JENNIE

The sweet June breeze blows through my open classroom window, airing out the smell of a year's worth of sack lunches and colored-pencil shavings. June has arrived yet again which means another school year is in the books, putting me at five full years of teaching first graders. As I box up the last of this year's bulletin board decorations, I can't help but get the tiniest bit sentimental. Where in the world has the time gone?

"I think we've got just about everything," I say with a sigh, doing a full sweep of the room for any last decorations or books I might have left behind.

Once my best friend and saint of a clean-up volunteer, Jisoo Kim, finishes disinfecting the desks with the wipes I gave her, we should be just about done. Then we can walk out of here and kick off my summer vacation with a much-deserved margarita.

I check my phone for the time—five forty-five—which means we haven't missed happy hour yet. While I'm still looking at my screen, my phone buzzes once, then twice in my hand with two texts from Hanbin.

Ten bucks says he's wishing me a happy last day of school. That or asking for a last-minute pair of hands at his bar tonight. I'm sure the place will be packed with teachers from this district, toasting to the end of the school year, just like Jisoo Kim and I will be doing very soon.

"Quit texting and let's get out of here," Jisoo says with a whine, dragging a disinfecting wipe across the ledge of the chalkboard. "I can practically taste the tequila already."

"It's my brother. Just give me a second."

But once I nudge the text open with my thumb, my stomach plummets all the way to the soles of my shoes. I think I'm going to need more than a second. A minute, maybe. Or a few weeks. Actually, no amount of time would be enough for me to fully process this news staring back at me. News I never would have predicted I'd receive.

Hey, IDK if you know, but Lisa is back in town.

Lalisa Manoban. Once upon a time, she was my everything. Now just her name sends my good mood plummeting.

I suck in a slow, controlled breath, pushing down the anger and confusion bubbling within me, then scan the screen to see what else Hanbin has to say. Turns out, his second text is just as insane as the first.

She mentioned she might need some kind of favor from you.

"Everything okay?"

I snap my head up to see Jisoo looking at me, her head cocked and a disinfectant wipe in her hand.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's nothing," I lie, managing a tight-lipped smile despite the pounding in my chest.

Knock, knock, it's me, your heart. Reminding you of how freaking broken I ended up the last time we dealt with Lalisa Manoban.

Unconvinced, my best friend narrows her eyes at me. "If it's nothing, then why do you look like you just saw a ghost?"

Because I did.

"Hanbin is just being weird, as usual." I shrug, avoiding eye contact as I pocket my phone. "He caught me off guard."

It's not a complete lie. My guard was absolutely, totally down before Hanbin dropped the atomic bomb of news. My high school girlfriend, the one I gave my entire heart to, only to have her kick it to the curb on her way to college, is back in town. And apparently, she needs some sort of favor from me, of all people. The same ex-girlfriend who I haven't seen or spoken to in ten years. Oh and yep, you guessed it, the same ex-girlfriend who I compare every person I meet to… even if I don't want to.

So, yeah, that guard that was down? Time to build it all the way back up again and hang up a sign that reads NO SCUMBAGS ALLOWED.

Jisoo has a stern look in her eyes as she marches across the room and presses the back of her hand against my forehead. "You feel a little warm. Maybe we should skip drinks tonight."

"No way, Jisoo." I duck out of her reach, shaking my head. "I'm fine. And I'll be even better after a frozen strawberry margarita with extra salt."

She looks skeptical, an unamused frown tugging at her lips. But after some gentle pleading from me, she throws in the towel, um, disinfecting wipe. "Fine. But only because it's been so long since we've been to Pepe's."

"We were there a week ago," I remind her. "And the week before that."

"Yeah." She scoffs. "And a week is a long time."

With everything boxed away until next year, I wave good-bye to my classroom, flipping the row of light switches one by one until the whole room goes dark. I've dealt with a lot in this little room over the years. Peanut allergies. Lice outbreaks. Skinned knees from recesses gone wrong. All of which I've navigated with the ease of an expert.

But one little text from my brother, three little letters spelling out one name, and suddenly, it's like I forgot how to stand on my own two feet.

I don't know what my problem is. It's not like I'm going to see Lisa. Well not on purpose, anyway. I have absolutely no plans to do her any kind of favor after what she did to me. And even if we do run into each other, my first graders have taught me everything I need to know about the silent treatment. So, what is there to get worked up about?

In the parking lot, Jisoo and I each hop in our cars, and although it seems ridiculous to drive separately, I'm grateful for the alone time. It gives me a few minutes to collect my thoughts about this Lisa thing, without trying to keep a poker face in front of my best friend.

It's weird enough that she's back in North Carolina, but the fact that she needs a favor specifically from me is almost too wild to be true. It's been ten years since we've spoken, and even longer since I've seen her. And if her memory is the same as mine, she has to know how badly she hurt me and it shouldn't be a secret that I would be pissed.

But before our relationship turned to heartbreak, it was different. It was sweet and easy, and everything you'd imagine your first love to be.

I still remember the night things changed between us. It was early October, homecoming weekend at our high school. While every other junior in town was getting ready to go to the big homecoming dance, I was sulking on the couch, barely watching some made-for-TV movie. Upstairs, my brother and a few buddies were drinking beer they'd not-so-sneakily taken from the fridge in our basement. I could only assume Lisa was on her way to grab a few more brews when she came downstairs and spotted me, elbow deep in a bag of cheese puffs.

