He caught her eye across the crowded barroom floor.
She smiled, and slowly meandered over to the bar, taking the empty seat beside him.
For several long seconds they said nothing, their slight smiles supplementing the lingering looks they exchanged; their familiar hellos.
"I've missed you," she said.
Her voice was a mere whisper in the surrounding din of the crowded pub, yet it screamed to his impoverished senses.
His reply echoed her hushed tone. "I've missed you too, X."
"I'm not your X any more," she countered, their gazes holding in a mutual caress.
"You'll always be my X."