Overview

Caleb could still remember what it felt like; being part of something. All of them together, driving around town in Evan’s beat-up red car. They’d play loud music and roll the windows all the way down, and hang their arms out, smoking cigarettes and weed, and feeling like kings.

Everything changed after Jonny died, and not just the things he would’ve expected.

People looked at them differently. Before the accident they were just ‘those boys’; the kind who’d get an eye roll and the occasional tut as they drove past with music blaring, and their faces flushed with the excited joy of being young and alive and free.

After the accident, they were ‘those poor boys.’ The eyerolls were substituted for sympathetic smiles, and the tuts for long sighs. Everyone felt sorry for them, and especially for Cal. Jonny’s brother. The one left with permanent brain injury. The pretty one with the ugly scar. The one who was driving.

It's been five years since the accident that killed Cal's brother. It seems like everyone else has moved on and is getting on with their lives. Everyone except for Cal, who can't seem to move forward. Can't stop feeling guilty, because he knows the accident was his fault. Knows everyone else thinks it too, even if no one will say it.

The five year anniversary of Jonny's death means seeing people Cal hasn't seen since the funeral. People who vanished from his life just as suddenly as Jonny. People he really wished had stayed.

Evan was his brother's best friend. Evan was his friend, too, right? Maybe more than that, once upon a time. Now Evan's back, and the feelings Cal thought he'd shut off have all come flooding back. The problem is, with everything that's happened, is Evan going to stay... and does Cal even want him to?

Evan doesn't know what he wants when he comes back to town. Maybe to reconnect with old friends. Maybe to reconnect with himself, too. All he knows is that nothing has been the same since Jonny died. Nothing has felt right. And it isn't just because he lost his best friend that night, but maybe something even more precious... if he could just convince Cal of that fact. Cal Summers is as stubborn now as he was five years ago, and trying to get through to him isn't going to be easy. But he's all Evan's thought of for five years, and he isn't going to give up easily. If he can just get Cal to listen to him... if he can get Cal to admit how he feels before it's too late... because as much as Evan wants to stay, this time, it looks like Cal might be the one leaving.

*** Warning: contains sexual situations - recommended for those over 18
*** No cliffhangers
*** Happy ending