It's me, back again! Feeling inspired the last few weeks to write more. Not to mention the KISS. FINALLY! More on that later. I've been thinking about this story and the concept for a while now. I guess it is somewhat AU…but different in the sense that Hailey & Jay have been lifelong friends, share a rich past, and like many relationships have encountered challenges and dealt with life changes. I'll leave the interpretation up to you, as they navigate these feelings together as adults. These are already some of my favourite words I've ever written. If you've ever had someone in your life that you lost touch with, or had a falling out with, or grew up with and never quite explored your feelings for one another…then this story is for you. Or if not, I hope you still read this and can connect in other ways, because at the end of the day this is a story about love. Love can come in all shapes and forms- friendships, family, relationships. Along with that often comes heartache, regret, missed opportunities, and second chances. This is a story about Upstead, but also a story about life and everything that goes along with it too. These words are special to me in many ways, particularly in my own personal life. I've uploaded the first two chapters, but more to come soon. Enjoy! - K

Prologue

Jay sat by the window of a busy coffee shop on a Friday morning. He was waiting for Kim and Adam to get their order, so he went ahead to grab them a table so they could have a bite to eat before work. He had just set his jacket down over the chair and sat down when he looked up and saw her, plain as day. He thought that his mind was playing tricks on him, it couldn't be. But it was her, there was no one else he knew with that smile, and those eyes. Two crystal clear blue ones that had stopped dead in their tracks and were staring right back at him, stunned. Hailey Upton.

He inhaled sharply, trying to get a hold of his emotions. He was in disbelief that it was her familiar blonde ponytail swaying past the window. His lack of contact with Hailey over the greater part of this last decade was hard, maybe the hardest thing he's ever had to do. But he had to let her go, spread her wings. Hailey deserved the world, and she deserved much better than he could ever offer her. It pained him every day to walk out to his truck, and stare at her parents old house. All the memories they had growing up here, she was everywhere. But he had been selfish too, playing with her emotions and her heart all those years. He had thought about this moment for a long time, they were bound to run into each other at some point or another. All he could manage while her eyes stayed locked on his face, was tensing his jawline, as he curled his lip up, flashing her a grin, a knowing nod. She paused for a minute, taking it all in. He saw her bite the inside of her cheek, and he would bet his life savings that the hand hidden in her coat pocket was nervously fidgeting with the gold ring she always wore on her right middle finger.

Jay Halstead. She knew this was a possibility, while on a work trip back to Chicago. She just never thought it would actually happen. What are the chances, of really running into Jay hours after she landed? Apparently, the odds were high. It took her years to push the constant thoughts, memories, fights about Jay out of her mind, and it all came flooding back in an instant. All it took was one sparkle of those green eyes to unlock a part of her soul that she forgot about yet was always lingering somewhere in her heart. One that was familiar, turbulent, yet comforting. He looked older now, they both did she did figured. Part of her always wondered what would have happened if she met him at the park bench that night. A large part of her heart always ached for him. There had been boyfriends over the years sure, but none like Jay. They had never officially dated, but in many ways, he was the strongest current she had ever swam in, that no one else could hold a candle too and she just couldn't explain why. In words anyways. Their friends growing up knew, their families knew, but nothing ever materialized because she was scared. They were scared. Of the unknown, of the joy, of the consequences. And by the time they realized, it was too late. Too much had changed. There were things that they could not come back from. The closest encounter they had in recent memory was a few years back. Their childhood friend Mouse had actually called Hailey, saying he was worried about Jay. That he wouldn't have called her if it wasn't serious. That was the one and only time her resolve was weakened, the walls were about to come down, she almost hopped on a plane and came home for him. Realizing she had been selfish and equally to blame for their falling out, she wanted to hold him, put him back together like she had done before. She was seriously considering coming home for a weekend and putting their issues on pause, breaking their radio silence. That was until Mouse replied a few weeks later saying that he had turned things around, he was going to therapy finally. She smiled at that, a small victory in the long line of Halstead stubbornness. She thought, maybe that wasn't even her place in his life anymore. There was a tiny part of her that would welcome him back into her life in an instant. It was strange, this feeling standing before him, with only a thin pane of glass separating them, Jay Halstead, who she had grown up with. Laughed with, fought with, cried with, who knew many if not all of her darkest secrets and yet he felt like a stranger. In all sense of the word except literal, she had seen him naked, as he did for her.

She thought about this version of herself, one that he had never touched, never hugged, or looped his fingers around hers when they were driving. They say after 7 years the cells in your body shed, change, regenerate. What she once thought was a comfort that his hands had never touched this version of her, a part of her wondered what if they did and always would. She hoped he was happy now. As they stared at each other through the window, albeit briefly, she knew he was remembering too.

They broke their eye contact as she continued walking down the street, Jay stared down at his coffee, trying to grin through the pain in his heart. The moment ended as quickly as it began, feeling like time was standing still. It made him wonder if there would ever be another person in his life like Hailey Anne Upton.

"You alright man you look like you've just seen a ghost?" Kim asked casually as he sat down across from Jay, who seemed spooked to say the least.

Jay didn't reply in words, he just lifted his head and stared in the direction of Hailey, only the back of her visible now as she waited at the corner light before crossing the street. Adam and Kim had been approaching the table when this all happened, so they witnessed the looks the two former friends had been giving one another.

"Who was that blonde Jay? Wow. Was she ever giving you the eyes" Adam smirked innocently, cluing in to Jay's awestruck demeanour.

Jay smiled, fighting back a tear or two forming in the corners of his eyes. "Someone I used to know."