One

Holidays were never Drew's favorite time of the year. They used to be— back when Thanksgiving meant having all the Torres cousins watching American football and guzzling beer together, when Christmas meant playing video games in pajamas with his brother and Dallas, when New Years meant kissing Bianca as the ball dropped.

Now, holidays pretty much just consisted of him and Audra. Not to say he didn't want to spend time with his mom— he did, of course. But he couldn't help but feel the presence of everyone missing. Adam, whose absence he would never get used to, no matter how many years went by... Dallas, who was off playing hockey in Japan still...

And Bianca.

It had been over five years since she'd turkey dumped him— needless to say, Thanksgiving was now his least favorite holiday. They hadn't talked much for the first year after their breakup, given Bianca was busy with uni and Drew had been caught up in that whole Clare-Eli-baby drama mess. Just an occasional like on each other's Hastygram photos, a once-in-a-blue-moon "hey how have you been" text.

It wasn't until the summer after Drew's high school graduation that they actually saw each other again. He hadn't really wanted to reach out at first, but when Audra ran into Bianca at the supermarket, she wouldn't let it go. "I just think it would be nice to have her over for dinner sometime!" she'd insisted.

Oh, Audra. Somehow she'd gone from being against vehemently against his and Bianca's relationship to being their number one stan.

"You do know we broke up," Drew mumbled in reply. "Besides, she... probably has a boyfriend now." He didn't know this for sure— and the thought of it made him sick to his stomach— but it wouldn't surprise him. After all, this was Bianca Desousa.

"Oh, she's not dating anyone," Audra shrugged.

"Mom! You asked?"

Drew didn't invite Bianca over for dinner that summer. But he did manage to muster the courage to ask her to grab coffee. That seemed casual enough— like it was just two old friends catching up.

But then somehow coffee turned into talking all night... and talking all night turned into waking up in Bianca's bed.

"This is kinda weird, isn't it?" Drew said when they sat down to coffee. His leg was twitching and he somehow couldn't manage to make eye contact or stop looking into her eyes. He'd missed this, just being in her presence, hearing her voice, talking to her. But it still felt... different, now.

Bianca shrugged. "What?" she said, her lips forming into a small, teasing smile. That signature Bianca Desousa smirk. "Getting coffee with your ex-fiancée isn't usually how you'd spend your Saturday?"

Drew chuckled nervously, his hands still trembling a bit. "Uh, no... guess not." He glanced at Bianca's drink— double-shot soy mocha with whipped cream and a hint of caramel drizzle. "Your order hasn't changed, huh?" he added, trying to smile.

"You remember my coffee order?" Bianca raised her brow.

"Of course."

They both sat there for a second and just smiled at each other, probably looking like a couple of idiots to everyone around them. "God, it is good to see you, Bianca," Drew finally managed.

Bianca was still smiling. It wasn't a nervous, forced smile anymore... it was just genuine. "I missed you, Drew," she said quietly. Her eyes lingered on him for a second, then she sat up and cleared her throat. "So, how was your senior year? Hear you got yourself into some trouble with Clare Edwards..."

Drew's face immediately went red. "What... that wasn't... we—"

But Bianca just laughed. "God, relax, Drew. I'm just messing with you." She raised her brow, adding, "Becky Baker, though? That's... interesting..."

Drew groaned a little on the inside. Sure, he'd dated Becky, but they'd both come to realize that their short-lived relationship had been less about attraction and more about their shared grief for Adam. Being with Becky had almost made him feel like he had Adam back, in a weird sort of way. But he hadn't loved her, not like that. He hadn't loved anybody like that since Bianca. "Nah, that was just... a fling," Drew shrugged. "It was really more about Adam than her, anyway."

"Yeah," Bianca nodded. Her eyes looked a little sad all of a sudden, like she was just now remembering that Adam was really gone. His death had hit her hard too. But she also looked... uncomfortable at the thought of Drew with other girls, no matter how she tried to disguise it with jokes.

"Um..." Drew said, trying to change the subject. "How's university?"

Bianca's eyes lit up again. "Oh Drew, it's amazing! The campus is gorgeous and the people are awesome. I mean, I still haven't decided on a major and it took awhile to get the hang of those big lectures but..." She brushed her hair out of her face. "I'm happy. I mean... mostly."

"Mostly..?"

"I don't know," Bianca said. "I mean, I'm happy with school, yeah. But there's some things I miss about home." She paused. "I wanted to call you, you know. But I just figured you wouldn't want to hear from me."

"What?" Drew said. "Of course you could have called me, B."

Bianca just stared into his eyes for a second, letting out a long sigh. "Drew..."

Drew raised his brow. "Yeah?"

"Do you wanna get out of here?"

The next morning, Drew woke up in Bianca's bed, cuddling her and feeling the warmth of her body against him. God, he'd missed this. Sure, he'd slept with Clare last year and there was that one girl from the club that one night, a Teendr date here and there, but nothing had come close to giving him the feeling he got with Bianca. "Morning, B," he grinned, planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Hhhhhhnnn," Bianca mumbled, still half-asleep.

"So that was... fun... last night.." Drew said, his arms still wrapped around her.

"Yeah," Bianca said, yawning. "Yeah, it was." She suddenly bolted up, looking panicked. "Wait. What time is it?"

"Ten-thirty..."

"Shit! I have an interview in thirty minutes!" Bianca jumped out of bed and threw on a clean shirt. "It's for this internship over by campus. It's crazy competitive, so I probably don't have a shot in hell but—" She grabbed her makeup out of her purse and dashed to the bathroom. "I gotta get ready!"

Drew sat up, kind of startled. Internship? So she wasn't spending the summer at home? Was this just a quickie before she dipped again? "Um, okay. I guess I'll get going then, or—" He paused, realizing Bianca had left her phone on the bedside table. He knew he shouldn't snoop— even the thought of it was so childish— but...

Drew couldn't help himself. He reached for her phone, still having her password memorized by heart. He found himself clicking on her text message inbox and—

Hey, sexy. Can't wait til you get back— Max

Drew felt his stomach drop. There was a heart emoji by the guy's name and their conversation scrolled up for miles. It was flirty, for sure... it didn't seem like a definite boyfriend, but... Drew got the feeling he wasn't the only one who'd spent the night with Bianca recently.

"I gotta go," Drew hollered suddenly to Bianca. He threw the phone back on her mattress and wandered over to her bathroom, still a bit dazed by everything that had just happened. "I'll um, talk to you later?"

"Yeah," Bianca nodded, her eye makeup halfway done. She planted a kiss on his cheek. "I'll call you."

But the phone call never came.