POV Bo.
When I walked into work five minutes early I was not at all expecting her to be here.
"Aya?" My voice came out as more of a dubious whisper than a question. She looked up a wide smile on her face to greet whoever had called her name. When her eyes landed on me at first she looked a little confused. Her smile slowly faded an odd look of horror crossing her features but there was an overwhelming amount of rage on her face. I was so caught up in trying to decipher how she felt I completely forgot about what I was feeling.
"Why are you here? How did you find us? What do you want? Who do you-!" I cut her off my eyes wide as I shook my hands in denial.
"It's not what it looks-." I started before she quickly cut me off with a hard glare.
"Oh really? Because it looks like you've come back to torment Alana." She growled defensively. Alana's here?! I internally slapped myself for getting so excited at the mere mention of her.
"No at all. I never meant to do that in the first place." I hung my head Aya letting out a low sigh.
"When they said they hired a newbie I never expected..." her voice trailed off slightly as she rubbed her temples. "Why are you here?" She repeated looking up at me. I was relieved with the lack of hostility in her eyes that now burned bright with curiosity.
"When Alana and I broke up." I stared. "It was so unreal and for a while I was in denial." I laughed bitterly. "When you told me how much I hurt her I thought maybe if I cleaned up my act I could make up for all the pain I caused." I looked down at my feet.
"And?" She gestured for me to continue. I noticed a bit of hope in her chocolate brown eyes as she eagerly leaned slightly over the counter.
"I stopped everything dropped everyone and I was so happy. I went to her house to show her everything I'd done for us but she already left for collage. Instead of turning back to drugs and alcohol I started playing music. There comedic songs but song. I needed to get out of that town so I saved up and here I am. Living in a shitty apartment on the sketchy side of town a stray mutt in my 'bed' working at a coffee shop." I laughed thinking about it. "Still better than the way things were." I admitted quietly. When I finally looked back at Aya her eyes were wide a mix of emotions on her face. I almost chocked on air when I noticed a glossy shimmer to her brown iris. Is she... crying?! Stepping around the counter she ran up to me throwing her arms around my waist pulling me into an awkward hug. Not just because I haven't seen her in years and she's my ex's best friend but because she was over a foot shorter than me. I pat the top of her head awkwardly letting out a strangled and obviously forced chuckle.
"I didn't know you cared that much." She whispered more to herself than me.
"I've never cared about anyone as much as I care about her." She smiled at the way I didn't use past tense. Pulling away she ran her fingers through her hair with a sigh at a loss for what to say next. "So... Alana's here?" I asked quietly looking out the window refusing to make eyes contact. When Aya hadn't answered for a while I slowly turned to make sure she hadn't walked away or passed out it was that quiet. I almost jumped when I caught her scrutinizing gaze. After finding whatever she was searching for in my eyes a warm smile pulled at her lips.
"Yeah she is."