meant to be

31

"I ran into someone today." I said to my friend, she paused the movie we were watching before turning to look at me.

"Someone that knew past-Valerie?" She asked and I gave her a nod, a grin forming on her face as she got ready to guess who it was. "It wasn't Luke right? You would have said it differently if it was Luke." She guessed first and I shook my head. "Calum?" She asked and when I gave her a nod, she looked so excited. "Oh my god, tell me everything."

"I laughed at that text you send me, he said he recognised my laugh immediately and approached me. We talked in the store for a few minutes before going to the coffee shop across the street. We didn't stay to talk for that long but it was great, he made me blush and laugh and I gave him my number. His girlfriend cheated on him so he has been single for a while too. Said he was just waiting for the right one, just like me. What if he's the one I'm supposed to be with? Or is the universe just playing a sick joke on us by letting us meet again at this time in our lives?"

"I think you just have to go for it, either you fall in love or you fall face first to the ground. It's not going to be easy because even if it has been 4 years, you still dated his best friend. But there must be a reason why you're meeting him again now. I believe in faith and I know you do too." She said and I gave her a soft nod.

"I suggested we should go for dinner sometime as he had to go for a meeting, he asked if it would be a date because he wanted it to be. I told him it could be a date because it just felt right with him. It has been years but I just felt home around him right away."

"How did it feel when he visited you in San Diego years ago?" She asked and I let out a sigh.

"It felt goddamn good." I admitted and she smiled softly. "Even before I left, I could talk to him about anything. He was the only one that knew about my mom and the only one that didn't judge me for my past when he heard it. The other guys were great too but it was different. Calum saw the real me from the start, I always got along well with him and when I got together with Luke, we disconnected a bit until a few months before we broke up. When he saw me again, he wanted to listen when everyone else pretended not to see. Calum was my safe space, he always was."

"Sounds like you should go on a date with him." She said with a smile and I chuckled before getting up.

"I'm getting a new beer, do you want anything?"

"Another beer and a bag of chips sounds nice." She said with a laugh and I gave her a nod with a big smile on my face. We've known each other for three years, started college together and just became best friends. We didn't tell each other about our idea of moving to LA, we didn't want to say anything until everything was sure. We both ended up getting a job here at different schools and we planned to tell each other on the same night. We just blurted it out and then laughed about it for days. She got a place 10minutes away from me to be closer to the school she works at but it's great to have someone I know around. It made the move back to LA less scary.

"We ran out of beer so I'm gonna run down to the store quickly." I said to her and she shouted an okay before I took my wallet and slipped on my shoes. My apartment was above a night store and that has proven to be very useful already. I walked into the store and grabbed a 6-pack of beers before going over to the register.

"Having friends over again?" The man asked while he gave me the change.

"Yeah, can't have a party without beer." I replied and he laughed softly. "Have a good night Rick."