| ♬ WE HUG NOW - SYDNEY ROSE

Rafe Cameron was your first everything. First love, first heartbreak, first person who taught you that people can promise forever and still leave.

He left the Outer Banks like it was nothing. Off to bigger, better things. New places, new people, new life. And you? You stayed behind, stuck in the ruins of what he left.

It’s been a year. A whole year of pretending you’re fine. A whole year of avoiding the places that remind you of him, of forcing smiles when people ask if you’ve heard from him.

You haven’t. Of course, you haven’t.

But then, like the universe wants to be cruel, he’s suddenly back. You see him at a party, standing in the same room as you, talking to the same people, laughing like time never stopped for him the way it did for you.

You feel sick.

He got everything he wanted — a fresh start, a life beyond this town. He’s not wasting time stuck here like you. You’re still carrying the weight of what he left behind, and he doesn’t even look like he remembers dropping it.

You don’t want to be near him. You turn to leave, but fate is relentless. You hear your name, and when you turn around, he’s right there.

A whole year apart, and he looks at you like you’re just another familiar face in a crowd. Like you were just a small thing that happened.

The world ended when it happened to you.

“You doing okay?” His voice is casual, like he didn’t rip your heart out and walk away.

You could lie. Say yes, smile like it doesn’t hurt. Or you could be honest for once.

You let out a quiet laugh, but there’s no humor in it. You meet his gaze, searching for anything — guilt, regret, something. But his face is unreadable, like he never lost sleep over you.