Marty was nervous to say the least. When he had sent that text he had never thought she would have responded, let alone say yes. They had gone months without communication, and when someone on the track team had told him Buffy was moving he made sure to at least contribute to the capsule.

They had been friends, after all, no matter how much she broke his heart.

He had a lot of that, now.

He missed his friend, he really did, and he knew that this was a LONG overdue apology, but it was an apology nonetheless. He wanted his friend back.

He knew at least one question she was going to ask—because he knew she was going to ask a lot of questions—and he was ready for it. He knew the answer, as much as he hated to admit it.

He missed his friend, and one of the first things he had to do was lie to her. To lie that he still didn't have feelings for her. To lie that he was going to be fine with her dating the new guy that somebody had told him about.

Yeah, that hurt, and that's why Wendy had broken up with him. They were young, had plenty of time to grow and change into different people, but she could tell he definitely still held a very small candle for Buffy, but that was it.

He got the diner earlier than they agreed to meet, he was nervous. He couldn't really sleep the night before, he was just going to go over and over and over in his head what might go wrong if he wasn't in the diner, so he grabbed his wallet and headed out.

He sat down and told the waitress two burgers, one with fries and two drinks with extra napkins and he sat and waited for the girl.

He only had to wait a few minutes with his drink until he heard the sound of the door opening for him to turn around and see the girl who had held his heart for months now. He gave her a smile and waved a little. She smiled and sat across from him in the booth he had picked.

"You got here early, eleven-point-five," she said.

He could tell there was a little tease of some of their old banter in her voice, but if anything she was more nervous than actually teasing.

"I needed to get out of the house before I lost my mind. I ordered you a burger and drink by the way. Hope you don't mind. Extra napkins, too," Marty admitted, stirring his straw around the glass.

"Oh," Buffy said. "So, why am I here?"

"I wanted to apologize in person now that you're back. I know I should've done this a long time ago before you moved, but I wanted you to know that I shouldn't have stopped talking to you after you rejected me. It was a terrible thing to do, and I really missed you."

Their food and Buffy's drink was then set in front of them. As if nothing had changed, they exchanged their pickles and tomatoes like they had done when they were friends.

"You're right," she said. "What you did was terrible, and it really hurt."

"I know I can't make up for all those months of not speaking, but is there any way we can go back to being friends?" he inquired.

He hoped she couldn't tell his palms were sweaty from her upcoming answers. He really wanted to be friends with her again, and he didn't know what would happen if she rejected him and walked out of the diner.

"What does your girlfriend think of that?" Buffy asked, making Marty confused. Why would that matter? "Does she like you being friends with a girl that people accused you of flirting with?" He took a fry and both laughed, taking a little bit of seriousness off the conversation.

Okay, well, Wendy wasn't exactly thrilled when she had overheard some of the boys talk about how his and Buffy's relationship was more of a bantering friendship with a sprinkle of flirting and a possible great relationship that was squashed, but he had to calm her down and say they didn't flirt.

But they did, so he kind of lied.

"Wendy and I broke up months ago, so I highly doubt she would care," he said, rolling his eyes.

Yeah, Wendy would DEFINITELY care.

"Besides," he continued, "what does that have to do with anything? Would your boyfriend care?"

"How did you…?"

"Small town, people talk," he said, not mentioning that it wasn't just gossip she had found a boyfriend, but that it was one of her old track mates.

"Does it matter that I'm dating Walker?"

Marty took a bite of his burger and shook his head, hoping his eyes didn't give him away. He always hated how well they could read each other. Sometimes it sucked so much that he couldn't take it.

"Why would it matter?" he wondered.

"Do you still like me?"

Well, that was blunt.

Well, here was the part he knew was coming. The part he had been agonizing over and over and over again.

"No," he lied. "Those feelings are gone."

It was then he could tell that Buffy could read how he lied, but decided to ignore it.

"Really?" she asked, and he nodded. "Huh. Let me ask you this one question then."

He popped another one of her fries into his mouth and said, "Anything."

"Why'd you break up with your girlfriend?"

He wasn't expecting that, however.

"We're young?" he said, more like a question. The answer wasn't necessarily untrue, it just wasn't the whole truth. "Because we're young and feelings change and things don't work out the way you may always want them to. You and I probably know those things better than some others."

It was true, though. They probably did. He held her eyes as he said it, making sure he meant every word.

"So, your ex-girlfriend wouldn't have a problem with us being friends again and you aren't harboring any secret feelings for me, anymore? Am I correct?"

"Yes," he said, again, not entirely truthful. His crush wasn't as massive as it was when they were first friends, but he wasn't going to deny himself that if her feelings towards him changed and she asked him out, he would agree in a second.

"And if those feelings come back?"

He pondered the question for a moment, more for her comfort than his own. He already knew the answer because he was partly doing it already.

"Those feelings will be immediately pushed down so I won't come between you and Walker and we can be friends again."

"Do you promise to let me win a competition between us if we ever decide to race?"

He smiled and rolled his eyes. He knew she would somehow make this into a competition.

"Not everything has to be a competition," he stated.

"But does it?" she asked and their smiles returned.

They sat in silence until their food was done and he had taken half of Buffy's fries—something she didn't seem to mind.

Maybe they were making progress.

"So, can we say we're friend again? Please?" he pleaded.

"Do you promise to never do this again? If something happens, we keep being friends. Promise me at least that," she countered.

Marty held up his left hand and put his right hand on his heart and said, "Buffy Driscoll, I promise that if anything comes between us again we will never stop being friends. I can swear to you that."

He meant every word, and his hands only got sweatier as Buffy nodded.

"Yeah, we can be friends again," she said and Marty let out a sigh in his mind.

He smiled and both got up and hugged each other. He could tell that they were both happy they were friends again.

"Thanks for the shoelaces and conceding to the fact I am faster than you, by the way," she said.

"Just another service I provide," Marty said.

"Yay!"

The voice came from the booth on the other side of the counter from theirs.

It was then that he noticed Buffy's friends Andi and Cyrus with…was…was that T.J. KIPPEN?! But two of the three had smiles on their faces. Marty still couldn't understand why the captain of the basketball team was with them. He and Cyrus looked a little bit like a couple. Were they?

"Of course they're here," Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Is that T.J. Kippen?" he asked and Buffy nodded. "But, how? And why? And are Cyrus and him a couple, because they look like one."

"Yes, that's T.J., at this point who can guess because it honestly seems like they're dating but sometimes it doesn't, and I'll tell you how and why over ice cream, sound good?"

"I paid for lunch, you pay for ice cream?" he offered, remembering the money he had handed the girl when he first came for their lunch and to not both them except to bring their food.

"Sounds good," she said, and took Marty's hand to help her out of the booth, like the gentleman he was.

He disconnected their hands—as sad as he was about that—as soon as she was up. He held the door open for her and she walked out.

He was ready for a new chapter in their friendship, no matter what path it would take.