childhood bestfriend!roman x reader - chapter 1
wc: 5900
cw: underage weed consumption
synopsis: you and Roman met each other when you were 7 after a not-so-pleasant encounter at the park. You became inseparable after that. In the many years of friendship you developed feelings for Roman, but you somehow managed to keep them hidden. It was all in vain, however, as your friendship ended a couple of days before graduation. After four years of not hearing from him, you meet him at a party you were working at as a photographer, lighting up a flame you didn't know was still burning inside, buried and long forgotten.
author's note: new series!!! hope you guys like this :3 sorry for disappearing for a while, i've been really busy. hopefully i'll remember to update this regularly,,, also all my fics are gonna be based off songs just letting yall know.
Air grazed your skin aggressively as your legs moved at speeds you didn’t even know were possible. Trees and people blurred past as you ran – you didn’t have time to stop for anything in the world.
Suddenly, a small twig appeared in front of you, and before you could notice it, you toppled over, falling face first into the grass. Laughter surrounded you, coming from all parts and you slammed your small fist against the wet grass, angry at your own incompetence.
A shadow appeared over you, blocking the warm light rays from the sun. A hand extended towards you, offering help.
You looked up to see a boy. He had dark, messy hair and deep, soft eyes. He was wearing a large white shirt with blue jeans. You had seen him before when walking around the neighborhood with your parents, but you never really spoke to him.
Although you were taught to never trust strangers, the other kids in the park were catching up to you. You couldn’t lose the game. So in a leap of faith, you grabbed the boy’s hand and got back up on your feet. Covered in the green pigment of the wet grass, you began incessantly rubbing it off your knees and face. Before you could even look up and thank the boy, you felt his hand touch your shoulder.
“Tag. You’re it,” he said calmly, and when you lifted your gaze he had a mischievous smile. You couldn’t believe it. He tricked you.
“You’re not even playing!” you argued angrily.
“I am now,” he shrugged, and without wasting another moment, he ran away, joining the other kids as you were now tasked with catching them.
The warm, damp wind of summer evenings caressed your hair while you sat on the curb in front of your house. The sound of crickets and dogs barking filled the small neighborhood. Every now and then, a firefly would pass by, illuminating the dark sky as the sun slowly hid underneath the horizon.
Irritated, you looked at your bike. Your dad removed the training wheels and sent you outside to practice while he made dinner with your mom. After falling off your bike five times, you gave up, looking at the bike with angry tears pricking in your eyes.
“Hi,” you heard a chirpy voice say from somewhere in the dark. Scared, you lifted your eyes to search for whoever was calling out to you. On the other side of the road you noticed a small figure with the same messy hair of the boy you saw at the park.
“Hi,” you replied, relaxing as there was no threat or monster, just the boy that tricked you earlier that day.
“What’s up?” he walked towards you. Like his mom taught him, he looked both ways before crossing the street, even though no cars passed by this late in the evening.
“I’m riding my bike,” you answered, looking up at him once he stopped in front of you.
“How can you ride your bike if you’re not on it?” he looked at the bike that was laying a couple of feet away from you.
“My dad took off the training wheels,” you explained.
“You don’t know how to ride it, do you?” he smiled, tilting his head.
“Yes I do,” you defensively argued, too embarrassed to admit it.
“Show me then,” he gestured towards the bike before putting his hands on his hips, waiting patiently for your lie to be uncovered.
You looked at him for a second, debating whether this was worth it or not. You didn’t know much about him, but after the way he betrayed you earlier that day at the park, you knew he was up to no good. What if you fell again and he’d tell all the other kids you can’t ride a bike without training wheels?
“No,” you replied, shrugging as if you didn’t care. “I’m too tired,” you explained, but it was clear you were lying through your teeth.
The boy hummed in response, smiling knowingly. You looked down at the ground, waiting for him to leave you alone, but instead he stepped closer. Confused, you lifted your gaze.
