Rosaleigh, NY

I was a bit annoyed at Levi and Jules. Levi, I get – he was in love with Jessica while she was with Ryan who I was in love with in high school. It’s hard to be happy during those times knowing that the person you wanted to be with is in love with your best friend. But Julienne? What did Jules ever do in high school that was worth forgetting about? Jules was smart and likeable and school was easy for her. It wasn’t easy for me – I had the constant pressure of being the mayor’s daughter – the good girl reputation to uphold while balancing school, a bunch of extra-curricular activities and of course, watch my best friend be in love with someone else. Yeah, that’s always fun.

“Honey, can you answer the door?” Mother asks, not looking up from mixing the chocolate chip cookie batter. I dip a finger in the batter in response, smiling cheekily at my mother as I go to answer the door.

In hindsight, I probably should have looked through the peephole before opening it.

Standing in front of me is Ryan – which is fine, Ryan I can handle – but Jessica is with him, and she’s holding a plate of cookies.

“Hey Sam,” Ryan greets me, giving me a brief hug. I stand there, kind of shocked that those two would just appear in front of my door. “Hope you don’t mind us swingin’ by like this.”

I didn’t mind Ryan swinging by, but there was a part of me that still held some animosity towards Jessica.

“It’s fine,” I smile a little too brightly and eye the cookies in Jessica’s hands. “Are these for me?”

Jessica nods and smiles back. I want to wipe that smile not very nicely off her face. “I wanted to give them to Levi but I couldn’t find him. Have you seen him?”

Probably avoiding you, I think in my head but I don’t say it out loud.

“Well, here,” Jessica hands the cookies to me and I accept them. “I have to go, but I just wanted to say that I think it’s great that you’re trying to save our town. Someone needs to stand up to save Rosaleigh, and you’re a fantastic person to do it.”

I raise my eyebrows, not expecting that sort of response from her. I wasn’t expecting anything from her, to be honest, but I accept it all the same. “Uh, thank you.”

“I best be off,” she gives Ryan a kiss on the cheek, where I pointedly make an effort to look away from. “We should catch up, okay?” She leans in to squeeze my arm and kiss both cheeks, before walking off.

Once Jessica is gone, I turn to Ryan. “What are you doing here?” I ask, hoping that my words don’t seem too harsh or blunt. To be honest, I’m just extremely confused.

Ryan raises his eyebrows. “I need an excuse to hang out with my best friend?”

“With Jessica?” It slips out before I can stop myself, and I try to hastily cover my tracks. “I mean, I know we all hung out in high school, but it’s not like me and Jess were ever close.”

Ryan shrugs in response. “Can I come in?”

With a sigh, I nod and let him in.

---

We end up sitting in my room, our backs pressed against the wall as we munch on Jessica’s cookies. They’re oatmeal and they’re homemade but they’re not bad, so I only eat one while Ryan scoffs down most of them.

“Do you remember that time in senior year when we had that bonfire on the football field?” Ryan brings up suddenly. I remember that night. There wasn’t really a group of sorts, but there were times when Jules and I, Ryan and Levi and Jessica were hanging out. It was a weird sort of group but it worked at the time.

Some of the juniors had organised a bonfire to be held in the middle of the football field, and it ended up being a gathering with a mix of juniors and seniors drinking, dancing and generally having a good time. Jessica was talking to Levi about something and Jules was in the bathroom, so Ryan and I decided to take a walk through the school. We had thought someone was following us, so we pretended to be ninjas, walking around on our tippy-toes and acting what we thought was spy like.

We also got into the school cafeteria and found some cookies to munch on, which was great.

“And we snuck into the cafeteria and got those cookies?” I smile at the memory. “Our ninja skills were awesome.”

“Please S,” Ryan scoffs. “We were fabulous.”

I laugh and push him playfully, getting up when I hear my phone ringing. Mark’s name flashes across the screen, and without a second thought, I answer it, settling back onto the wall behind me. “Hello?”

