It Had to Be You

A Million Years Ago

Alexa Stone celebrated her twenty-fifth birthday in the basement of a bar in the Lower East Side. Her then-boyfriend, soon to be fiancé, Henry had gathered all of her friends into one room to yell surprise! In the half hour before Alexa's arrival, Eliza found herself happily sipping a vodka tonic with her cousin Ally.

"Who are all these people?" Ally took a sip of her vodka cranberry surveying the room. Eliza followed her gaze. The majority of people she didn't recognize. All of them seemed to be tall, attractive, classically handsome men milling about with equally classically gorgeous women. The entire room seeped to be filled with beautiful people which at once both excited and intimidated Eliza.

"I'm not sure. They must be Henry's friends." Henry had become a fixture in their life to the degree that Eliza had gotten used to his presence but never actually invested in getting to know him. This had more to do with Eliza than it did with Henry. She struggled to warm up to people regardless of who they were. Trust didn't come easily and she certainly didn't make it easy for others to get to know her. At numerous points in her life she had been labeled difficult, standoffish and even once or twice called a bitch directly to her face. But all of these labels were a far stretch from who she really was. With people like Ally who had known her since birth, Eliza was sharp, funny and warm. She expressed love easily and was always around for a quick phone call or a cup of coffee. She loved to laugh, sing and most of all dance especially to ABBA. This true version of Eliza rarely if ever got seen by strangers so it was unlikely this room full of strangers would get to meet that side of her.

"I think I see Alexa's friends from grammar school over there." Eliza pointed to the far corner of the room where she recognized a few familiar faces. "I'll go say hi in a bit." Ally nodded in agreement.

"Let's get another round first. I haven't been out in ages." Eliza followed Ally's lead a chugged the rest of her drink before heading for the bar. She wove her way through the crowd of what seemed like insanely tall individuals. Then again, she was only five foot four on a good day. So perhaps, everyone just seemed tall because she herself was short.

"Sorry, excuse me." She gently nudged the person in front of her, resting a hand on their back. She felt the hard muscles of his back through his absurdly soft t-shirt.

"Walker, move." She knew that voice. It was at once commanding and demanding. She saw a hand pop out from behind this particularly large, tall man and sure enough there was Alexa's college roommate Eve.

"Oh hello Eliza!" Eve pushed Walker aside with ease throwing her arms around Eliza in greeting. She clocked him in her peripheral vision watching with amusement the gusto with which Eve embraced Eliza, nearly hugging the life out of her.

"Eve! Hey! Hi!" Eliza squawked out while gasping for air.

"I'm so happy to see you! Hello I'm Eve." She let go of Eliza just as quickly as she had embraced her and thrust a hand out to Ally.

"Hi! I'm Alexa's cousin. It's so nice to meet you and?" Ally looked expectantly over Eve's shoulder.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry. This is Walker. Walker, have you met Alexa's sister Eliza?" Eliza and Ally's gazes followed Eve and Eliza finally took stock of who was in front of her.

"Hi, I'm Walker." His voice was deeper than she had expected. It was almost the definition of gruff. He extended a hand and Eliza shook it, very aware of how clammy it was. But outside of his sweaty palms he was handsome. He had dark brown eyes with longer lashes than she had anticipated a man ever having. Even in the darkly lit bar she could tell he was boyishly handsome. He had a strong jaw and brown hair that fell effortlessly in front of his eyes. She watched nearly mesmerized as he brushed it out of his face. She had no reason to be so attracted to this complete stranger but if there was one thing Eliza knew for certain, it was that Walker Andrews was going to be important in her life.

"It's nice to meet you." Ally reached across her and also shook his hand. "Are you single Walker?" Ally had been with her husband Brian for nearly a decade at this point. If she was inquiring into Walker's relationship status it was for one reason only.

"Um," Walker coughed then stuttered. He was clearly taken back by the brazen question.

Ally jumped in to clarify. "Sorry! It's not for me. I'm married. My husband's over there somewhere. She waved a hand vaguely around the room.

"But Eliza here is single and wonderful and pretty much great all around." Eliza couldn't tell if Ally was drunk or enthusiastic but in either case, she felt second hand embarrassment creep up into her cheeks causing her to blush.

Walker looked from Ally to Eliza and back to Ally. The way his eyes merely glanced at Eliza made her feel small, almost invisible.

"Eliza, would you like to get a drink?" He looked at her point blank and she couldn't read what was behind his eyes. She suddenly felt like she had no grasp on the situation. Just moments before she felt disregarded and now she felt like she was the only person in the room.

"Um, sure?" She glanced down at her hand still gripping her brand new drink.

"How about I get you one next round?" He looked at her with curiosity like she was someone who amused him.

"That would be great." He opened his mouth to say more but was interrupted by someone yelling his name from across the room.

"I should go over and say hi. It was nice to meet you both. Eliza, come and find me for that drink when you're ready." He gave a polite wave and walked into the now dense crowd.

"Oh. My. God. What a cutie." Ally clutched Eliza's arm with affection.

"Eve!" Ally released Eliza's arm and lunged for Eve pulling them into a small huddle.

"What's the deal with Walker?" Ally took a big gulp of her drink and waited impatiently for Eve to make sense of the question.

"Single, cute, bit of a playboy, Henry's best friend. Certainly eligible but I'd be careful with him. He's a huge flirt so it's hard to tell what's real and what's not."

Eliza could feel the excitement that had ballooned in her chest deflate in one fell swoop. She didn't want to be another one of his pretty little things. She had always longed for true, soulmate level love. Walker didn't appear to be the soulmate type.

"Oh damn. Well he could still be a good time." Ally replied and Eve nodded succinctly.

"Definitely, and hey if not Walker, there's all of Henry's other friends. They're tall, handsome and all wildly successful so if you were to meet someone in this room, you'd have good odds they'd be a great guy."

Ally thanked Eve and Eliza took a strong gulp of her drink. The room was full of handsome men but something about Walker made her feel as though they had already known each other for ages.