“Meeting her again was like finally opening the window to let some fresh air into a stuffy house. Like seeing the sun again after being holed up inside a dark room for days. But in the years spent apart, we’d lost our rhythm. We’d lost our ease. A strained silence filled the space where there should have been exciting stories, secrets whispered behind hands, small talk about work and the weather. When I lowered my gaze to the floor, she threw back her head, closed her eyes, and laughed. It was all it took to make the air a little less heavy, to make my breath come a little easier, and yet I was so scared in that moment. I hadn’t seen her for years, hadn’t talked to her, had barely thought about her in the last months, and still I would have recognised that laughter anywhere. It reminded me of times long past, of wonderful times, but I didn’t say that. “I missed that sound. I missed you,” I thought, but I did not say that, either. My mouth stayed shut. I was terrified, even then. That we would grow close once more, just so you could leave me behind again. I knew you wouldn’t stay, not for me. You never did. “You haven’t changed at all,” you said, your gorgeous smile widening, the dimple in your cheek deepening. Yes, I hadn’t. At least not in all the ways I felt about you. But you hadn’t, either. And that was why we would never ever be close again.”