“Hi babe,” Mark greets me. It’s weird, but I’ve totally forgotten about Mark since I’ve come here. What a great fiancée I am. “How are you?”

“Good,” I say automatically. “I mean, it’s a bit slow and I might have to be here longer than planned, but I gotta save the town, y’know?”

Mark pauses for a moment, and I get the feeling he’s not exactly pleased. “I thought you were only going to be there for a week?”

“I thought that too,” I explain patiently. “But you can’t exactly save your hometown from destroying itself in a week. These kinds of things take time.”

Mark sighs. “So am I not going to see you for the entire summer? Do you even plan on marrying me?”

I roll my eyes. “Don’t be silly, Mark. I’ll have to do some wedding stuff from here, but I’ll still meet you at the end of the aisle, alright?”

“Just what I wanted to hear,” Mark chuckles and already I know he’s happy again. “I have to go to work, but I’ll talk to you later, okay? I love you.”

“I love you too,” I murmur, and we both hang up.

“Who’re you meeting at the end of the aisle?” Ryan asks, and I realise that he doesn’t know about me and Mark.

“I’m getting married,” I tell him. “No one told you?”

He shakes his head, very surprised about the bombshell I’ve clearly just dropped on him. “Married? How long have you been with him?”

“Two years,” I confirm. “His name is Mark and I met him at college.”

“You’ve only known him for two years and you’re marrying him?” Ryan sounds incredulous. He gets off my bed and starts to pace. “You’re too young!”

“How about you and Jessica?” I ask him, annoyed at his behaviour. Why does this affect him so much? He doesn’t have a say in my life. We may have been best friends when we lived here but things change and he doesn’t get to make a choice in who I marry. “You guys have been together for what, four years? When are you going to marry her?”

“Marry Jessica?” The thought seems too much for Ryan to handle, which is weird, considering how long they’ve been together. “Why would I marry her?” He stops, realising how silly he must sound.

It’s my turn to raise an eyebrow at him. “You’ve been in a relationship with the girl since high school and you’re not going to marry her?”

“No! Well, I mean, not now. We’re only twenty two. I have my whole life to live before I tie myself down,” Ryan blurts out. “And hey! We were talking about you. You have your whole life to live before you get married.”

I stand up and face Ryan. “Last time I checked, you don’t have a say in what goes on in my life,” I say coolly. “We may have been best friends in school but that doesn’t mean me coming back means you have some sort of dictatorship over my life.”

“Dictatorship?” Ryan echoes. “Sam, I’m trying to protect you!”

“Protect me?” I narrow my eyes and cross my arms. “Like when you were trying to ‘protect’ me from Brad in sophomore year? And Tom in senior? How about them?”

“They were bad guys!” Ryan mutters defensively. “Brad got arrested in junior year!”

“But not in sophomore year,” I remind him. “Look Ry, I get it, okay. We were best friends and you felt some obligation to take care of me or something. But I don’t need you to protect me anymore. I’m happy now, okay? Let me be happy.”

Ryan immediately softens, and hugs me instead. “Sorry,” he mumbles, his arms wrapped tightly around me. I can smell his musky cologne on his skin and oatmeal from the cookies. “I’ve just missed you, that’s all. Can you blame me for missing you? And Levi,” he adds. “I missed the Armstrong’s in general.”

“We’re a missable group,” I joke lightly, but there’s something still about Ryan’s protectiveness that’s always irked me. I decide to shake it off for the time being, and remind myself not to get swept up in Ryan’s arms. I have a fiancée. That I’m going to marry at the end of the summer.

It seems that the feelings I once had for Ryan are threatening to come back, but I push them away. Ryan is with Jessica, and I am with Mark. There’s no way that anything between could ever happen, and I have to stop that little voice inside my head that hopes that something could.

I have to focus on Rosaleigh, the reason why I came back in the first place.