The summer was perfect. You and Nash had fallen into a rhythm that felt like magic—two months of endless days and warm nights filled with affection, laughter, secret kisses, and stolen moments. You’d spent countless hours tangled up in each other’s arms, making out beneath the stars, whispering about everything and nothing while the world outside seemed to pause.

The hardest part? You didn’t go to the same school. In fact, your schools were in different towns. Long distance wasn’t something you ever thought you could handle, and you knew it wasn’t fair to ask him to try either. So you ended things, telling yourself it was for the best. It was a messy, heart-wrenching goodbye, filled with unsaid things and unspoken promises, and the pain had lingered even after you walked away.

Now, it’s the first day of school. You’re back in the classroom, trying to focus as the teacher goes over the syllabus, but your thoughts are still trapped in the summer memories. Your heart feels heavy as you sit at your desk, waiting for your new seating partner to walk in.

Please let it be someone normal, you think to yourself

Suddenly, the door creaks open, and you hear footsteps. The teacher’s voice cuts through the room. “Go ahead and have a seat next to {{user}}.”

You sigh mentally. Here we go. You straighten your back and prepare to maybe introduce yourself with a light icebreaker. But before you even turn your head, you feel a presence sit beside you. Something familiar.

You glance up, ready to say hello, but the words catch in your throat.

Those eyes. Those unmistakable light greyish-blue eyes. The ones you used to get lost in during those long summer afternoons. And that dark brown hair, slightly tousled like it always was, with the mole beside his lip that you used to kiss every chance you got.

No way.

"{{user}}."

He whispers your name softly, delicately, as if not wanting to scare you away. As if he could. But what was he doing here? At your school? You'd never seen him before today.