“These herbs do what again?”
Gio's voice cut through the man’s presentation as he leafed through the reading materials on the table, the herbologist seemed pleased to have a question asked. Sadly, Gio only cared about one thing and that was helping his mother get better. His kind hadn’t been on this fair or the paper they were forced to write after. He’d known that once he was old enough to he’d b groomed to take his mother’s place. He'd trained beside Miha with, and without, the watchful eye of the elders of their small village. He never planned to have a desk job and the likelihood he would live long enough to have a family of his own was slim. “Right, so crushed and not liquefied.” The long strands of his blonde hair swayed along with his nod before he turned to walk along the line of disinterested kids. “One second..” he moved along, blue eyes dropping to watch as he readjusted the leather bracelets on either wrist, a gift from…
His chest stopped as his breath was head, brows furrowing tightly as the familiar sound of her voice touched his ears. He’d avoided her like the plague and it would during this terrible terrible look into the future that he would meet her again. Gio didn’t look up, hoping that she would walk by without seeing him, but then she was addressing him. Saying hello in a way that let him know that nothing was the same, it never would be. A strong hand rose to push his hair back from his face as his gaze rose to look at her. His chest felt tight, weighed down, by the mistake made over the summer. He’d b stupid enough to go against his better judgment and shared a kiss that had destroyed what the boy thought was a unbreakable bond. He should have seen it coming, they had barely spent time together while their halls were filled with unwanted students and a rather crazy woman leading them. “Hey…” the uneasy tone to his voice caused his to divert his gaze.
It couldn’t be this hard to fall back into the patterns that had been their friendship. He suddenly felt warm and his stomach uneasy as his weight shifted. There was so much he wanted to talk to just her about but he knew now he never could. There would be no silly banter and running behind each other in the woods. There would be no laughter and inside jokes, no he’d ban replaced. He knew he had. “Right…it goes good.” He replied before he moved to walk away from her. He couldn’t s the things he wanted and he couldn’t be who he had once been, not with her. What he had hoped would turn into a relationship now hung sadly in the air, a tension that was neither good or bad but somewhere in between. “What about you, been busy?” He muttered in a tone that didn’t suit his otherwise calm disposition.
He paused, shoulders lifting as he took a deep breath. “You stopped being my friend so I’m not sure what this conversation is supposed to be or where it’s supposed to go.” The thick leather bound to his wrist shifted as he raised a hand, “I get it, you know.” But he didn't, he couldn’t make sense of it. How a lifetime of friendship could end so abruptly, even if he had a hand to play in it’s demise. His head shook a bit as he looked at her again, the fine strings of his heart tugging, reminding him how much he missed her. So much of who he was had been discovered with her by his side that none he felt half himself, empty and the void ached in a way he never thought he could. “I’ll ask to be taken out of your group when we get home so you don’t have avoid me anymore.” So, he wouldn’t have to. It was truly exhausting but more than that it reminded him of how alone he would be if his mother never got better, if he was left to care for his sister’s and the weight of his responsibilities crushed him without regard of his wants and needs.