More wedding talk. "Speaking of weddings, Casey's boyfriend proposed to her last night." Her eyes widen. "Did she say yes?" I nod. "She called me, said they're engaged, and asked me to be her maid of honor." She lets out a long sigh. "See? I want that. It's just not fair." Casey did have it easy. She's gorgeous, so of course there were guys interested in her. Levi caught her attention, has treated her in the best way possible, and now they're going to spend the rest of their lives together. "I guess it isn't," I say. "To have something happen naturally, and easily, that's definitely goals," she says, pausing for a moment. "I've never had that before." I've never told her or Bee about Dylan because I've never felt the need to. I've tried not to think about him because I've moved on. To be stuck on him would be really detrimental. He could be a totally different person than he was in high school. That doesn't mean I can't think about my old feelings though. "I think I have," I tell her. She tilts her head. "When?" "In high school," I begin. "I know I've told you and Bee about my parents and my horrible ex, but I never told you about this guy I fell for." The memories come flooding back to me. Dylan's smirk that would turn into a smile because he couldn't help it. The days he took me for ice cream and cheese fries. The way we danced at homecoming and prom, and our first kiss in his room. I tell Cora some, but not all of it, only the sweet moments we shared. Then I tell her the moment I knew he wasn't coming back after traveling with his mom. "It's been so long, and I have no idea what he's up to now. I'm afraid of what I'll see," I say honestly. Cora gives me a crazy look. "You've never stalked him on any social media?" "Never." "Would you be mad if I looked him up? I have to see what he looks like," she laughs. I guess it's okay if she sees him. I nod and she unlocks her phone. She opens Instagram and searches his name. "I think I found him," she says, picking up her phone so I can't see. "If this is him, you better jump on-" she stops as she's scrolling. "Well, never mind." What did she see? "What?" I ask her. "It's nothing," she shakes her head. "I bet he's been all over the world." The curiosity is killing me. "I want to see." She raises her brow. "You sure? I don't want to be responsible for you giving in after all this time." "I really wanna see," I tell her. She hands me her phone and I brace myself. Before me is the Instagram profile I've been avoiding for four years. Dylan's life, based on the photos, is extremely adventurous. There are pictures of him at numerous beaches, in front of luxurious looking houses, and in front of fancy cars and motorcycles. In his bio it says he's a luxury travel advisor with some contact information and a link. Of course his job has to do with traveling. I don't have to scroll much to find a picture of him in a tuxedo with a girl wearing a glamorous blue dress standing in front of him. There are a few pictures of them together. Is this his girlfriend? A picture of him with Anthony and Olivia pops up and I smile. It was only posted a month ago. I wonder how often he visits home. While sliding to exit on the screen, I accidentally like the photo. I quickly unlike it. "Shit," I swear before handing the phone back to Cora. "What happened?" she asks. "I liked an older photo," I smack my forehead as I say it. She lets out a laugh. "Calm down, Lace. It's not like it's coming from your profile. He has no idea who I am anyway." She's right. Plus, he has over one hundred thousand followers. I'm sure he isn't keeping track of who likes his photos. We finish our breakfast and Cora leaves to run some errands. Once I clean up, I plop on my couch and rub my forehead aggressively to see if that'll help the headache that hasn't quite gone away. I pull out my phone and open Instagram. I've already seen Dylan's profile now, so there's no harm in looking at it again. I want to hate him for leaving me all those years ago, but it's impossible. Dylan has made a great life for himself and that's what I wanted in high school. I wanted him to forget all the shit we went through and find himself, and he did very quickly. A message from Cora pops up and I open it. Her message includes a screenshot which shows her Instagram notifications and at the top it says Dylan Parker has followed her. Panic rises in me, but I sit on the thought. I unliked the photo, so how did he see it so quickly? I go to Instagram again and I pull up Cora's profile. She's got a lot of photos from school, but she also has a few photos of herself with me and Bee. There's a possibility he's looked at her profile and has seen me in some of the photos. He's going to think I'm some sort of stalker now. Cora sends another message. Could be a coincidence right? I highly doubt it, I text her back. Maybe I'm overreacting. I'm thinking too much into the situation. Dylan has a large profile following, and maybe he keeps his clientele interested by following certain people. I just have to shrug it off. This isn't high school where I could find a Taylor Swift song relating to my position and dwell on it forever. It's fine. ~ The day continues and I feel like making myself dinner. Maybe something simple with a salad, like spaghetti because that's the only thing I can make without burning it. As I'm filling a pot with water my phone starts to ring. Casey's name is on the screen and I answer it, putting it on speaker. "Shouldn't you be at work?" I ask her as I glance at the clock. She never calls me this early on a Saturday night. "I switched shifts with this other girl. Levi and I are going out tonight," she says. I place the pot on the stove and turn up the heat so it can start boiling. "Okay, so what's up?" "So, I'm going to need you to come down here soon so I can discuss wedding stuff with you. Plus, your aunt Jade has been wanting you to make a trip down here anyway. And Anthony misses you too." "Sounds like a lot of people miss me," I say, avoiding the real conversation. "Baby Penelope misses you too, you know," she says. My aunt Jade married James, her genetics professor boyfriend, during my sophomore year of college. A year later they had a beautiful baby girl and named her Penelope. She's my favorite little two-year-old human and I haven't seen them in a few months. I do talk to my aunt Jade almost every other day.