Johnnie's is definitely still running. Thriving, even. I actually can't believe it. Fifteen years ago the place had like twenty years in the business,  so now the place is almost forty years old. And it only seems to be growing and getting better. 

When I get out of my car I stare at the building I used to know like my second home. It looks different, but at the same time it feels the same. I notice Vic reaching my side and he does the same as me. And we're both definitely thinking the same thing. 

"Would you look at that?" He ponders and I nod.

"They've redecorated a bit," I say glancing towards the inside. It looks modern, compared to how it was before.

"I really hope the food is still great," he continues. "I'll actually be sad if they ruined it."

I couldn't agree more. 

We both go inside and yeah, it's definitely more modern now. The booths are still that bright red, the counter as well. I could see the waitresses wearing a more trendy version of the uniforms from before, and  oh- they have male waiters now too. They're all walking around carrying plates and drinks over to the busy tables. A young waiter approaches us then and Vic tells him it's just the two of us, he sets us up on a booth at the far corner near the biggest window. It isn't our then-usual-spot, but it'll do.

"Wow," I say once I've sat down and eye the menu on my hands.

"Wow, indeed," he agrees and I chuckle.

It should feel weirder. Sitting here with Vic after all this time. After everything that went down. But it doesn't, somehow. It feels familiar and sort of warm. I don't know. Maybe it was a bad idea to come here, but there's nothing I can do about it now, can I?

I keep eyeing the menu options when I finally glance towards Vic's left hand and my stomach drops unintentionally. There is a ring. A silver band hugs his ring finger perfectly and I don't know why I'm surprised. Of course he got married. He always wanted to. I'm glad he found his one, though. Really. I wonder if he'll tell me about it. About him.

"What are you getting?" He asks looking up from his menu.

I quickly go back to sorting through the dishes. "I think I'll just have the classic rodeo burger." I say. "You know, old habits."

"You literally always ordered that!" He laughs. "Okay, if we're doing it like that, I'll have the hot wings with a..." he pointed his finger though the menu.

"A strawberry milkshake." We both say at the same time. He does excitedly, I do with a groan.

"I can't believe you're that disgusting still," Who gets wings with a milkshake?

He laughs loudly and shakes his head. "No, I actually don't think my stomach could handle that now."

I grin just as the waiter from before comes by to take our orders. When we finish telling him what we want and he goes off, I notice the wall behind Vic, on the opposite wall of the diner. The memories board is still up there.

"Oh my God," I say, still looking at the colorful board holding tons and tons of pictures, all pasted over the other.

I remember when Billy, the owner of the place, created this board place on the wall because he wanted people to leave their keepsakes in the diner. It was a pretty cool idea at the time. Vic and I always wanted to leave a picture, but we then decided it had to be a very special moment, so we left our photo on our first anniversary, which was our junior year I think. Man, it really was a long time ago. I wonder if the picture is still there.

"What?" Vic asks and looks behind him. "Oh," he continues when he notices the board. "Do you think...?" He looks back at me and I shrug my shoulders.

"It's probably buried over by now," I laugh and he gives me this look. And then he stands up. "What are you doing?"

"Come on," he says as a matter of fact. "We have to go see it."

I actually don't want to see it. Why would I want to go see a picture where we were both happy and, in love? Don't get me wrong, of course I'm over Vic Fuentes. It's been over a decade. Come on. Over a decade. But it's bound to feel weird, right? Maybe I'm the weirdo. He seems awfully relaxed over this whole situation for some reason.

Either way I stand up and follow him to the wall.

The pictures seem endless. The board is practically invisible by now, but I know it is buried somewhere there. I can see families, couples, children, groups of friends of all ages, and I can't help the laugh that escapes me. This is literally what Billy always wanted and he got it. I think this is way more than he ever dreamed of. That actually makes me happy for him.

My eyes keep wandering through the wall of pictures when I hear Vic gasp beside me. I quickly turn to where he is looking and, holy shit. It's there. The picture taken over fifteen years ago is there.

"No way," I say. "There is literally no fucking way."

Vic bursts out laughing and I follow along with him. There we are. Two sixteen year olds, one smiling widely to the camera, the other smiling to the boy he's hugging with one arm. The waitress took the picture while Vic was joking around and that's why my smile is so big. I was mid-laughing. And he was telling me the joke, so that's why he's looking at me instead of the camera.

It's like people pasted their pictures around ours, barely covering it at all. The wall is pretty big, and most of the pictures are evenly placed. But the fact that people left ours almost intact just makes me feel something in my stomach that I can't really point out.

"Wow," Vic says again. "Do you remember the joke I told you?"

I snort out loud because I do remember the dumbest joke he ever told me. I was about to tell him when we heard a rough voice behind us.

"Am I seeing ghosts?"

We instantly turn around and see a man, probably in his mid-60s, wearing a polo shirt with the new diner logo, smiling at us from ear to ear. There's no way that this man is Billy, the owner. But it is Billy. Universe, come on.

"If it isn't the lovebirds!" His powerful laugh resonates through the diner, but no one seems too surprised about that. He's left his beard grow and it matches his now fully white hair. The wrinkles around his eyes are prominent but the glimmer he has in them, it's the same old one he had back when we used to come here. I'm so glad he's still around.

"What's up Billy," Vic handshakes Billy and they pat themselves in the back. "Glad you still remember us."

"Hi Billy, it's so good to see you." I say and hug him too.

"How could I forget my most famous customers," he says and points towards the picture. "I swear I've had to answer more questions about this damn photo than I can count."

"Why?" I can't help but blurt out. Our photo is famous? It's a simple photograph. There really isn't anything special about it. I mean, not really. We're just... smiling.

