Page 7 of Always Been You
Hanley shrugs, flashing a grin. “It’s a gift.” He shakes his head with a knowing smirk. “Well, whatever you’re running from or running to, good luck. You’ll need it.”
I grunt in response, but my thoughts are already elsewhere. The weight of going back to Louisville looms in the distance. The possibility of seeing her again face-to-face. I haven’t seen her in years—not since that last time, when she was barely a kid with ridiculous dreams and I with an even bigger ego.
Thoughts of her still linger in my mind and if I’m being honest with myself, she keeps me sane without knowing. Now and then, I catch myself wondering where she is and what she’s doing. I stopped following her life and what she was up to after she married and tried to push thoughts of her far away, telling myself it was just nostalgia.
Josh and Hanley keep talking, their voices slipping into the noise around us. The music pounds harder tonight, the lights are sharper, and everything feels off, too loud, and too close. I glance around the room, my eyes scanning faces without really focusing, just... unsettled.
Then I see her—the star of my fantasies and dreams. I blink, convinced I must be mistaken. What would she be doing here? I squint, trying to confirm, but there’s no denying it. It’s her. The years fall away in an instant. Lawliss.
For a moment, I freeze, caught somewhere between disbelief and something else I can’t name. My heart stumbles, and the air thickens as I take her in: the familiar curve of her jaw, her auburn curls, those hazel eyes that once saw straight through me.
She’s heading toward some guy by the dance floor, moving with that quiet confidence, like she owns the room. She’s different—no, not different, just… more. Her curls catch the dim light, and her gaze is as sharp and unflinching as ever.
Before I can think it through, I’m already moving toward her, pulled forward by some invisible thread. My breath catches as her gaze sweeps the room and lands on me. For a heartbeat, everything else falls away—the music, the crowd, the years. It’s just her, staring back at me with a mix of shock and something else I can’t place.
What the hell is she doing here?
Seeing her here, in this bar where I come to unwind, feels like a punch to the gut, sharp and unforgiving. Like fate decided it wasn’t done with me, hell-bent on dredging up things I thought I’d buried.
As I get closer, her perfume reaches me—that same soft grape scent that used to linger on my clothes long after she’d left.
I catch the edge of her voice as she steps closer to the guy, her tone hard and steady. “I suggest you go back and apologize to the bartender, asshole.” Her expression is fierce, undeterred by his drunken glare.
“How dare you speak to me like that? I’ll have my lawyers sue your ass,” he slurs, clearly drunk out of his mind.
“Ha! Be my guest.” She smirks, pulling a card from her purse and dropping it onto his chest. “I’ve been itching for something entertaining, and your suit might just do it.” His mouth drops open, and fear flashes across his face as he reads the name on the card. “Oh, and make sure to add in your writ of summons that I was teaching you some goddamn manners.”
She turns to leave but stops short when she notices me, standing right in her path.
Our eyes meet, and for a heartbeat, everything else falls away. No bar, no friends, no pounding music, just her, staring back at me with the same shock I feel. For a second, I don’t move, my brain scrambling to process the fact that she’s really here.
Someone in the crowd bumps into her, and she stumbles, thrown slightly off balance. Instinctively, I reach out, my hand catching her arm to steady her. She leans into me, just for a moment, the warmth of her skin cutting through the chaos around us.
“Thank you. But I could’ve handled it myself,” she says, her voice calm and confident, just like I remember. That hasn’t changed.
“Of course. I know you can, Lynx.” My voice comes out more gruffly than I intend, but I recover with a small smile.
Her eyes widen, and I see the exact moment recognition washes over her. She blinks rapidly, disbelief clear in her expression. “E-Ed? Oh my God, Ed—is that you?”
I chuckle at her reaction, and just like that, the years of silence and no communication between us fade. Seeing the joy on her face eases the tension in my chest, loosening the knots I didn’t even realize were there.
“Who else would it—” I start, shaking my head, but before I can finish, she launches herself into my arms, and I let out a sigh, wrapping her in a warm hug. The familiar scent of grapes and lemon surrounds me, and for a moment, I’m a teenager again, standing in the same spot with her in my arms. She still wears the same perfume I recommended to her years ago, and it hits me hard—a rush of memories of what could have been.
A part of me feels like I’ve stepped back in time.
Chapter Four
Lawliss
EDMUND ANSAH! The name I somehow can’t forget. His embrace is still familiar and warm, like no time has passed between us. For a moment, I let myself melt into it, feeling the steady beat of his heart against my cheek. He wraps his arms tighter as if he knows precisely I need it.
The goal of stepping out tonight was to make all the reckless decisions I wouldn’t make on a normal day, leading me to this place. I came here because the name sort of matches what I need. Meeting Eddie again is the last thing I expected but maybe it’s exactly what I need to get through this night.
Breaking the hug, I pull back slightly, just enough to look up at him, my small hands still wrapped around him. Eddie has grown to be a fine-ass man, with a firm hand, and with the ability to take control and broad shoulders that fit his tailored black button-down shirt.
“You look good,” I stress taking him in, and he smirks.
“You don’t look bad yourself,” he says, twirling me around. I feel his piercing blue eye on my body, making me squirm. The way he’s looking at me feels the same yet so different and it makes me feel powerful. It’s not the look you give to a friend you haven’t seen in a while. It feels deeper.