“I’m sorry about today at the park,” he said, a sudden shyness in his words. “I didn’t know your friends were gonna laugh at you.”
“It’s ok. They always laugh when I lose,” you scoffed, not thinking much of it.
“You need new friends then,” the boy smiled.
You understood what he meant, although you were reluctant. He wasn’t so kind earlier at the park when he tricked you into trusting him. “What’s your name?”
“Roman. I live right there,” he pointed a couple of houses down the street.
Hesitantly, you gave him your name, but you didn’t tell him where you lived as you thought it was a smart move, although you sat right in front of your house. Roman looked at your parents in the kitchen through the window. He watched them for a moment as they cooked.
“Are they making dinner?” he nodded towards the window.
“Yeah. I probably have to go back inside.”
“Well, let me teach you how to ride the bike before you go back in,” he stepped towards your bike, lifting it off the concrete.
“I told you I already know how to do it,” you argued.
“You’re not very good at lying.”
You stood up, looking at Roman skeptically for a moment. You looked back at your parents in the window. They didn’t seem to be quite done with dinner yet, meaning you had a couple of minutes to spare. You looked back at Roman, and after rolling your eyes dramatically, you hopped on your bike and allowed him to teach you.
“Roman! I told you to be careful!” you practically yelled in Roman’s face as you helped him sit down on the hot concrete of the skate park.
You weren’t a big fan of Roman’s new hobby – skateboarding. Well, it wasn’t exactly new. He had been doing it for a couple of years now. But whenever you would go to this specific skatepark, he would always try to impress the older kids which resulted in him doing all sorts of tricks he wasn’t ready for yet.
You reached for his backpack, searching through it frantically as blood pooled on the concrete around Roman’s leg, the scratch on his knee although not deep, was painful enough to leave him wincing. But he couldn’t let you see this.
“I’m fine! This happens all of the time,” he tried to argue, but he soon realized he wasn’t making it any better. You shot him a look, before going back to the backpack.
“Well, if it happens all the time maybe you can tell me where you keep your stupid bandages.”
“The side pocket,” he gestured towards his backpack, holding his leg as the stinging became more intense. You quickly followed his instructions, digging through the small pocket until you found an almost-finished gauze roll. It was dirty around the edges and overall disgusting. But it would have to do as you didn’t have any other option.
You crawled back to Roman, your eyes widening at the small pool of blood that had gathered around his leg, the red liquid almost instantly drying on the hot concrete.
Grabbing your water bottle, you placed a hand on Roman’s knee, lightly cleaning his wound of dirt and blood. You watched his face as he squeezed his eyes shut at the sudden stinging caused by the water against his open wound, and he leaned back on his hands. You then grabbed the gauze roll, wrapping it around Roman’s knee, careful not to hurt him.
“Is it too tight?” you asked, worried eyes looking up at him. He simply shook his head in response, and you followed by tying the gauze, ripping the excess piece which was all that was left of the roll. You put the piece in your pocket.
Then, without thinking, you lowered your torso to reach Roman’s bandaged knee, puckering your lips. But before you could move any further, Roman interrupted you.
“What are you doing?” he smiled.
“Kissing it better?” you answered as if it was obvious.
“That doesn't work,” he scoffed with a smile, looking down at you.
“You don’t know that,” you argued. Roman didn’t answer, but instead kept his gaze fixed on you, allowing you to proceed. You pressed a gentle kiss against the gauze, careful not to put too much pressure on his wound. You straightened up, looking at Roman as you waited for an answer, but all he did was look at you with a shocked expression. “Well, does it?”
“Uhm –“ he snapped out of his thoughts, a pink hue spreading across his face. He looked down in an attempt to cover it. “Yeah,” he answered shortly.
“You need more bandages,” you noted. “And you need to stop doing tricks you don’t know,” you joked, looking down at his wrapped knee, blood already seeping through the white cloth.
“I know how to do a 720,” he rolled his eyes.
“Clearly, you don’t,” you nodded towards his knee.
