**Completed** Colby Byers and Wyatt Matheson shared an enviable love-at least, until that fateful day. Torn apart by tragedy, the stubborn ex-lovers struggle to come to terms with their desire for one another, while reconciling their feelings with t...
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** Cole (Drew Van Acker), Wynn (Shay Mitchell), Wyatt (Steven R. McQueen) and Colby (Gabriella Wilde)**
11 years earlier
"Come on," Colby whined from the edge of the riverbank, where she idly tossed pebbles into the stream. "We always do what you want to do first, and it's always football. It's like you're...recessed with it."
Her older brother Alex laughed. "I think you mean obsessed sis, and so what? Would you rather we play hockey?"
"Or baseball?" Wyatt added, snickering. "Oh, it's so hard hitting this ball with this stick," he mocked, impersonating a ball player. "And running all that distance between the bases, whew!"
She made a face, sticking her tongue out.
"Careful B, or your face might stay that way!" Alex teased.
"I'm gonna tell your mama you said that," she threatened gamely. "And that you said the 'D' word to Luke."
"What's the 'D' word?" Luke, the littlest Byers child, questioned. He was digging in the wet soil on the river's edge, his overalls muddy up to his knees.
"Doggy, Luke," Alex said, raising his eyebrows at Colby. "Right, B?"
"Fine," she huffed. "Sure." She stood, turning to face the two older boys. "Can I at least play?"
"No," Wyatt said firmly. "You can be our cheerleader. That's what girls are supposed to do."
"I would never be a cheerleader," she spit, as though it were the most revolting thing in the world. "Never."
"Not like she'd have the choice," Alex said, elbowing Wyatt in the ribs. "You have to be pretty to be a cheerleader."
Wyatt shrugged. "She might get prettier someday." He glanced at Colby, a hint of a grin on his face.
Colby blushed when her eyes met his, a reluctant smile playing on her lips.
Colby
"The party has arrived!" Wynn hollers enthusiastically. She raises our joined hands into the air and pirouettes beneath mine. Our classmates dutifully whoop and clap, and I know I'm gonna miss this. I'm not the party girl I once was, but these are my people! It's at least one place I know I belong.
Wynn pulls a flask from the waistband of her skirt, having resolved to never let an incident like last time happen again. We'll roll with our own beverages now. Wynona raises her flask to the sky, and various cups of beer and other unidentified beverages shoot up along with hers, rivers of flowing liquid spilling over the edges of the red plastic.
