Lunch arrived and Stacy and I were sat in the office, eating together. Cool or not, I had my packed lunch, and so did she.

It was such a surreal experience for this to be happening now after all of these years. It obviously wasn't a date or anything but still! These types of things just don't happen. Not to me anyway.

"So what brings you to work here?" I finally asked, breaking the silence that was probably only awkward to me. "I mean, I'm not complaining or anything but this isn't exactly the most high class job in the world."

"It doesn't need to be, does it? It pays the bills. Hopefully, anyway," She shrugged.

"That's true. I'm just surprised, that's all," I said, instantly realising how strange that may sound coming from someone you don't know. "Sorry, that sounds a bit weird."

"Yeah it does," She said, looking intently at me. "Do I know you or something?"

"No. Not really. I'm uh . . . this is a little embarrassing. We actually went to school together," I said, scratching the uncomfortable itch on the back of my neck.

"Really? Bridge of Don?" She asked, naming the exact suburb we both grew up in.

"Yeah! We didn't have too many classes together but I do remember you," I explained.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't realise," She giggled while resuming her chewing. "What is your name again?"

This was brutal.

"Michael Ashford. We had geog-"

"Geography!" She exclaimed, her memories finally clicking into place. "Holy shit! We went on that trip, didn't we?"

"Yeah! With Mrs. Porter as the teacher, remember?"

"She was a legend."

"Such a legend," I agreed.

"This all actually makes sense now," She sighed with what sounded like relief. "I'm so sorry I didn't recognise you straight away."

"Oh its fine, it's not like we were best mates or anything. I've changed quite a bit too,"

"I can see that!" She smiled. I swear she looked me up and down as well but there's every possibility that I made that up.

"You haven't changed a bit," I observed, lighting her eyes up as she listened. She may even have blushed.

 It was only really then that I noticed how much I actually had changed. For one thing, I was actually able to talk to her, dare I say even flirt with her a little. And not really on purpose either! Old me was clearly a huge step up from young me. It gave me the confidence to press her on something else too.

"Hey, didn't you move to Glasgow or something? I heard something like that a few years ago."

"I did for about a year," She admitted. "But me and my boyfriend broke up so I wanted to come back home. So that's why I took this job. It's the first one I could find until I get something maybe a bit more permanent."

"Oh I'm sorry to hear that," I lied. Her ex was definitely a sucker for letting her go.

"It's fine, he was a dick anyway. I'm just gutted it took me moving away to find out."

"So are you with your parents now or . . .?"

"I'm renting a flat just now but looking to buy. It just costs so much money. What about you?" She asked, sounding genuinely interested.

"I bought a flat a couple of years ago. Still in Bridge of Don, not far from the school. I couldn't live as far away as you did," Ok now I was just kissing ass.

Whatever she was about to say next was interrupted by a loud vibrating noise as my phone lit up on the table.

I apologised as I looked at the picture I'd just been sent by Evelyn.

"Holy shit this is so cool!" I gasped.

"What's up?" Stacy asked, peering over at the phone. I quickly handed it to her so that she could see for herself.

The photo wasn't particularly clear but it was a faint orange/yellow circle on a solid black background. The message attached read "How the fuck did we miss this!?"

"I don't get it," Stacy confessed.

"So my friend Evie – do you remember Evie? Evelyn Harper? She was in our class too," I asked.

"Not off the top of my head but I would probably recognise her if I saw her."

"Anyway, we are total space geeks. She sent me a message before the picture saying that NASA has been able to take a photo of an actual black hole for the first time ever! How cool is that?" I tried my best but completely failed to hide my excitement.

Stacy didn't seem nearly as excited as I was.

"Whatever," She shrugged nonchalantly, handing my phone back to me. "That's a bit weird isn't it?"

"What is?" I asked, not following.

"I don't know. I guess I just don't see why you'd care," She shrugged again before finishing her food and getting up from the table to bin the rubbish.

Slightly offended, I didn't know what to say so I just put the phone away and decided to leave it at that.

*

"Stacy Sinclair!?" Evie gasped in wonder as she dropped down onto her sofa, ponytail swinging like a pendulum as she did. Her life rule was always that her hair was down when she was out, but as soon as she got home it went straight into a ponytail.

Same with her glasses, always on at home but off when she was out.

"I know, right! How random is that!?" I said, taking the bottle of warm beer she'd offered me.

"I thought she moved to Edinburgh or something, Evie spoke as she scanned the music on her phone, settling on playing one of our favourite bands from our teenage years, New Found Glory."

"Glasgow," I corrected, "But she broke up with her boyfriend and moved back. It's so weird seeing her after all this time. Excellent music choice, by the way."

"White jacket girl huh? Does she look the same?" Evie seemed as incredulous as I was about the whole thing.

"Yeah! I mean, obviously she looks older than I remember but that's understandable. It's been what, ten years since we left school?" God I felt old.

"Something like that," Evelyn nodded, sipping her own beer. She didn't really like beer so I was guessing she was all out of wine. "It shouldn't be too much of a shock though. We look a lot older now too."