“Whatever. I just had a pebble in my way.”
“Sure,” you grinned, looking at him.
Roman wasn’t sure what shifted that day. Maybe it was the way the sun gently caressed your features, maybe it was the way you watched him skate, cheering after every trick he landed, maybe it was the whole ‘kiss it better’ crap he didn’t believe in until now. Maybe it was just the heat messing with his head. But that night, twisting and turning in his bed, the window wide open brining in that familiar summer night smell, he couldn’t get you out of his head.
A couple of houses down the street, in your room, you opened your closet quietly as you didn’t want to wake up your parents. The nightlight on your bedside table struggled to illuminate the entire bedroom, and you struggled to find what you were looking for in the dark corners of the closet’s top shelf.
You felt around with your hands, trying to grasp that familiar carboard texture until your hands landed on an old shoebox. You pulled it out of the closet and placed it on your bed before opening it. The box was relatively empty – the shoes were long gone as you grew out of them. But you kept their box.
Your favorite pencil from second grade, a drawing you made for mother’s day, a note from Roman that wrote ‘Let’s skip’ – these were all small trinkets you had gathered over the years. Things you didn’t want to forget.
You pulled out the last piece of gauze from your pocket, storing it safely in the shoe box before closing it gently and hiding it back in the closet, the box serving as a timeless reminder of your childhood and the days everything seemed so simple.
Sweat trickled down your skin as you hiked up the hill Roman and you liked to hang out on. However, due to a recent coyote spotting a couple of weeks ago, your visits to the hill had lessened.
Both you and Roman’s legs were covered in scratches from all the bushes and rocks you had fallen onto as you had to take a different route than usual to avoid the reported coyotes.
“Fuck!” you sighed, wiping sweat off your forehead. “I can’t do this anymore.”
“Come on, we’re almost there,” Roman came up from behind you.
The day had already been eventful enough, with Roman’s birthday party and all. But you two snuck out earlier, which was also a hell of a hassle, hiding from both your parents as you jumped through Roman’s bedroom window. Then you had to walk around town for 2 hours just because Roman’s plug decided to give you the wrong meetup spot.
Smoking weed at 13 wasn’t the brightest idea, especially on a hill with sprouting wildlife, but it was Roman’s birthday and he set his mind on smoking weed for the first time. And who’s better to smoke with than his best friend?
You and Roman did everything for the first time together: first fight when Roman got his ass kicked and you had to help patch him up, first time getting drunk at your older cousin’s birthday party, first smoke, the used cigarette butt now put away in your shoe box. It was almost a tradition.
So smoking weed together for the first time seemed natural. You just never expected to do it so early.
“Hurry up!” Roman yelled, being far in front of you. “Last one to reach the top is a loser!” he suddenly began sprinting, jumping over bushes and rocks.
“That’s not fair! You’re already in front of me!” you tried to argue with him, but he didn’t answer. So you followed him in the fastest sprint you could muster, with your legs already giving up when you took the second step.
Of course, when you finally reached the top he was already there, sprawled out in the grass underneath the orange sunset. You joined him, collapsing right next to Roman as you panted incessantly.
Roman wasted no time, reaching into his back pocket to grab the two pre-rolled joints Roman’s plug gave you.
“You know,” you started, sitting up in the grass. “When you said you had a plug I expected some scary buff dude. I didn’t picture some scrawny little kid that’s probably younger than us,” you recalled his so-called ‘plug’ you had to hold back from laughing at.
“He’s chill,” Roman also sat up, continuing to dig in his pocket to find the lighter. “I met him at the skate park.”
“You meet a lot of people at that park.”
“Are you jealous?” he grinned, pulling out the lighter.
“No,” you quickly shut him down, the question making you nervous. “I’m just worried.”
“Why? You think I’ll replace you or something?” Roman handed you one of the crumpled-up joints. You took it, examining it closely.
“What if it’s laced?” you ignored Roman’s question.
