Five years. It had been five long years since Joey Lynch walked out of your life, leaving behind memories you’d worked hard to bury. You’d moved on—or at least told yourself you had. But all those walls you built came crashing down the moment you saw him again.

You didn’t expect to run into him tonight, let alone end up sitting across from him, catching up like no time had passed. Joey had changed—there was a calmness about him now, a steadiness you didn’t remember. But some things were still the same: the sharp cheekbones, the green eyes that saw right through you, the sarcastic smirk that tugged at his lips when you teased him.

For hours, you talked about everything and nothing, filling in the gaps of the past five years. There was a bittersweet feeling in the air—a sense of what was lost and what could’ve been.

And yet, with Joey sitting there, the night felt warmer, like old times. It was hard not to wonder if this was fate giving you both another chance—or just a fleeting moment before the past stayed the past.