mint; （ a. knight ）

2. slate;

I had not been to the Willowbrook Mall in ages, probably not since my college days. It was also nice to get together with my friends like I had today. Hanging out usually consisted of lunch and some kind of pampering; today it was getting our nails done. We were doing some shopping as well since I was dragging my best friend Carys Henson along with me tonight to see Awsten and the boys play at Cactus Music.

It was almost time for Awsten to leave for the band's Europe tour. They were only going to be gone for about three weeks, if I remembered Awsten telling me that correctly, but I definitely could say that I was going to miss him. We'd been hanging out a lot recently so I was going to miss his company quite a bit.

"I genuinely don't know what kind of look I'm going for," I said, turning to look at Carys who was thumbing through racks of clothes beside me. "Am I going for girly, or aesthetic, or what?"

"That depends on what y'all are doing tonight," Phoebe said from beside Carys. "What are y'all doing anyway?"

Carys grinned at me. "Ellie's boyfriend's band has this acoustic gig tonight."

I wondered if my face turned several shades of red at the word. "He's not my boyfriend, Carys."

"Is this that Awsten guy? With the hair?" Phoebe asked. I nodded to clarify. "He's totally hot, Ellie. It's okay to have a crush on him!"

"It's not about if it's okay to have a crush on him or not. He just got out of a shitty relationship. I doubt he's looking for another one," I said dismissively, trying to look busy as I started tearing through the racks again.

"She's so full of shit. He didn't just get out of a relationship. He broke up with his ex in November," Carys told Phoebe and then looked at me. "And he totally does like you, Elle! It's super obvious."

"You broke up with Matt in September. That's five months ago. It's been plenty of time, Ellie. I think you should go for it," Phoebe said. "Especially if the feeling is mutual."

I chewed my bottom lip for a moment. "I like being his friend. Really." I frowned. "Besides, I think he's still really torn up about his ex. I'm not gonna get in the way of his healing."

Phoebe rolled her eyes at me. "I'm just saying you gotta pounce on him while you have the chance. A boy that attractive is gonna get scooped up real fast."

I gave her a pointed look. "He's not that easy. He's actually pretty picky so he wouldn't just date anyone."

"Maybe he's just waiting on Ellie to give him the green light," Carys suggested innocently, which made Phoebe laugh.

"New subject, please!" I rolled my eyes again. "Or I'll leave you both in the parking lot and y'all can walk home."

After I had decided on my look, the girls and I left Forever 21 in search of the Apple store. Phoebe had finally decided she needed AirPods after Carys and I kept raving about ours. AirPods were truly a genius invention, in my opinion.

"Elsie, hey!"

"Well, well. Speak of the handsome devil! You think Ryan Gosling would show up if we started talking about him?" Phoebe asked Carys, grinning.

Ignoring her for a moment, I turned around on my heels and smiled at the familiar purple-haired boy heading toward me with his friend Jawn close behind. Awsten had long legs so he reached me first, throwing his arms around me easily.

"Fancy seeing you here, Awsten. What a small world!" I said. For the briefest of seconds, I pressed my face against his neck and breathed in the scent of his cologne that I loved so much, his arms secured tightly around my waist. He was so soft and yet so solid and I never wanted him to let me go. And then, just like that, it was over and we were apart again. "Hello, Jawn. It's nice to see you again," I said, directing the comment toward the red-haired boy.