“It’s not,” he assured you before looking at you for a second longer. Then, he grabbed the lighter and crawled towards you, your knees touching in the grass. “You ready?”
“What, I’m going first?” your face dropped.
“Hell no! I don’t know how to do this,” you shook your head, trying to save yourself.
“I don’t know either. It’s just like a cigarette, I guess,” Roman shrugged. “Plus, it’s my birthday so you have to do whatever I say.”
You gave Roman a look, debating whether this was worth it or not. Eventually, you caved like you always did, placing the joint between your lips. Roman brought up the lighter, the orange beam illuminating his face. You took a hit, instantly coughing sporadically. Roman laughed as you leaned forward, and he patted your back.
“This is nothing like a cigarette,” you managed between coughs.
“Terrible,” you sat back up. “You try,” you pointed at the other joint that sat in his hand.
He lit it up and took a hit. Just like you, he choked on the thick smoke.
“Holy shit!” he said, making you laugh at his misery.
“Told you,” you shrugged.
The finished joints lay together in a patch of dirt, surrounded by the grass dancing in the wind. You couldn’t remember when the sun finally set and the moon came up, but it seemed like you had been looking at the swarm of stars against the dark sky for ages.
Roman lay beside you, arms underneath his head, while you held yours on your stomach. A word would be said every now an then, but since finishing the joints, both you and Roman were hit with a wave of silence.
“You know,” he started, his voice low and deeper than usual. “You’re the one I’m on this hill with right now,” he spoke, his words confusing you.
“What?” you watched as a plane went by, racing the stars.
“I’m saying, you’re the only one I want to do this with. I wouldn’t replace you. Ever. No one would climb a hill just to smoke weed on my birthday.”
Although high, his words marked you. How could he speak so freely, saying words so easily, as if what he said didn’t make your heart beat out of your chest?
Your head was spinning, not knowing how to answer. Needing to ground yourself, you removed a hand from your stomach and put it between you and Roman, twirling the grass with your fingers.
Suddenly, you felt a warm graze on the back of your hand. Roman gently took your hand in his, not removing his eyes from the night sky. Maybe he was too scared. Or maybe this was nothing to him. But to you it felt as if all the weed left your system, replaced by an intrusive comfort you had never felt towards Roman before. You suddenly felt the urge to inch towards him, yearning for his closeness. Surely, you had gotten way too high.
You ignored the urge and instead you just lay there, next to your best friend, watching the stars as they slowly went by. Roman’s grasp on your hand never faltered as he knew this was exactly where he wanted to be.
There were no more crickets. No more dogs barking in the silence of the night. No more voices of teenagers sneaking out in the middle of the night.
All there was were cars, the city being active even when the sun was no longer there to shine.
You sat at your desk, the bright light from your laptop casting a sharp glow over your face as you edited the last batch of photos from your previous gig.
Finally you closed your laptop, shutting the lid with a loud sigh as your room was depleted of its only source of light, now engulfed by the darkness of the night. Well, it was never really dark.
You looked out the window, a multitude of street and headlights rushing by in a blur below you. A sudden shift in the air reminded you of the nostalgic summer nights back at your parents' house, looking out the window and seeing one single flickering light.
You remembered how scared you were, cuddled up in between pillows and blankets, and although you were drenched in sweat as the summer nights were merciless, you were thankful for the safety of your bed and nightlight, begging for the streetlight to stay on for just one moment.
Now you were all alone. You didn’t need a dozen blankets to keep you safe. You had no nightlight, the only outlet beside your bed occupied by your phone’s charger. And you begged for the hundreds of streetlights to flicker, and just for one moment, to turn off.
You laid down in your bed after another workday, phone in hand, but not on just yet. You took a moment for yourself as your eyes could finally rest, shutting them to see the calm darkness behind your eyelids for a couple of moments.
