I have missed you all sol much, life kinda got in the way as it always does. I really value all of you still reading and your support- it means a lot. Things are about to get very AU and very complicated...

"Come on!" Liz's friend pleaded. "It's just one drink."

Flicking magazine pages Liz knew very well going out with Claire never ended after one drink. Glossy pages hung between her slender digits as her friend continued to beg. It was a set up. It was always a set up.

"There's this guy-"

"There it is!" Liz proclaimed proudly still remaining her theory that getting her out always had ulterior motives.

"He's really nice!"

"Aren't they always?"

"You need a man Liz!"

She sighed rising up from the coach to get a class of Coke from the fridge. Her house was small (modest, as the retailer described) but comfortable.

"When did you last have sex?" Liquid splattered everywhere as Liz laughed. "When was the last time you were even kissed?"

An embarrassingly long time ago, she thought mournfully.

"Come on, all you'll be doing is sitting at home alone reading magazines."

A pause. Then a decision. "Fine."

Cries of excitement echoed down the phone from her friend. Liz rolled her eyes.

"Okay, we're at Jimmy's bar-"

"The tacky Irish one?"

"The great Irish one," her friend corrected. "See you in a half hour?"

"Okay," Liz reluctantly agreed.

Blocking all thoughts of when she'd last worn this dress (and who for) Lizzie focused on the road speeding out of the Chicago suburbs. Jimmy's was a bar for lost poets and English graduates, she only counted as one of those. Tina, her friend, had been dying to get her out for months and this looked like she'd finally won. Stepping out of the car Liz looked down; a black dress and flats, suitably gorgeous without trying too hard. She wasn't sure why she was even doing this. Maybe to show off her figure or just get some alcohol in her system. Cooped up alone it that house was a bit dull sometimes. Pushing away all thoughts she pulled open the bar's door. Instantly she caught Tina's eye, who clearly had been staring at the door for the last twenty minutes.

A short attempted run in heels the two met in the middle for a long awaited hug.

"Girl, you are looking fine." Tina still thought she was seventeen and it was the 90s. "How is he?"

"He's good, thanks." The nerves she had desperately tried to hide were now flooding Liz's system.

Navigating her towards the bar, Tina instructed, "come on let's get you a drink."

As the handsome bartender looked at Liz she replied passively, "a beer thanks."

"So this guy," honestly Liz felt like she'd climbed a mountain just walking in and the idea of meeting someone was really not what she wanted. Tina had other plans, "he's really smart, single, let me go get him."

"Tina wait-" But she was gone.

Liz tried to take long deep breaths in between even longer gulps of beer.

"Liz, this is Aram."

Neither said anything opting instead to stare at each. The colour quickly trained from his cheeks as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Do you guys know each other?" Tina asked catching on.

"Holy shit," he whispered under his breath.

Instinctively, Liz put her arms round his waist as his slung over her shoulders. It had been nearly five years since they'd last seen each other.

"I thought you were dead," he admitted. "I missed you so much."

"Me too."

Stay tuned if you care to figure where the hell I'm going with this (I don't really know at this point)

Leave a comment and have a great day :)