I stared at the brown-eyed boy for as long as I could remember while he proudly served the next few customers who entered during the time being. His shift must have just started because he was not here minutes before Kelli lectured me.
Come to think of it; I don't think I've ever seen him here before; I've been eating here for nearly half my life, and he hasn't shown himself once.
He turns his frame looking at me for a quick second as he finishes wiping the counter; he gives me a soft angelic smile before turning on his feet and heading to the back of the diner.
For a second, I continued staring into the now empty direction, still mesmerized by the recent sight, my old friend Kylo. He looked just as handsome as he did before with the same boyish grin connected to his blushed rosy cheeks.
A small hand waves swiftly over my face catching my attention, "Earth to Mia," I shift my gaze over towards the direction of the owner of the hand, shaking my head in the end.
I slip a strand of hair behind my ear as I watch Kelli continue to wave her hand in my face, "You were like lost in a thought there."
"And what were you even staring at?" She narrows her eyebrows before pressing her hand against the backside of her chair to support her weight as she turns to see what had caught my attention.
"It's nothing," I say, shrugging my shoulders, causing her to look back at me confused.
"What do you mean it's nothing? I didn't know staring into someone's soul and ignoring your best friend's every word was nothing" she looks back behind her, quoting the word nothing.
Kelli has never met or heard of Kylo before. When I met Kylo, Kelli was gone for the entire summer, so she didn't get the chance to met his bubbly personality. By the time she got back from visiting her grandparents, I hadn't even thought to mention him to her.
"It was an old friend that I hadn't seen in forever" I lean forward, cupping my chin into the palm of my hand as I sigh.
"An old friend? Why haven't I heard of or met this old friend?" she looks at me in disbelief, and I let out a small chuckle.
"His name is Kylo; he left; he was long gone by the time you came back from Korea like he never existed. Plus, we were like six or seven, so I got over it pretty fast," I explain while watching Kelli gasp at every word. I laugh at her response before looking past her once again.
"Speak of the devil," I continue as Kylo emerges from the back of the diner and starts taking a new costumers order.
Kelli turns away from me, studying Kylo's appearance, "Him?" She points at him while looking back at me, and I shake my head, quickly biting my lower lip.
"Is he like a model? He looks- wow," she questions, staring back at him as he shares his humanly laugh with the customer.
Laughing, I shake my head at her cocky question, "No, I don't think so."
"Well, didn't you say you guys were friends? Go reunite!" She squeals in her seat from excitement gesturing for me to go over there.
I can barely hold a conversation with myself; how could I possibly talk to an old crush and friend. What if we don't even have anything in common anymore. For all I know, he's like a new stranger.
"Mia! Stop overthinking this. If you don't talk to him, I will" she overlaps her arms and crosses one leg over the other.
I nod, breathing in a huge breath of air; we use to change in front of each other; how hard can speaking to him now?
I take a stand, glancing at Kelli before walking to the counter without any further thinking.
"Hi, what can I get for you today?" Before I knew it, I was already at the counter, and he was smiling at me.
I look back at Kelli, and she gives me thumps up for reassurance. I turn back towards the counter, giving Kylo a warm smile back.
"I already ordered," I laugh, rubbing my hand on the back of my neck.
He nods and lets out a small laugh as well, "Well, is everything alright?" His expression shifts, and he gives me a look of concern.
This is becoming a little too awkward for me. Now I seem like a creep. He doesn't remember me at all.
"Yeah, yeah, I just-" I'm suddenly cut off by Kelli pushing me to the side with an enormous grin on her face.
She wraps her hands together in front of her legs, trying to look innocent, "You're Kylo, right?" She smirks at me and stretches her hand out towards Kylo, and he grabs hold of it, shaking it.
"I'm Kelli" he gives her an awkward smile and looks over at me in a questionable way.
I shake my head as Kylo gives her a nod, and Kelli speaks again, "And you've met Mia already?"
As Kelli's words sink in, Kylo's eyes widen, and he stares at me for a moment, "Mia— Evans?" He looks at me with his bright sparkly eyes, and I nod immediately as a reply.
He frowns and smiles altogether and quickly walks around the counter before embracing me into a hug. Without hesitation, I hug him back, intaking the warmth in his body with complete comfort. His hugs are just as genuine as before.
"I'm so sorry I left you, Mia" my body becomes tense, and I sit there in silence. I didn't expect him to remember how he left, let alone remember me at all.
I pull back from him, gently rubbing his arm and giving a soft smile, "I'm just glad I got to see you again. I thought you were gone forever" His smile comes back to life, and he looks down, chuckling.
"My grandfather was always on the run; we moved more than I could control." He shrugs his shoulders, staring into my eyes.
"I asked multiple times to see you again, but my grandfather convinced me to let you go by the time I was 9," He continues.
A frown takes over my face filling my thoughts, and I wonder why he left so suddenly. What was going on with his family? Why wasn't I ever able to meet his family or enter his home? Most of all, would I be wrong to ask.
Kylo continued explaining his disappearance but yet not explaining anything at all. We shared a few stories, trying to catch up on each other.
As I said from afar, Kylo hasn't changed a bit. He was just as sweet and innocent as before, brave and charming in every possible way. The only change was his height, and he went from stepping on his tiptoes to be taller than me to be taller than me and smiling down at me like never before.
As he spoke, he never took his eyes off me. He'd smile after every sentence causing a red burning sensation to grow in my cheeks.
I forced myself to look away to prevent him from noticing my constant blushed cheeks. My eyes lock onto his forearm. There sat a tattoo, words I couldn't fully make out since half the tattoo was covered with his sleeve.
There was something familiar about the faded words like I've seen a similar tattoo. My hand travels to his arm, and I slowly glide my finger across half the tattoo, wholly mesmerized as I've never seen one before.
Kylo notices my attention led elsewhere, and he quickly pulls his sleeve over the tattoo while flashing me a crooked smile.
I narrow my eyes at his response, surprised. I've never seen someone so tense over a tattoo.
Trying to change the subject, he turns to Kelli, who had drowned herself in her phone while sitting in the nearest booth.
"I see you've got a friend, Mia, Kelli" Once hearing her name, Kelli smiles, waving in his direction.
"Oh yeah, It was originally supposed to be the three of us, but someone decided to go to their grandparents" Kelli rolls her eyes at my statement and laughs, jumping to clarify for seemingly confused Kylo.
"What Mia is trying to say is, That summer you guys met. I was away, and by the time I came back, you were already gone" she begins standing to her feet.
"The saddest part is I didn't even know you existed until now" She continues crossing her arms over her chest, turning to meet my gaze. Kylo turns my way too wholly silent.
I finally swallowed the lump that formed in my throat as I struggled to talk my way out of the awkwardness Kelli brought in.
"I'm sorry I didn't completely understand what was-" a few girls who appeared to be no older than 15 entered the diner; immediately filling the quiet environment with exotic giggles and awkward boy talk, causing Kylo to engage.
He turns to the girls and back to me, pulling his focus back to his priorities, "So sorry to cut this conversation short, Mia, but-" he points towards the counter, and I cut him off, waving him away.
"Guess I'll see you around" he gives me one last boyish grin as he walks backward before jogging around the counter just as the girls reach it.
"See you," I say back but quieter than I'd usually respond; this was all happening too fast.
Who would have known Kylo Melton would be back into my reach.