Sometimes you thought about that little girl in her parent’s house, in a small neighborhood. You had posters of your favorite actors and CDs lined up on every shelf. You had photos of you and your friends to brighten every wall, and all your memories were confined to a shoe box.
You thought of how she wouldn’t believe that in a couple of years she would have her own penthouse that she bought all by herself through her successful career. She wouldn’t believe that her job basically meant going to parties every weekend and getting hired by all sorts of celebrities. She wouldn’t believe that while having such an active life she would still be lonely, having no one to confide in or truly and confidently call a friend.
But what she could believe was that in a couple of years, in that big penthouse with streetlights brightening every corner, somewhere deep inside her closet would sit that same old shoebox, littered with all sorts of memories she would never forget.
Suddenly, a loud buzzing noise coming from your phone snapped you out of your thoughts.
Music bounced off the walls throughout the club as people socialized, scattered around the building.
You had been at The Echo for jobs before, whether it was a show or party, but never for someone as big as 2Hollis. You knew how big he had gotten in the past two years as part of your job was to keep up with the newest celebrities.
Looking around the room you recognized some faces: microcelebrities, influencers you followed on social media, and artists Hollis was friends with.
The party wasn’t what you were used to: the music wasn’t too loud, there were no flashing lights, the atmosphere being a lot more calm as everyone prioritized socializing rather than getting fucked up and hooking up.
You made your way through the club, over to one of the backrooms where you knew you’d find Hollis. As you reached for the door handle, a sudden wave of anxiety coursed through your veins, the reality kicking in: you hadn’t seen Hollis since highschool. And he was never really your friend, just Roman’s friend he would often ditch you to hang out with. In fact, from what you remember, your last conversation with Hollis was an argument.
You had never been hired by someone you knew before. And knowing Hollis, he was still close friends with most of the people from around that time. Including Roman.
When Hollis hired you for the party, you instantly knew Roman will also be there. You didn’t follow him or Hollis on social media, but as their fame grew they would inevitably pop up in every corner of the internet. A certain ‘boyliife’ had been growing, and upon one curious search on Instagram, you saw the faces of the boys Roman would hang out with in highschool.
In the days leading up to the party, you found it harder and harder to sleep as you lay in bed, thinking of all the possibilities of what would go down at the party. And every night, like a ritual, you’d roll over on your side and realize how ridiculous this all was: you had known Roman since you were seven. You grew up together. There was no reason to be nervous.
Gathering yourself, you opened the door and you were instantly thrown in an ocean of greetings. In front of you was Nate and Ryan. You met both of them around a month before graduation when Roman took you to the skatepark for the last time. Finn, a guy you had only seen pictures of, was sitting on a chair and talking to the DJ. Scattered around the room were a couple of people that worked for the venue.
And finally, leaned up against a wall and talking to the girl you could only assume was his girlfriend, according to his Instagram profile picture, was Hollis. He wasn’t hard to recognize with his platinum blond hair, which became his staple. But he was very different from the guy you met in highschool.
“Hey!” he pushed himself off the wall and walked towards you, giving you a side hug. “It’s been a while, huh?” he said, trying to avoid what would soon become a very awkward conversation.
“Yeah,” you huffed a small chuckle. “I just got here, but I’m ready to start,” you continued, opening your bag to take out your camera.
“Do you have anything specific you’d like me to take pictures of?” you asked while going through the settings on your camera, reading the tiny words on the screen.
“Not really. Maybe do some closeups of the DJ. But other than that you can do pretty much whatever you usually do.”
You nodded, taking note of his vague instructions. You looked around the room one last time, smiling at the few faces you recognized, before turning around to go back into the main room.
As you walked towards the bar and examined the room closely to see what could make an interesting picture, you couldn’t help but notice Roman’s absence. You didn’t see him in the back room and you couldn’t spot him anywhere around the club. Maybe he hadn’t showed up.
In a way you were relieved. Seeing him after so long was bound to be awkward. Especially since you two didn’t leave off on the brightest note.
