it's just a crush

chapter 16 - june 2019

"Yes, Chelsea, I know," Meg said, her phone pressed against her ear. "Vanilla funfetti cupcakes with pink icing and glitter sprinkles. I've known you for almost a decade and your favourite cupcake flavour hasn't changed."

She turned her focus towards walking down the street without bumping into anyone as her friend continued spitting out instructions into the phone – instructions she already knew by heart.

"I see the bakery now, I'm almost there."

"Yeah, of course – go in, ask for Lauren."

"Hun, I know we're only graduating once; the party's gonna be perfect. Okay, I'm here."

Meg opened the door to the bakery and stepped inside. There was another patron being served ahead of her and there didn't appear to be anyone else working, so she would have to wait.

"Mmhmm. Still here," she said, supporting the phone with her shoulder and only half-listening to Chelsea as she checked out her fingernails. She made a mental note to make an appointment for a mani-pedi when she was finished with her errand.

"Hi, how can I help you today?"

Meg looked up to see that the other customer was walking away, and her eyes lifted to meet the amber ones of the man behind the counter. Her mouth went dry, and it felt like things were moving in slow motion when her cell phone slipped out of her hand and clattered to the floor.

"Omigod. Bobby?"

The phone squawked unintelligibly from its place on the ground, Chelsea's voice barely registering in Meg's brain as she stared with dropped jaw and wide eyes at the face that had forever been burned into her memory – a little older, a little more mature-looking, but still unmistakably the face of Bobby McKenzie.

It had been almost three years since she'd seen him – two years, seven months, and she had eventually stopped counting the days. Almost three years since that fateful November evening when he'd walked away from the bonfire and out of her life for what she thought was forever.

And now here he was, standing in front of her with his face scrunched up and head tilted as he considered her.

"Sorry, do I know you?" he asked, and then his eyes brightened. "Oh wait, you're Gary's sister, right? What was it, Maggie? Megan?"

"Just Meg," she corrected gently, her heart rate picking up into that old familiar pattern it always used to do when she saw him. She wasn't sure if she should be insulted that he forgot her name or flattered that he remembered her at all.

"Right, Meg. Of course," he said. "Um, you gonna pick that up?"

"Huh?"

He jerked his chin towards the phone that still lay forgotten on the floor. The sound of Chelsea's voice could still be heard coming through the speakers.

"Oh, right." Meg stooped down and picked it up. "Chelsea, I'm gonna have to—"

"Finally! What happened? I've been worried sick!"

Meg's eyes flickered over to where Bobby stood waiting patiently.

"I'm... I'm gonna have to call you back, Chels."

Before Chelsea could get a word in, she ended the call and dropped the phone into her purse, then turned back to Bobby with a soft smile.

"Sorry," she said. "I, um—"

Her purse started vibrating, and she rolled her eyes as she fished inside for the phone, declined the incoming call from Chelsea, and put it on silent. When she turned back to face him, he was leaning his arms on the counter, and she let her eyes drag over him. He looked good – really good. He had always been lean, with naturally-earned muscles, but now his arms were that much more toned, and his chest filled out his t-shirt to perfection. His hair was still styled in the usual dreads, but a little shorter than the last time she'd seen him, and the freckles across his cheeks had grown more abundant. The three years he'd been away had clearly been good to him.