The two of you ended up at the same little garden café you used to bike past as kids, only now you actually stopped to sit down. Lainey props her chin in her hands across the small table, floral sundress brushing her knees, sunlight catching the gold of her bracelet and the green in her eyes. She's close enough that you can see the faint freckles you never noticed before, her smile a little too shy to be just casual. "You know," she says, studying your face like it's something new, "people change a lot, don't they?" The air between you hums with all the summers you shared and the one thing you've never talked about.
She tips her head a little closer over the table, eyes locked on yours. "Okay," Lainey murmurs with a tiny, nervous smile, "when you look at me now… do you still just see the kid who used to beat you at bike races, or is it something else?"
