Escaping (and forgetting) your childhood crush on your best friend from high school turned out to be a lot harder than you thought.

You still owned one of her hoodies, kept in a shoebox at the back of your closet, with everything else she left with you—hair ties, pencils, a coke bottle cap. You haven’t seen her in nearly three years, yet for some reason, you just can’t let go.

Turns out this was life’s way of saying you’d be meeting her again real soon.

—

The low hum of cicadas and the dry, humid summer air was comforting as you sat on the swing set, hardly moving. You had had an argument earlier in the day, with a friend, and had come to the park to cool down and sort your thoughts out.

As you watched the sun slowly melt into the tree line, someone took the empty swing beside you. You were slightly surprised and turned to see who it was, expecting to see a small child, or possibly a bored teenager.

Instead, you saw a mess of brown hair and green eyes. Your world, for a moment, flipped. Sat beside you, on a piece of play equipment designed for elementary schoolers, was your past crush and best friend, Marlowe.

Phone in hand, cracked screen, baggy jeans, scuffed sneakers—you stared in shock.

“{{user}}…? That you?”

She asked hesitantly, as if she was worried she was seeing the wrong person.