"Yeah but ours has been gradual. You know? Like we've watched each other grow over time. So much that we barely even notice. But with Stacy it's just so sudden. I just remember her from back in the day."

"You probably shouldn't be thinking about teenage girls like that," She joked.

"Oh fuck off. You know what I mean!" I couldn't help but laugh.

"So what happens now?" She wisely changed the subject.

Evie was smart. She always knew the exact time to stop a joke before it went on too long. It made conversations with her interesting and worth listening to every time.

"I dunno," I shrugged honestly. "I mean, it was weird today. I feel like she was flirting with me a bit. It could be nothing but . . ."

"Are you sure she wasn't just being nice?" She asked after gulping and grimacing at the less-than-cold drink.

 "No," I grudgingly admitted. "But it just felt . . . I don't know . . . different. Like an actual moment. We never had anything like that in school."

"You never had a conversation in school," She sighed.

"Incorrect!"

"Fine. A lengthy conversation. Look, I get that you were super into her but remember, you don't actually know her," The flip side to Evelyn was that she was such a pessimist.

"So? She doesn't know me either. Isn't that the point? You know how much my hate what I was like in school. I was such a loser!" I groaned. I always hated this conversation but it needed to be said.

"You weren't a loser. None of us were! We just had our own things going on. There's nothing wrong with being yourself!"

"There is when your dream girl doesn't even know you exist. Literally! I've never forgotten her and she didn't even know who I was for a start today. She most likely hasn't thought about me since the last day of school, if that! What's wrong with at least trying to see if there's a chance?"

"Nothing! I'm just saying don't get ahead of yourself. You have this perfect image of her in your head and there's no way she can live up to that. You said it yourself, she just broke up with her boyfriend and moved city. Her life is pretty hectic and she might not want anything serious right now," She was probably right, but Evie was seriously killing my buzz right now.

 Was it so hard to imagine?

"Even if she doesn't, there's nothing wrong with being a friend right? People end up falling for their friends all the time! It isn't that big of a stretch!"

"I can't argue with that," She conceded, draining the last of her beer. I'd been so invested in the conversation that I'd barely even touched mine. "Just . . . don't let her get to your head ok? You've come a long way since we were teenagers and I don't want to see you get hurt again, ok? It would be such a waste."

"I know it's only because you care," I acknowledged, smiling at her. "But I feel like I haven't taken any real risks in my life. And if I at least give it a shot, the worst is that I stay the same as I am now. The best, well . . . it won't be a risk at all then right?"

"I guess so," She blinked back. Her smile was as warm as her newly decorated living room. If I had to describe her flat in one word it would be cosy. She had great tastes when it came to interior design. "Ok, let's talk about something else. The black hole! What the hell!" She yelled.

As much as it felt weird to admit, this was a far more exciting conversation for me.

For as long as I can remember, Evelyn and I have been obsessed with space. Literally everything about it. In school, neither of us were the smartest so a career in astronomy or astrophysics was completely out of the question. But as amateurs, we found ways to understand all the complexities of the known universe and keep up to date with all the latest research and theories. 

So for us, this new development was out of this world. Yeah, I went there.

For the longest time it was assumed that a photo of a black hole would be impossible. You see nothing, not even light can escape from one so any photos were expected to just be pitch black. But basically, with this photo they managed to capture the light going into it! Sure, the photo isn't perfect but it was taken from fifty-three-million light years away, so we'll let them off a bit.

"I know right! Holy shit! I totally didn't see that coming. Can't believe they caught the light going into the event horizon. It's been ages since we had something like this to go tits over. Did you tell Joe?"

"I did but he didn't care, as expected. Besides, I think he's still trying to get out of the dog house with Angie. She's still raging about his drinking. I mean, I don't think he's an alcoholic but he's definitely stressed out."

"Can you blame him? He's about to be a dad for fuck sake. That would scare the shit out of me!" I couldn't help feeling slightly guilty for Joe's current predicament. I'm a pretty bad influence when I want to be.

"Yeah it is pretty scary to think about, but it's still exciting."

"Oh for sure," I grinned. I couldn't wait to meet Joe Junior. "But not as exciting as black holes right?"

 "Duh!" Evie threw her arms out in exaggerated excitement.

While we drank the last of her stale beers, we spent the rest of the night talking about sections of space that had such strong gravitational pull that nothing in the entire universe can escape from.

We both may be getting older, but when it comes to space chat, Evie and I will always be little kids in awe of it all.

______________________________________________________________________________

Is it weird that I love this chapter so much? It's only two scenes but I really wanted to fill it out with fun ways to hand over some big pieces of  information.

How did I do?

This chapter could probably be seen as pretty good or boring. I hope it wasn't the latter. I just really want to build up the characters and make you feel like they are your friends!

This way the emotions should hit you so much harder when the time comes later on!

Anyway, it's time to stop rambling.

Any comments and votes are massively appreciated.

Thank you.