But at the same time, you were disappointed. Roman had been a big part of your life. All your best memories included him and the shoebox in your closet was filled with things he had given you: notes from class, small trinkets he’d buy when he would go to Mexico, the piece of leftover gauze.
Highschool friendships never last. That’s what you always told yourself. But upon seeing Roman with Hollis and the other boys from that time still being friends, you couldn’t help but feel a sharp pain deep in your chest.
You felt betrayed, in a way. Why did Roman stay friends with Hollis after all these years, and not you? Why didn’t it work out between you and him? You had known him years before he even met Hollis. And that same boy with bleached hair and freakishly long legs would lead to you and Roman’s untimely separation.
You got yourself a drink – nothing too crazy as you didn’t like to drink on the job – and began taking pictures of whatever you deemed interesting: some guests laughing, a drunk girl dancing by herself, the DJ, the way the lights cast an angelic glow upon the crowd.
You were familiar enough with The Echo to already know all the good spots to take pictures from. You found yourself in a corner, looking through the viewfinder at all the possible frames, until your lens lined up perfectly, right in the middle of your screen, with a brunette man.
He stood tall in the middle of the room, chatting with some people. He was facing away from you, his long hair standing out as he moved to push a loose strand out of his face. You zoomed in on him, admiring how the lights framed his dark figure, contrasting colors throwing off your camera’s setting.
Annoyed, you rushed to lower the exposure in order to perfectly capture the imagine you could only describe as divine. Once you were all set, you quickly aligned your eye with the viewfinder, your finger hovering just above the shutter, only to see the man had turned around.
And right there, in the center of the grid lines, with long hair and dark eyes, stood Roman. Your finger instinctively pressed the shutter before you could even process the situation.
Left in a state of shock, you lowered your camera as your lips parted slightly, staring at the same man whose name you could never get out of your head.
Roman made his way towards you, heavy boots thumping against the hardwood floor before he stopped right in front of you.
His expression didn’t tell you anything – he was just as calm as if he would be looking at a person he’d known for years. Well, someone he saw daily, not someone he hadn’t spoken with in four years.
“Hi,” he smiled, looking down at you with wide eyes, equally as surprised by your presence.
“Hey,” you smiled back, still in shock at his sudden appearance. You had already settled with the thought that you wouldn’t see him tonight, so to say that you were taken aback was an understatement.
Roman’s eyes travelled down your body, before lifting back up to your face again. “You look good,” he said, taking note of your camera.
“Hollis told me you’re coming.”
“Yeah. I never thought I’d end up working for him,” you let out an awkward laugh, trying to ease the tension. Roman didn’t laugh. He didn’t even smile. He just looked at you as if he was examining your every feature.
Somewhere from the crowd a guy emerged holding a couple of drinks. Roman instantly jumped to help him, taking some of the drinks from his hands. The guy urged Roman to join him in a toast for Hollis, saying he was headed to their booth. Roman nodded, looking back at you and giving you a simple smile, before walking away with the guy.
You were left in a state of shock that didn’t leave you since you first spotted Roman in the crowd.
Ever since highschool, you imagined what it would be like to see Roman again. Sometimes you’d imagine hugging him and picking up your friendship from where you left off. Sometimes you’d imagine yelling at him for causing you so much suffering and pain.
But you never imagined this: a half-assed conversation while you were on the job. It was underwhelming, to say the least.
In the four years since last seeing Roman, you two became very different people. You always had your differences: he had his music; you had a camera you took with you wherever you went. But there was never a time you had nothing to talk about.
In that moment the reality set in. Roman and you would never be the same. He was a big star, growing to be a man very different from the boy your grew up hand in hand with.
He would never know about the sleepless nights wasted thinking about him. He would never know about how much you missed him, even four years later. Worst of all, he would never know how much you grew to love him growing up. More than friends should love each other.
After him, you never had a friend that would even get close to comparing to what you and Roman had.
And now he was drinking in his VIP booth, having the time of his life with his friends, while you were working.
