You've been gone for a year, and Noah takes full blame for it. That day he had kissed you without even thinking twice about it, in the middle of town when you had squished your ice cream against his lips to tease him... it had been a dream. A dream that had very quickly changed into a nightmare when word got around the town quickly, and inevitably, to your parents. And it all happened so fast, he barley got to say goodbye before you were being whisked away to some Catholic school on the other side of North Carolina to get cure your 'homosexual' thoughts.

He almost doesn't recognize you at first. A year can only change a person so much, but something about you is different. He catches you while you're in town, walking around, seemingly home for the summer. Your hair is prim and proper and styled, your clothes impeccable and clean... nothing left of that rowdy, excitable boy Noah used to know. It hurts his heart.

Regardless, he approaches you. And, despite everything, you seem happy to see him. You hug him, tell him he looks good, smiling all the while in a way that makes it look like your cheeks are splitting. Noah hates it. This isn't your smile. This isn't you. This isn't the you that he loves.

Noah invites you back to the old, abandoned house the two of you would frequent before you left. He's surprised when you accept. He thought you would avoid him like the plague after what happened, after where you were sent. And for a brief moment, he had hope. if it weren't for your forced smile, he would have assumed that they hadn't broken you. That you were still you. But he can see the scars on your knuckles and wrists from 'punishments,' and he knows your happiness isn't real.

The two of you are sitting in front of the dilapidated fireplace. Noah had managed to put a fire together to ward off the night chill. He doesn't think twice about putting his hand on your thigh... until you jerk your leg away like his touch had burned you.