Warnings: None

Word Count: 1093

June 30th, 2017

"What?" you asked, making sure you had heard your mom correctly.

"Tyler. Don't tell me you've forgotten who that is."

"Of course I haven't forgotten! But what is he doing back here? He's super famous now."

"Famous people have family too, you know."

"He hasn't been in town for ten years."

Your mom shrugged, "I don't have all the answers, sweetheart. You can ask him when we see him at dinner on Friday night."

"Dinner? On Friday night?"

"Yes. The Josephs invited us over so that we can all catch up. I told them that you and I are both free on Friday night, and we would be over at five."

You were speechless. Just a few days ago, everything had seemed normal and routine. You and your mom would go to work, come home, have dinner, watch some TV, go to bed, and get up and do it all again the next day. Now that Tyler was back, everything felt off.

"I'm going to go upstairs."

"Are you alright?"

"I just need to think."

Fergus followed you as you walked up the stairs to your room. He hopped up on your bed and made himself comfortable while you closed the door and walked over to the window. It took a bit of force to get it to open, but you eventually made it budge. A light breeze entered the room, and you could smell the distinct smell of summer drafting in.

Fergus watched as you dragged your desk chair over to the closet and opened it. You clambered up on the chair and began to feel around on the top shelf. Your hand made contact with a box that had been forced into the back corner, untouched for nearly eight years. After a bit of struggle, you managed to get a hold of it and pull it towards you. With your box in tow, you walked over to the center of the room and sat down. Fergus hopped off the bed and came and laid down next to you.

You wiped the dust that had collected off of the top of the box before opening it. In the corner, you could just make out where you had written "Tyler" in pencil. A number of emotions began to overwhelm you as soon as you did. Hesitantly, you began to look through the box. There were dozens of pictures: you and Tyler at prom, the picture of you two playing in the dirt, the two of you after performing a two-man play you had written. Beneath those were stacks of paper that had notes you and Tyler had passed in class. He had always asked you why you insisted on keeping them, and you had always told him that they might be fun to look back at someday. This was never how you had expected to look back at them.

You continued to look through the box until your eyes were so clouded with tears that you couldn't see straight anymore. Fergus sensed your distress and readjusted himself so that his head was resting in your lap. You kicked the box away from you and wrapped your arms around Fergus.

Part of you was excited that Tyler was back. You hadn't seen him since the conversation under the tree when you told him that you couldn't leave with him. The other part of you was angry at him. He had missed so many important things since he left, and he hadn't kept in contact at all. Every year, you still called him on his birthday and left him a voicemail, even though you were sure his phone number had changed by now. Sometimes, on nights when you really missed him, you would watch videos that people had taken at his concerts and posted online.

"Y/N?" your mom asked, poking her head in the door. You hadn't even heard her knock.

"You can come in," you sniffled.

Your mom walked in and took a seat next to you on the ground. Fergus wagged his tail, causing a loud thumping sound to vibrate through the floor. She noticed the pictures on the floor and picked up a small stack, slowly shuffling through them.

"Hard to believe this was all over ten years ago, huh?" your mom smiled.

"Yeah," you sighed.

Your mom stopped shuffling through the pictures and looked up at you, "Why did you ever take these off the wall?"

You bit down on your lip, "I couldn't stand to look at them everyday. It just reminded me of how he left."

She nodded thoughtfully before returning to looking through the pictures, occasionally smiling or laughing at one. Eventually, she set them back inside the box and took hold of one of your hands.

"You know, you don't have to go to dinner if you don't want to. I can tell them you got called into work last minute. I know things will probably be...tense between you two, for lack of a better word."

"No, I want to go. I think talking to him would be good for me."

"It would be," she smiled.

"Plus, I never miss an opportunity to eat at the Josephs' house."

"You had dinner there more often than you had dinner here in high school," your mom smiled.

"It was easier than cooking for myself when you and dad were at work!" you defended yourself.

"I know, sweetheart," she said, giving your hand a light squeeze.

You took a deep breath, "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit terrified of seeing him."

"It will be hard, there's no doubt about that. Just keep your head held high and try to remember the good times, that's all you can do."

The stove started beeping downstairs, prompting your mom to get up and walk to get whatever was cooking. You slowly collected everything back into the box and walked back over the closet. The chair wobbled a bit as you climbed back on it and shoved the box back into the corner of the shelf. The less you had to see of it, the better.

"Dinner is ready!" your mom called up the stairs.

"C'mon, Fergus," you said, opening the door to your bedroom.

Fergus immediately perked up at the sound of your voice. When he saw you standing by the open door, he rolled up to a standing position and followed you out of the room. Your mind was still reeling with a million thoughts, but for now you just had to focus on the present.