started dating, after all, and I think we can be friends again."

"Are you seriously so delusional that you think we could ever be friends after what you did to me?" Violet demanded. "You couldn't handle me then and I doubt you'd be able to handle me now. You're a coward, Matt. You don't deserve my friendship."

Blake and Ash looked impressed. Nate looked uncomfortable. Matt looked ashamed.

"I know what I did back then was awful, okay? But a day hasn't gone by since in which I don't regret it. If I could turn back time and do things differently I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I can't. What I can do is offer to try and make up for all that lost time and for all the pain I caused you. I can prove to you how much I've changed and grown as a person and hope that maybe one day you're able to see past the jerk I used to be. That's what I can do." Matt said these things as though he'd been expecting to run into Violet sooner or later, and had thought long and hard about what he wanted to say to her.

"Is that so? And how exactly do you intend to do that?" Violet asked dubiously.

"Well... I though I'd start by buying you and your friends a drink." He smiled, and suddenly that gleam of confidence Violet knew so well had returned to his eyes. "Come on and sit down." He gestured to an empty booth nearby.

Violet paused. She told herself that she should politely decline and find some other pub to go to instead. She told herself that Matt was only going to bring more trouble and heartache into her life. She told herself to say no. Just say no. But it had been so long since they'd last seen each other, so what if he really had changed? What if they really could be friends again? Wasn't it at least worth a shot? Everyone was looking at her; waiting for her decision.

"One drink." She eventually decided, with a tone of unquestionable finality.

Matt's smile transformed into a gleeful grin as he led everybody over to the booth, then took Nate with him to go and order a round. As soon as he was out of earshot, Blake and Ash simultaneously turned to look at Violet.