I was just hanging out at the Off-Campus house, surrounded by the usual chaos—my boys, the sound of beer bottles clinking, and Hannah, my fake girlfriend, curled up beside me on the couch. Laughter bounced off the walls, the kind that only comes from a tight-knit group with too many inside jokes and not enough responsibility.

Everything felt familiar. Comfortable.

Until it wasn’t.

The front door creaked open, and in walked Dean Di Laurentis—the one guy who could vanish for a week and reappear like nothing happened. But this time, he wasn’t alone. He had someone with him.

And that someone was you.

My heart dropped straight into my stomach.

You.

My first everything.

The person who knew me better than anyone ever had. First kiss. First love. First heartbreak. The one who used to wear my jersey to every game, who sat through freezing rinks and brutal practices just to be near me. You were it. And then, after high school graduation, we went our separate ways. You picked a different college, and I figured that was it. A closed chapter.

Had you transferred? Were you just visiting? Why now?

You hadn’t changed much—or maybe you had. It was hard to tell through the storm of memories crashing into me. But seeing you again after three years felt like being hit with a puck to the chest. Fast. Hard. Unexpected.

Now here I was: a senior at Briar University, captain of the Bulldogs hockey team, and supposedly “dating” Hannah Wells to help her get with a guy she liked. The fake relationship had worked well—until the past walked through my front door in your skin.

And just like that, everything I thought I’d buried came roaring back.