Susie Derkins sat in her car staring at her childhood home.

She hadn't been home since she graduated high school. She applied for early admission to Columbia and left a week after graduation. She went to grad school for two years (also at Columbia) right afterwards and had been making excuses on not being able to leave New York since.

As she stared at her old house, she realized that the saying was true: all good things really must come to an end.

She turned off her car when she saw her mother throw open their front door and excitedly run towards her.

She sighed as her mother hugged her, wishing she could be anywhere but here.

There had never been anything for her in this town.

She had very few friends; she had always been a loner. She had never really minded, she enjoyed her alone time. She did sometimes wish that someone would befriend her but she understood; no one ever wanted to be friends with a nerd. The only people that talked to her really were people who made fun of her for her intelligence, guys who only wanted to sleep with her (she was surprisingly beautiful, and she of course always turned them off by talking), and her annoying neighbor Calvin.

Calvin.

Just the thought of him sent a shiver down her spine. He tormented her for years. Her mother thought he liked her, which Susie swore was ridiculous. Calvin had actually become extremely attractive and had girls fawning over him all the time. While Susie had never been ugly, she certainly didn't think he would ever want to go out with someone who he claimed was 'socially retarded'.

Not that she had ever wanted to go out with him, anyway.

He had driven her crazy in every way possible: he was rude, impatient, ridiculous, and egotistical. He thought he was more attractive than he was and Susie wasn't one of those girls who would do his homework for him because he smiled at her. They had fought constantly and Susie's only detentions were his entire fault.

Calvin.

She shivered and pushed the thought of her annoying neighbor out of her mind as she rolled her suitcase into her childhood home.

She offered (but really demanded) to go to the food store for her mother as an escape. The fact that Susie was an only child forced her mother to become very stereotypical in pressuring her about settling down.

She was only 26, after all.

She blamed her cousin Amanda for all of this really. She just had to get married and just had to also be pregnant at the same time. It didn't help that Amanda's mother was her mother's sister because her aunt was flaunting the marriage in her mother's face.

Which made life unbearable for Susie.

Susie silently cursed Amanda for getting married as she walked into the supermarket. She then started to feel bad; Amanda had always been Susie's best friend. They did so much together when they were younger and even though they hadn't seen each other in five years, Amanda had still asked Susie to be her maid of honor. Susie sighed, wishing she could be mad at Amanda without rationalizing it.

She was so preoccupied with her thoughts that she didn't see him coming towards her engrossed in a magazine while eating an apple.

Distracted, she ran into a strong chest and was knocked to the ground. When she looked up and saw just exactly whom she ran into, she cursed Amanda yet again.

"Hey lady, I'm really sorry I was just reading this can you believe they charge $4.99 for a tabloid magazine now? It's just totally ridiculous I mean you can get all of the information online for free, what idiot thinks someone would actually buy this?" The man rambled as he brushed himself off. "I'm sorry for running into you, are you okay?"

Susie remained frozen on the ground with wide eyes as the man finally looked at her. When he realized he had not run into a middle-aged mother but a slim, sexy, brunette woman his age, he smiled and held out his hand to help her up. Susie continued to stare at him wide-eyed, not taking his outstretched hand.

"I'm sorry I ran into you, let me help you up," he said smiling at her. She continued to stare at him.

She couldn't believe it was him. Almost a decade of her life had gone by without having to deal with his absolute insanity, crazy paranoia, and most of all, his pranks.

"Did you hit your head? Should I call someone?" He asked beginning to worry that she hadn't moved from her spot on the floor. She shook her head wondering when exactly his hair had become so dark. It had been bright blonde and now there was barely any blonde hairs left. Had she really been gone that long?

"Do you have any idea how dirty that floor is?"

He laughed when she immediately stood up and started dusting the floor germs off of herself.

"So you're okay then?" He asked. She nodded at him and gave him a weak smile. "Well good! We can't have attractive women laying on the floor in the supermarket it would be chaos!"

"Yes, I'm fine," she said. Did he just call her attractive?

"Excellent! Now, as a native of this beautiful Mid-Western town, it's my business to welcome newcomers," he grinned. "I could show you around town, if you'd like."

She gave him the most disgusted face she could manage.

"Do you seriously not remember me?" She scoffed. "Seriously Calvin?"

He gave her a blank look.

"You are insane Calvin!" She said loudly pushing past him. She was about to turn down an aisle when Calvin spun her around. He looked at her for a few seconds and then grinned widely.

"After six years of Ivy League schooling and genius Susie Derkins can't think of a better thing to call me than insane?" He mocked as he put his hand on his hip and gave her a smile.

She made a face at him and turned to end the conversation but as always, Calvin was faster than her and appeared in front of her.

"So what, no hug?" He said teased.

"Get over yourself Calvin," she rolled her eyes trying to get around him, which proved to be difficult. When did he get so strong?

"Don't be like that, we were friends once!" He shook his head smiling. She snorted.

"Oh yeah, we were the best of friends when you used to wait for me in trees and drop water balloons on me and when you used to throw snowballs at me with rocks in them," Susie responded annoyed. "My personal favorite was when you used to play hide and seek with me and leave me hiding for hours."

"Good times," he nodded, obviously amused at her reaction.

"You're so… you're so… UGH you're so still infuriating Calvin!" she exclaimed.

"I just want to catch up Susie it's been years since you've been home. Eight years actually, if my math is right- which it always is," he said cockily, looking down at her.

She had to strain her neck to look into his eyes, which surprised her. She never remembered him being so much taller than her or having such striking blue eyes. She also never remembered thinking this much about Calvin's looks. She cursed the florescent lighting for fucking with her head.

"And what a great reunion it's been. Maybe the next interlude we could make a full decade this time?" She replied turning away from him. She heard him laughing as she walked away.

"Don't worry Susie, I know I'll be seeing you again really soon," he called after her.

"I don't think so asshole," she called back without turning.

"It's harder than you think to avoid your next door neighbors," he continued. "Especially when they're as good looking as I am."

She stopped and turned to see him smiling cheekily at her. When they made eye contact he winked and she scoffed. She gave him the finger as he laughed and continued her walk out of the store.

"You better hope it doesn't snow, Susie," Calvin always had to get the last word in. "I wouldn't want to accidentally harm your beautiful face."

She shook her head refusing to turn around to look at him again and continued towards the exit. Her mother would be pissed she left without getting chicken for tonight but oh well. They would have to get take out tonight.

If she had turned around, she would've seen Calvin grinning like an idiot watching her leave the supermarket.

"Susie Derkins," Calvin whispered. "Finally."