"Everything okay, Ruel?" my friend hesitantly asked. "I guess." I groaned, sitting down next to him.
"What happened?" "Nothing." "You sure?" I nodded, pulling out my phone and scrolling through Instagram.
"Hey, do you remember y/n?" "Yeah, of course. Why?" I said, looking up at him. "Well, apparently she's back in town. I think her friends are throwing her a party and Cora invited us." "Did you tell her we were coming?" "Yeah, I mean we don't have anything to do. You're fine with us going, right?"
"I mean I guess. Once y/n moved, we lost connections completely. You don't think it'll be weird?" "No. I mean you guys both moved on right?" "Yeah, you're right." "Okay. Well you go get ready. I'm going to get y/n a welcome back card and when I come back we can get going. Do you want me to grab anything for her?" "Can you just get me a card?" I said, reaching into my wallet and pulling out $5. "Sure." "Okay thanks."
Tobi nodded, standing up and walking out of our house.
I covered my face with my hands and groaned.
Y/n and I used to be best friends and then dated for a while. That was before she decided she wanted to study abroad and left. She told me she wanted us to break up once she left.
I stood up and decided to change my clothes into something more fitting and a little formal.
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Once I was settled on my outfit, I took a few pictures for Instagram.
After a little while, I heard Tobin barge in my room.
"Nice fit." he smiled. "Thanks. Is this too formal?" "No you're fine." I nodded.
"Here's your card by the way." he said, handing me the card. "Thanks." I watched as he left my room.
I grabbed a pen and sat down on my bed, trying to figure out what to write. In the card, the words "Welcome back! I've missed you!" we're already written.
I became writing what was on my mind.
Hey, y/n, welcome home! How was Finland? Was it as cool as everyone said it is? I've missed you a lot. I know it's been two years already, but I do still think about you. I wished we would have ended things differently. I wish we never ended, but everything happens for a reason, right? When you left I decided to post my cover of Breathe by Lauv, your favorite song. I don't know if you'd believe me, but the video just hit 1 million views! I've started slowly putting out new music and I finally got signed! I missed my best friend. I̶d̶i̶d̶i̶t̶w̶i̶t̶h̶o̶u̶t̶y̶o̶u̶.̶W̶h̶y̶d̶i̶d̶y̶o̶u̶g̶i̶v̶e̶u̶p̶o̶n̶u̶s̶?̶
I groaned at what I wrote and crossed the last two lines out.
"Ready?" Tobin asked. I nodded, grabbing the card and stuffing it into an envelope.
Tobin said he wanted to drive, so I sat in the passenger seat, listening to the radio and watching the clouds.
"Alright. We're here. Are you sure you're alright?" "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine." "Okay. If there's ever a time you want to leave, let me know." I nodded.
I watched as he walked towards the house to greet a few people. My eyes scanned the crowd, but stopped on one person. Y/n.
I watched as Tobin talked to her and felt a pang of hurt on my chest.
I went to walk past them, but I felt someone grab my hand.
"Ruel!" y/n smiled. "Hey, y/n." I said, giving her a soft smile. "How have you been? It's been a while huh?" "Yeah. I've been alright, you?" "Good." she smiled.
"Oh wait, I have this for you." I gave her the card. "Awe you didn't have to get me anything. I'm glad you came." I smiled.
"Do you want to go out for a bit and talk?" "Um, sure."
As I followed her out of the house, I looked at Tobin and he smiled.
Don't catch feelings again.
"So how's everything?" "What?" I asked. "How's your music career?" "Oh, it's okay-" "I saw you posted on YouTube. I missed hearing you sing." "Yeah."
I didn't know what to say.
"So, um, how was Finland?" "It was amazing. The places were beautiful, and I know you would've liked it," she smiled. "On my first day, I didn't know where I wanted to go first but then I met this group of people and they became my friends. Of course there not here today, but they showed me around." "That's good."
"Yeah. Tobin said you were going on tour soon." "Oh, right. Yeah, I'm just going as an opening act-" "That's still so cool. You've changed a lot, Ruel, haven't you?" "I-I guess."
"Um, are you staying? Or are you just home for a bit?" I asked. "I wanted to stay, but I still have school in Finland. Our break lasts for two more weeks so I have these next few weeks before I'm going back." I nodded, looking down at the ground.
"Hey, Ruel?" "Hm?" I looked at her. "You know I missed you, right?" "I missed you too."
"Do you maybe think we can-we can try again?" "What?" "I mean. I never forgot about you, Ruel. I knew I would want to come back to see you and when Cora said you were coming it made me really happy." "Y/n, you know-" "I still like you a lot. Even after two years, you're still the only one on my mind." "Y/n, please don't do this to me." "Huh?"
"When you ended things, it didn't feel right. You were leaving but we could have at least stayed in touch. I called you so many times, but you never called me back. It felt like you didn't even remember me." "Ruel, that's not true. I didn't call back because I knew I wouldn't be able to live in Finland if I heard your voice. I know it's such a bad excuse but I'm sorry." "I-I think it's best if we just remain friends." I said.
"Oh. Okay. Yeah." "Please don't take this personally-" "No, I get it. It's okay. I'm gonna go back in and talk to some friends, okay?" I nodded. "And thanks for this, Ruel." she smiled, lifting the card up a bit. "Yeah, of course."
I watched as she walked back into the house.
I knew I still liked her. I loved her so much, but it's better to not get attached right now, especially since she's going to be leaving soon anyways.
