I sang to myself quietly as I tossed some more vegetables into the frying pan. I'd had a very long day, and all I wanted to do was make some dinner and curl up in front of the television.

There was a knock at the door. I glanced at the clock on the microwave; it was 7:30pm. I wasn't expecting anybody. My mind immediately thought of him. He always used to be the one to show up to surprise me…but that was a long time ago. I hadn't seen him in over a year.

"Just a minute!" I called.

He looked nervous, standing in front of my apartment after our first date. We hadn't been able to escape it – the typical end-of-first-date awkwardness.

"Well…I guess I'll see you…I had fun," I smiled uncomfortably.

"Yeah, me too."

"Okay…bye," I replied, a little disappointed as I pushed the door open.

"Wait…Mitchie?" he said tensely.

"Yeah?"

"Um…do you, um…do you think it would be okay if I kissed you?" he asked.

I smiled. "Yeah, I think that would be okay."

He gave me a quick peck on the lips and looked at me for a reaction. He was so cute.

"Come on," I laughed. "Like you mean it."

He grinned and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me close to him and pressing his lips against mine. It was perfect. And I knew that we were going to be perfect together.

I smiled at the memory, turning down the heat of the stove so my stir-fry wouldn't burn while I was answering the door.

"Hey, Shane," I said when I answered my phone. I didn't have to check the caller ID – I knew it was him.

"Be there in ten," he said quickly, hanging up before I could reply.

I jumped up from the couch excitedly. I hadn't seen him since the tour came nearby, over a month ago. We were constantly texting or on the phone, but it wasn't the same. I changed out of my sweats into something cuter – a pink halter top and a pair of dark jeans – and put some makeup on. I knew it wasn't necessary, since he always told me that I looked beautiful no matter what, but I wanted to look extra-beautiful when he came. The tour had only been four months, but it seemed like years without him around. I ran to the door as soon as I heard him knock.

"Hey," I grinned.

"Hey, beautiful," he smiled, kissing me passionately. "I missed you."

God, were we in love. It was so hard to be away from him when he went on tour. Seeing him on the days he got back were some of the happiest moments of my life. But then, the fighting would start. We had been the absolute definition of a love-hate relationship. We were always yelling at each other. About stupid things, mostly. Hell, we practically invented reasons to have screaming matches. But it didn't change the way we felt about each other. We always made up.

"Do you think she's pretty?" I asked.

We were taking a walk, and an attractive girl our age had eyed him as we passed.

"What?"

"Do you think she's pretty?" I repeated.

"Her? No," he told me.

"It's okay if you do. She's beautiful."

He shrugged. "Okay, yeah, I guess she is."

I pushed him. "You're supposed to say 'no'."

"But…"

I pulled my hand away from his and started to storm off. "You're such an asshole!"

"No, you're being a bitch! You tricked me!" he shouted, catching up with me.

"I hate you!" I told him angrily.

"No, you don't!" he replied, just as furiously. "I hate you!"

"Oh, yeah?" I asked him sarcastically, flinging my arms around his neck and pressing my lips against his.

That was just how we were. Our friends always made fun of us, but we didn't mind…it worked for us. We'd fight, we'd scream, we say that we hated each other, and then we'd kiss and make up and fall in love all over again.

"I'm coming!" I shouted when I heard another knock on the door. I'd totally forgotten there was someone there.

I thought about the last time I'd talked to him. It was about a year ago. He'd called from San Diego after a show about halfway through the tour.

"Guess what, Mitch?" he said excitedly. "We're extending the tour. We're going to Europe for four months!"

I sighed heavily. I knew I should be happy for him, but I wasn't. I wanted to see my boyfriend. He had promised that we would move in together when he got back.

"Listen, Shane…" I started, trying to stop my voice from wavering. I didn't want him to know that I was trying my hardest to hold back tears. "I just don't think I can do this anymore."

"What? What are you talking about?" he asked.

"It's just too hard to be so far away from you for so long," I explained. "It hurts too much."

"Then come with me."

"You know I can't. I still have a year of college left. I can't just drop everything to follow you around Europe. I have classes. I have a job," I told him, but I knew he already knew.

"So, what? That's it? We're just over?" he asked heatedly.

Hearing the anger in his voice made me angry, too. "Yeah, I guess we are."

"Fine, Mitchie. I don't even care. Fuck you."

"Fuck you, too, Shane!" I shouted, hanging up on him quickly. The hot tears streamed down my face.

The old wood floor creaked under my feet as I moved towards the door. I thought it was appropriate that our relationship had ended that way. It was so…us. It was hard, for awhile, but after a couple of months I started dating this guy named Michael. In the back of my mind, I knew that I didn't love him as much as I had loved Shane. But he was nice, and he was always nearby. We had fun together, but a couple months ago we realized that we really didn't have much of a future. It was an easy break-up, just like our relationship. Appropriate.

I opened the door, glancing up at the person in front of me.

"Shane?" I said, taken by surprise. "What are you…"

"Mitchie, just listen to me, okay?" he interrupted me.

He was cuter than I remembered. His hair had grown out again, the way I liked it – he'd cut it right before he went on tour and it looked awful. We had fought over that, too.

"Okay…"

He took a deep breath, the way he always did when he was trying to collect his thoughts. "I've been back for four months, and I tried to…but…Mitchie, everything reminds me of you. I miss you. I want to be with you. I want you to talk back to me, I want to fight over nothing, I want to walk away and then make up five minutes later…I just want it to be like it used to be. I want us to be like we used to be. Just tell me what I have to do."

I stared at him blankly for a moment, still trying to absorb the fact that he was standing there. I'd played this out in my mind a million times, but I never actually thought I would see him again.

"Mitchie?"

"Kiss me," I smiled. "Like you mean it. Like you miss me."

A familiar grin spread across his face. "Well, that won't be hard."

He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me more passionately than he ever had. I ran my fingers through his hair, like I always used to, and I knew that this was right. And even though I knew we would probably be fighting over something in ten minutes, I didn't mind. That was who we were, and I loved it. I loved him.

God, did I love him.

A/N: REVIEW! THANKS FOR READING!