"Fuck," Colton moans as he cups his face. He looks almost the same. His eyes are still an eccentric green and his hair is still messy and chocolate brown. "You really missed me, huh?"

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I ask him as I grab my backpack and shove it into the overhead bin.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Colton asks. He wipes his nose on his sleeve and shoves his bag into the overhead bin. "I thought you were in Boston, you know Harvard or whatever." He looks at me over his shoulder.

"Why do you remember that?" I ask him. Colton shrugs. "Why are you here?"

"I was visiting a family friend."

"Everyone, please take your seat. The seatbelt sign is now on," the captain announces.

I sigh and sit down in the window seat. Colton sits in the aisle seat. "Are you going home for the holidays?" Colton asks after a minute of silence.

"Yeah." I yawn. "I'm sorry I punched you."

Colton shrugs, a grin tugging at his lips. "I just took it as a 'nice to see you, Colton!' kind of thing."

I smile, despite not wanting to. "I guess it kind of was."

The plane starts moving. "Do you want some gum?" Colton asks. He seems to be chewing a few pieces. "You know, so your ears don't pop as much."

"Uh, yeah. Sure." Colton hands me a pack of gum. I take two pieces and hand it back to him.

"You look tired," Colton tells me.

"What does that mean? It looks like your hairline is receding," I say with a frown.

"You look tired, Andy. I was going to ask you if everything is okay." Colton rolls a gum wrapper between his fingers.

"I'm...I'm okay," I tell him.

He smiles. "You're still aggressive and confrontational."

I smile back. "I guess some things never change."

"It's gonna be a long flight, huh? Like six hours or something," Colton says.

"That's what happens when you fly from New York to Washington." The plane takes off and leaves me and Colton in silence.

It's odd to be around Colton. The last time I saw him must have been around Graduation. And now we're on a plane together for six hours. Surprisingly, it's not nearly as awkward as I would have thought. We didn't end on good terms.

And it's...almost nice to be around him. Before Colton and I were romantically involved, we were pretty good friends. Really good, actually. I frown as I remember what it was like. The memories are slightly faded by now. Now, I have too many medical textbooks crammed into my head.

"How have you been?" I ask suddenly, looking at Colton.

"I've been okay," he says.

"What did you end up doing after high school?" I ask as I rub my neck.

Colton smiles sheepishly. "I got a degree in Photography."

A smile spreads over my face. "That's great! I'm so proud of you, Colton."

Colton frowns. "Wait, you're not pregnant, are you? Is that why you said something nice to me?"

"You're still a dick," I tell him.

He grins. "Sorry. I was joking."

I shake my head, trying not to smile. "I'm not pregnant and I don't plan on being for a while."

"So, you want kids then?" Colton asks.

"Not now. Maybe later? I guess we'll see."

"Why are you in New York? I thought you still would have been at Harvard. I'm assuming you're still in Med-school?" Colton runs his hands through his hair. His hair is slightly different now. He has it in almost a military sort of style. It's parted slightly to the side and there's slightly a fade. "Andy?"

"Oh, I finished pre-med at Harvard, but then we decided it would be easier if I finished school in New York," I explain.

"By we, you mean Bryce?" Colton says, almost strained. Like he's trying to pretend like it doesn't bother him. "Right?"

"Yeah," I say, brushing my fingers over my mouth. "Bryce got a job straight out of college. And the company that hired him is based in New York."

"And what about you?"

I shrug. "NYU has really good scholarships for Med students."

"Did you want to go New York?" Colton asks.

"It doesn't matter. Can we talk about something else?"

"Sure," Colton says. He looks at his watch. "What do you wanna talk about for the next five hours and fifty-three minutes?"

"I don't know," I say as I shrug and cross my arms over my chest. Colton mimics me. "Fine. Are you still using steroids?"

"A: I never used them and 2: I'm offended that you think I would," he tells me.

I start laughing. "You're so dumb. You always say shit like A: and 2:, not A: and B:," I tell him, laughing.

Colton leans over the middle seat and says, "I do it because I know it'll make you laugh. Or because I want to make sure you're paying attention."

"That's nice," I murmur.

"And Andy?" Colton says. I look at him. "You really look like you could use a laugh."

*******************

I must look really dumb. For the past half an hour, I've been staring blankly at the small TV screen in front of me. It's so weird to be around Colton. It feels like nothing changed after more than four years. And it's nice to be around him. Colton makes me smile.

But I don't know why he's being nice. I remembered the last time I saw him and it wasn't pretty. I went to his apartment to...I don't know. I guess I wanted to tell him that I didn't love him, but was in love with Bryce. We both got mad and started yelling at each other.

And I feel slightly guilty. He cheated on me with a lot of girls, but I was a little bit involved with Bryce. Nothing really happened with Bryce until I broke up with Colton. But still. I don't know. It's just odd to see Colton.

"How's your movie?" he asks.

"Good," I answer absentmindedly.

"Really?" he asks. "You're not watching one."

I grin sheepishly and shrug. "I'm just thinking."

"Are you having relationship issues?" Colton asks in an almost eager and slightly smug way.

I rub my neck. "To be honest, I'm trying not to think about anything right now."

"So, you are having problems," Colton says.

"Why do you care?" I ask. Colton shrugs and I roll my eyes. "How many girlfriends do you have right now, anyways? Like five or something?"

Colton's smile fades. "None, actually," he says. "My girlfriend just broke up with me."

"How long were you together?" I ask.

"Almost four years," he says.

"Why'd you break up?" I ask.

"Don't wanna talk about it." Colton stands up and grabs something from his bag in the overhead bin. He sits down and starts to unlock his phone.

