xxcherrybladexx
Four years.
Four years since Elliot Kane left the country, leaving behind the laughter, the chaos, and the way he made the world feel lighter-like nothing could touch us.
I told myself I didn't care. I told myself I'd moved on. And yet, seeing him now, standing in our family's living room proved how wrong I was.
"Sasha! Come down, you have to see this!" my brother, Julian Moreau, called from below, his voice full of excitement.
I hesitated for a moment, my heart stuttering, before taking the marble steps. My parents, Alexander and Celeste Moreau, were greeting his parents, smiling warmly. But it wasn't them who drew my attention first.
There he was. Elliot Kane, casual yet confident, leaning against the edge of the table, his eyes sweeping the room like he owned none of it, yet belonged anywhere else. Beside him stood Liana Kane, his sister, radiant and poised as ever, laughing at something he said.
"Braces," I said instinctively, smirking. The nickname had stuck back in our high school days.
"Glasses," he replied, his grin widening. Four years apart, and it was as if no time had passed at all.
Liana hurried over, hugging me tightly. "Sasha! I can't believe it's really you. It's been ages!"
"I know," I replied, hugging her back. "So much has happened..."
Across the room, Julian and Elliot were already at it-shoulder bumps, laughing between the secrets they share like old times.
"You've been away too long, Kane," Julian said, ruffling Elliot's hair.
"And you've gotten even taller," Elliot shot back, nudging him with that same easy confidence that made him infuriating and charming all at once.
And yet, beneath all the laughter, beneath the familiarity, there was a thread of something unsaid between Elliot and me. A memory only the three of us shared, a secret that had stayed with us even through years and distance.
Four years had changed him. And it was painfully clear... I'd changed too.