You picked up your camera, grabbing it with both hands as if to remind yourself you were working.
So that’s what you did for the rest of the night. You took pictures of the guests, the lights, the stage and the bar. It was all the same ritual, just like every other night. You loved it.
The numbers on your phone were the first indicator that the party was coming to an end. Then the guests started leaving, group by group, until the damp air of the club was replaced by a lonely cold wind.
You scrolled through the photos, squinting to see the smallest of details on the tiny screen. You knew it was pointless as you could see the full-size pictures once you downloaded them on your laptop, but you still felt the need to check and admire your work.
As the DJ began gathering his equipment, you realized it was your time to go as well. But not before getting your paycheck.
You walked back towards the back room, dreading each step as you knew exactly who you’d find behind that door. Once you pressed the door handle, pushing the wooden door slowly, two heads lifted to look at you: Hollis and Roman. The rest had seemingly left, leaving only them two sitting down on some chairs.
“Hey,” Hollis shot up from his chair and walked up to you while Roman stayed sat down, his eyes glued onto you. “You’re done?” he asked.
“Yeah,” you nodded, bringing up the camera to show him some of the photos.
“This is sick!” he smiled, giving a pat on your back before taking the camera into his own hands. “Roman, come look at this.”
Roman reluctantly got up from his chair, walking up to you and looking down at the small screen of the camera. You took note of how far away from you he positioned himself, as if an invisible barrier was keeping him away. You noticed this earlier as well as he stood at an awkward distance.
“It’s cool,” Roman nodded, looking up at Hollis as if he was the one that took the photos. He acknowledged you with a small smile and then he stepped back as you grabbed your camera from Hollis and put it safely in your bag.
“Anyway,” you started. “I should get going.”
“Yeah, let me just get your money,” Hollis agreed while walking off to another room. You had never had a job in which you were paid upfront in cold hard cash. It just went to show how successful Hollis had truly become in these four years. Or he was just trying to show off like he always did.
Roman watched Hollis walk away, letting out a loud exhale in the now emptier room. You stood beside each other, looking around, neither of you sure of how to initiate a conversation.
“I heard you do music,” you tried after a long moment of awkward silence.
“Yeah. I don’t have many songs out right now, but I’m working on some more,” he explained.
“It’s pretty cool. You have an EP right?” you asked to which Roman answered with a quick nod. “I heard it at a party I was working at. I thought the voice sounded familiar, so I did some research when I got back home.”
“I’ve seen your work too. Not just today, like on insta,” he attempted to keep the dry conversation going.
“Yeah?” you smiled, looking up at him. He was basically admitting to checking to see what you have been up to. “What’d you think?”
“It’s cool you followed your dreams. Made a career out of it and all. I remember you always had a camera with you back in highschool.”
“And you always complained about it because I’d always stop to take pictures,” you chuckled, being reminded of small details you had seemingly forgotten.
“Nah, I was just teasing you. I thought it was pretty cool, you know? How you had such a strong passion. But it was pretty annoying sometimes,” Roman admitted, letting out a small laugh – one that you hadn’t heard in years.
And suddenly, it felt like you were back to freshman year. You looked up at Roman, and through his dark eyeliner and long hair you could see his softer features you had known for so long. You felt your chest tighten as all those memories of the greatest years came flooding back.
“Here you go,” Hollis spoke up, jogging towards you with a stack of cash in his hand.
“Oh wow,” you raised your eyebrows as you took the cash from his hand. “Thanks.”
You looked at the cash in your hand, amazed. Whenever you would get sent your paycheck, it would all be numbers on a screen. And for the first time you truly got to see the value of your work. Hollis noticed your amazement, grinning.
“Thanks for tonight,” he said. “You were great.”
“No problem,” you gave Hollis and Roman a thankful smile before gathering your things. “I’ll work on the photos in the morning and send them to you as soon as they are done,” you told Hollis and looked at Roman one last time before heading out the door.
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