"Wait," I say. Colton looks at me strangely. "Uh, you're checking to see if your ex-girlfriend texted, right?" Colton nods. "Don't. Just wait until we land."

Colton sighs and puts his phone in his pocket. "Where's your phone?"

"The overhead bin."

"So what should we do for the next five hours?" he asks. I shrug. I grab my earbuds from the middle seat.

"I'm gonna watch a movie," I tell Colton. He unbuckles his seatbelt and slides over. "Hey! What are you doing?"

"Watching a movie with you," he says. "I figured you moving the earbuds was an invitation."

I sigh and hand him an earbud. "I guess, but you better give me your pretzels when the flight attendant comes around."

"Deal." Colton reaches over me and starts scrolling through movies. He doesn't say anything as he keeps scrolling through movies.

"It's not that hard to find a movie," I tell him after a few minutes. "You must have looked through twenty."

"Thirty-seven and that's all of them," he tells me. "So, I guess we're stuck talking."

"Get your paws off the screen and let me look," I say. Colton grins with his dimples and puts his hands up. I shake my head and start looking through all of the movies. "These look good. Why don't you want to watch any of them?"

Colton shrugs. "I don't want to watch something I've already seen." He looks at me. "Besides, we haven't seen each other in four years. I'm sure you're more interesting than any movie."

I blush. "That's nice. But I'm really not that interesting."

"Really?" Colton asks. "Your first reaction to seeing me was to punch me in the face. I'd say you're pretty interesting, Andy."

I smile and look out the window, not knowing what to say. "You're still charming," I say. Colton grins at me. "I'll give you five questions. You get to ask one every hour."

"Can I have one right now since the flight is six hours?" he asks. I roll my eyes and then nod. Colton's grin grows. "When was the last time you thought about me?"

"This morning," I tell him.

He smiles in a shit-eating way. "Were you in bed?"

"No. My friend asked me if I was worried about running into any exes." I cross my arms over my chest.

"And you were worried about me?"

"No," I tell him. "I always expected you would move on quickly." I think about it. "It seems like you did. You had a four year-long relationship and that must have started a little while after we, uh—"

"Ended," Colton says.

"Yeah." I rub my neck. "I didn't even think that you remembered my name."

Colton frowns, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Why wouldn't I remember you?" he asks. "I'll never be able to forget you, Andy."

I swallow. "We should watch a movie."
   
He sighs. "You can pick one. But I'm not gonna give you my pretzels."

"Whatever."

I switch on a random movie and drift into my thoughts. Colton leans forward to turn up the volume and his shoulder rests against mine when he leans back. I sit stiffly, suddenly aware of Colton. His arm is against mine is pinky is almost touching my leg. There's something comfortable and familiar about his smell.

I shake my head slightly and try to relax into my seat. It's weird with Colton. We're somewhere between old friends and bitter ex-lovers. It's like nothing changed when everything has. And it's nice to be around Colton again.

******************

"What the fuck?" I mutter when I wake up. There's something warm against my chest. I blink and see an unfamiliar sweatshirt draped across me and then I see that I'm clutching Colton's arm and my head is against his shoulder. "What the fuck?" I let go of his arm and sit up suddenly.

"You have a good nap?" Colton asks.

I frown. "I didn't even know I fell asleep. And why are you...oh, wait. Nevermind."

"What?" Colton asks.

"I wasn't expecting to see you," I tell him. "How long was I sleeping?"

"An hour, maybe?" he says. He grins with his dimples. "Which means I get another question."

I sigh and rub my eyes. "Shoot."

"Why isn't Bryce with you?" Colton asks.

"He has work."

"Doesn't he get Christmas off?"

I sigh. "Apparently not."

"That sucks," Colton says. He grins and then tries to keep a straight face. "I mean, it sucks for you."

I roll my eyes. "I'm sure you're just torn to shit over it."

Colton grins. "As a matter of fact, I am."

"Why did you and your girlfriend break up?" I ask. Colton frowns at me. "You get to ask me questions, so it's only fair if I get to ask you."

"Fine," Colton sighs. "She broke up with me because I wasn't ready for the next step."

"And what was that?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I'm not sure. But she always seemed to think I was cheating on her." I look at him. "What? I wasn't."

"You cheated on me," I say before I can stop myself.

"You cheated on me," Colton says.

"I'm going to the bathroom," I mutter. I pull his sweatshirt off me and shove it in his lap as I get out of our row. I start walking down the aisle and cast a glance at Colton.

"Fuck," I mutter as I tug on my hair. A wave of guilt passes over me. I cheated on Colton. Looking back, I fucking cheated on him. To be fair, he was sleeping with a lot of girls and wasn't being particularly sneaky about it.

And I was...I don't know. I was with Bryce. Bryce and I couldn't seem to keep our hands off of each other. Damn. I always thought what Colton did was wrong, but I might have been doing the same thing.

Fuck. And now I'm on a plane with Colton feeling guilty about something that happened years ago. And Bryce isn't here. He's never here.

I shake my head as I walk into the bathroom. I can't change anything. Besides, I have four hours left of my flight and then I'm done with Colton. I won't see him again.

After I use the bathroom, I wash my hands and look in the mirror. I do look tired. There are slight bags under my eyes and something about my face looks defeated. I think it's my eyes. They're less of a piercing blue. Oh, shit. They look my dad's eyes when he was exhausted and my mom was cheating on him.

"Damn it," I mutter. "Damn it."

I hit my cheeks lightly and push away my unwanted feelings. I'm not going to cry over some stupid relationship problems. Bryce can go fuck himself wherever he is because I'm going to have fun on this trip.