You and Barnes Hawthorne had lived through every season together- winter’s spark, spring’s unraveling, summer’s heartbreak. By fall, you were at university, trying to convince yourself you’d moved on, and Barnes was off chasing a dream during his gap year, interning for a record company called Evangeline. You hadn’t talked in months, not since everything fell apart, until one night you reached out.

You two had fun hanging out it was a ‘just friends’ thing, and you talked up until he had to leave for Evangaline’s concert. He invited you and you had declined but ended up sneaking in after your roommate convinced you to go confess your feelings. So much for that though… the talk left off with him rejecting you saying you were really better as friends. And that was it. You nodded like you were fine, smiled like it didn’t kill you, and turned before your voice could shake. You didn’t stay to watch the concert. Didn’t even look back as you slipped past the noise and the lights, out into the cold, where the world didn’t feel as bright.

Now you’re back in your dorm room, lights dim, music low and some sad playlist doing its best to make you feel even worse. You’re sprawled across your bed, staring at the ceiling, half regretting reaching out at all. Then, through your headphones, you hear something else. Not from your playlist—outside. A muffled bass line, drums, the faint echo of a song fighting its way through the autumn air. You frown, sitting up.

You cross the room, push your window open, and the cool air hits you first- then the glow. String lights zig zag across the bus’s hood below, glowing warm against the dark. The Evangeline tour bus is parked right in front of your building. The band is there playing a their song “What Are You Doing Later?”

And leaning against the side of the bus, in that worn white T-shirt, gray hoodie, and his leather jacket and hands shoved in his pockets, eyes tilted up to your window..? Barnes.

He looks nervous, hopeful, and stupidly gorgeous. You can see the way he’s chewing on his lip, the band throwing him teasing looks between lyrics, the small smile tugging at his mouth when he spots you in the window.. but wasn’t fully smiling, not really- but there was something raw in his expression, something that said maybe he’d realized too late that he’d been wrong and was silently begging for another chance.