Billy shakes his head like I don't understand something and I make a face. He then makes eye contact with Vic and they seem to have a silent conversation with the other. Okay, what am I not seeing about this picture?

"You'd have to be blind to not see it," he says softly. "I love to tell the story of these young boys," he says staring at the photo. "And now I can finally know how it ended."

He looks to the both of us and gives us this huge, bright smile. And my heart drops. He still thinks we're together. Oh no. Oh no, we're going to break this old man's heart. I instantly look at Vic and see he's looking back at me already. I shake my head ever so slightly and he turns back towards Billy. He smiles.

"You always knew how it ended Billy," he says and takes my hand. Oh God, what is he doing. "We got married and are as happy as ever." Vic turns and smiles at me and I have no other choice but to smile back. I hope it looks real. I hope it doesn't look as awkward as I feel right now.

"Yeah..." I manage. "Eight years and counting," I say throwing a random number while still looking at Vic and smiling. Eventually it doesn't really feel as bad and I start enjoying the warmth his hand brings to mine. And maybe we look at each other a little too long and I force myself to look back at Billy.

He looks so happy it could actually break my heart.

"Ah, congratulations boys," he smiles proudly. "I always had a feeling about you two! Come on, food's on the house today." He affirms us with a pat on our shoulders and walks away leaving us to walk back to our table. I let go of Vic's hand instantly.

"Poor Billy," I say to Vic while we sit down back on our booth.

"He's old, let him believe in happy endings," comes Vic's reply and I feel a pang in my chest. Were us the happy ending?

"Yeah, I guess." I sigh and look around, my eyes landing ironically on Vic's band. "How long have you been married?"

He looks startled by the question and looks at his finger, as if he'd forgotten the ring was there in the first place.

"Oh, um. Will be seven years in the fall." He says softly, without looking at me. Seven years. That's way longer than the years he even knew me.

"Congratulations," I say, truthfully. And fast enough so he doesn't think I was analyzing this information.

"Thank you," he finally looks at me again and smiles, not that big this time.

I don't really know what to say next and thankfully I don't have to because our food arrives.

"Ooh, that looks great," Vic says when his plate of hot wings is placed in front of him. "You can have some if you'd like."

I nod as the boy puts my burger on the table as well. It looks exactly how I remember it. Maybe even a little bigger. We start eating right away, commenting here and there about how good our dishes are. We share our food at some point and okay, those hot wings are still out of this world.

Four beers and two empty plates later Billy comes over to our table holding a camera and my internal alarm goes off. He wants a picture. Of course he'd want a picture. We shouldn't have made him believe we were still together. Doesn't it show that we haven't seen each other in fifteen years?

"Boys," Billy says to us, as if we were still sixteen and not in our thirties. "Would you do this old man the honor of taking your picture for our memories board?"

I can't help but to laugh and Vic does too. Of course we had to take the picture. There is no way we're leaving here without it.

"Man, now I wish I wore something else." Vic says while standing up and that cracks me up. He's basically wearing the same he was then.

Billy ends up making us stand in front of the booth. Vic puts his arm around me and I try not to shrink away. We both smile. No silly jokes this time. Just two men who have supposedly been married for years, smiling, because they're happy and they're road-tripping and decided to go back to the town that saw them grow up. Or at least that's how it looks to Billy.

"Wait," Vic interrupts and turns back to the booth. He picks up our half empty beer bottles and hands one to me. "Remember how we always tried to sneak these up but always failed? We have to honor those kids in the picture, Kells."

I ignore his old nickname for me and shake my head, feigning disbelief. He's still the class clown, that's for sure.

We pose again with our smiles and our bottles and I lean into Vic's embrace a little to make it more believable and Billy takes the shot, assuring us it will be up in no time because of the printer they have in the backroom. And soon enough we're standing in front of the two pictures. One from fifteen years ago and one from today. Pinned side by side on the board, surrounded by tons and tons of other pictures. It almost makes me want to cry. But the thought makes me laugh.

We really have grown up. The differences in the pictures just reveal how much time has passed. Whoever gets to see these will have a fit. At least, in the context of this diner we are still those teenagers in love who found a way to stay together for a long time and still are. And only this diner will know that outcome. Like our own little alternate reality.

It's a funny and tragic thing to think about.

"My face is really wrinkling," I sigh after looking at the pictures for too long. "At least my hair is still great."

Vic laughs. "I'm so glad you're still full of yourself."

"Hey," I punch his arm playfully. "I'm not, I'm just stating facts."

"Well, yeah your hair does look the same." He nods. "But your face... you should start using those anti-age creams."

I scoff and punch his arm again. "Yeah? How about you start shopping your clothes at the adult's section?"

He gapes at me, but grins nonetheless. "First of all, it's the weekend, second of all, I will once you start to."

I gasp and look at my outfit. It's perfectly adult-like.

"Kells, you still wear TOMS."

"What's wrong with TOMS?!" I am actually offended. This is totally an adult brand as well.

He mumbles an Idon'tknow and I roll my eyes.

"You know what, let's leave our fashion choices out of this."

"You brought it up," he retorts.

Forget what I said, maybe we are still 16 years old.

"Boys," we hear Billy come to us again. "I really hope you enjoyed your visit. Don't wait too long to visit us again next time." He gives us a bright smile; we can't help to smile back. "And congratulations again." He shakes both our hands and with a last wave he goes to the backroom of the diner.

When he's out of our sight, I sigh.

"It's crazy right?" Vic says, turning to look at the pictures once more.

"Too crazy," I agree.

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(A/n): Hi! What do you think so far? I might update this once or twice a week, so stay tuned! :)