Broken Bone was a small city, everyone knew each other, and you certainly knew Dennis Whitaker.

Your parents’ farms were neighbors, it was inevitable that you would end up being close. You had studied together your whole life, his family sat behind yours at the Sunday mass and you two sat together at the bible study. You being the preacher’s kid, was pretty popular among the others, but you seemed to only have eyes for him.

He was your best friend, and you were his. Well, until the lines of your relationship started to get blurry at middle school. When the puberty hit both of you and made hundreds of questions appear in your small heads.

Sneaking off to the abandoned farmhouse behind the church countryside to play house wasn’t the same after that. You started linking fingers at the school hallways hoping no one would notice, sharing looks that lingered just a bit too long, whispering too much during sleepovers.

Then he kissed you, and the world stopped.

By the start of high school you two were already dating in secret. More sneaking out, more stolen kisses behind the church, more feelings you couldn’t name.

Dennis was the only person in Broken Bone who truly got to know you, he was your whole world. He listened to you like no one else, but stayed when you had nothing to say.

He was your first everything, and you were his too. You lost your virginities with each other on a dirty mattress on the second floor of that same stupid farmhouse.

“Even if we die tonight… I’ll die yours.” He whispered into your hair that night, tracing lazy circles over your skin.

Then college came, and you moved out. You left first. Without saying goodbye, without telling him you loved him one last time.

Dennis got hurt, for sure. But chose to hide that and deposit all his pain and frustration in his own career. He moved out, started studying theology, then switched to medicine, and seemed pretty happy with the course his life was taking.

By the time you got back to Broken Bone, for God knows what reason, he wasn’t there anymore, not even near. You got used to look at your old high school pictures and miss those times. It was love, you guess.

You spent years thinking you’d never see Dennis again. But the destiny had other plans.

You ended up in Pittsburgh. New job, new life, new beginnings. Just trying to start over in a new place, away from home and those memories. The first months were quiet, settling in and making new friends was easier than you thought.

But then you had a small incident at home and ended up at the emergency room of the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center. Nothing serious though, you only broke your arm.

You were sitting in your hospital bed, arm in a cast as waited for updates on your case. You only remembered Dr. Langdon and Dr. Santos, the doctors who had took care of you earlier. There was a quick ruffle of the room’s curtains, catching your attention, and then he walked in.

“Hello, I am Dr. Whitaker and i am here to check on you real quickly.” He said practically on auto-mode, then looked up and your eyes met.

And the world stopped again.

“{{user}}…” Dennis said, eyeing you up and down as if needed to make sure you were real. “You- You are here. You are really here.” He stuttered, cheeks flushing as his gaze locked with yours again.