"Weren't you supposed to be at the dance?" she asked, her dark brows knitting together.

I nodded, licking cheese dust from my thumb. "Yeah, but Jisoo got food poisoning from the nachos at the football game last night."

"That sucks. For her and for you."

The couch was big, easily seating four people comfortably, but when she sat down, she sat right next to me, so close that her denim-clad thigh pressed against mine. It was enough for my teenage hormones to go into overdrive, so much so that I nearly didn't hear the next thing she said.

"I could take you, if you want."

My heart started pounding as anticipation rushed warmly through me. I leaned in, unsure if I'd heard her right. "Did you say you'd take me?"

"Sure."

"I thought seniors were too cool to go to the dance." I gestured toward the ceiling and the raucous laughter of my brother and her friends upstairs. "Exhibit A."

Lisa lifted a shoulder, the slightest hint of a smile on her lips. "Yeah, but I don't want you to be stuck at home." She paused for a moment, weighing her words, then closed her eyes and went for it. "I bet you look gorgeous in your dress."

Electricity prickled down my spine. Was she being serious? Lisa was a senior, not to mention my brother's best friend. Both of those things made it clear that she was very off-limits. But right then, as she shifted her hand to rest on my knee, all those limits dissolved into dust and floated out the window on the October breeze.

"I—I guess I'll just have to find another time to wear it," I stammered. It was my best attempt at flirting, at the time, and although it wasn't much, it seemed to work.

"Like on a date?" she asked, one brow lifted suggestively. "Do you date?"

"I haven't, no. But I haven't really been asked out."

"Well, I'm asking you out right now. I want to take you out. Somewhere nice, so you can wear your dress and I can see you in it. What do you say?"

The blast of a car horn yanks me from my trip down memory lane and throws me right back into the present, where I've totally missed the fact that the light turned green and I'm holding up traffic.

Oops. I give an apologetic wave to the car behind me as I pull into the restaurant's lot, gripping my gearshift a little tighter than usual as I slide it into park.

Okay, Jennie. Time to shake that memory off.

Yes, Lalisa Manoban was a sweetheart and a charmer. Emphasis on the was. That was before she up and left the state, and my life, without a backward glance. So unless the favor she wants from me is a slap across the face and a kick in the you-know-where, there's not a favor in this world I would do for her.

Inside the restaurant, Jisoo has already settled into our usual booth near the back, where she's happily munching on chips and salsa. If memory serves me right, this is our third time here this month.

"Fancy seeing you here," she says, grinning as I scoot into the spot across from her.

"Us? At Pepe's?" I gasp, feigning shock as I dramatically press a hand to my chest. "Who would've ever guessed?"

We're still laughing when our waiter arrives, asking if we have questions about the specials.

"Nope." Jisoo laughs, having not even looked at the menu. "I'll have a lime marg on the rocks, and she'll have a frozen strawberry margarita, extra salt."

God, I love this woman. No wonder we've been friends our entire lives.

When the server disappears back to the kitchen, we get to work on the chips and salsa, laying down a solid layer of carbs to soak up the tequila we're about to consume.

"So, what's your game plan this summer?" Jisoo asks, wiping tortilla chip crumbs from the corner of her mouth. "Are you finally going to download that dating app I've been telling you about?"

I shake my head, holding up a finger while I finish chewing. "No need. I've got a hot date with the library and then I'm putting my booty in the sand at Wilmington Beach for as many days as possible until September rolls around and I get back to the classroom."

Jisoo rolls her eyes, but lucky for me, our waiter appears with our drinks before she can give me any grief on my extra-mild summer plan that definitely do not include dating apps.

I don't know what she was expecting. It's me, after all. Sure, I had a few flings here and there in college. I even had one semi-serious boyfriend a few years back, until we decided that my teaching schedule and his bartending gig made it too difficult to see each other. Other than that, though, it's common knowledge that I steer clear of the dating pool. I haven't had much steaminess in my life since . . .

Well, since Lisa, to be honest.

I take a hefty sip of my frozen margarita through the pink plastic straw. Maybe if I'm lucky, I can brain freeze that sad reality away. And if not, some tequila might make it a little less painful and I'll forget everything.

"Okay, that's it." Jisoo slams her margarita down hard enough that it splashes a bit across the table.

I flinch at her intensity, wiping a cold drop of splashed marg from my cheek. If she's willing to waste booze like that, she must mean business. "What's up?"

"I should be asking you that question." She huffs, folding her arms over her chest. "You've been acting weird since we left your classroom. What's going on? And don't try telling me that nothing's wrong. You're clearly stewing about something."

Defeated, I sigh. I can't lie to my best friend. And I'm already feeling loose-lipped after a few sips of my margarita, so I might as well break the news now.

"It's Lalisa," I say on a sigh. "She's back."

Jisoo's palm hits her lips with the slightest smacking sound. "No freaking way. The Lalisa Manoban? I thought she was a city girl now, some penthouse princess living in the big apple."

I nod, cringing slightly at hearing her call Lisa by the nickname I'd heard Lisa called in the local media. The day Lisa graduated from college, she booked a one-way flight to LaGuardia Airport and never looked back. Not at North Carolina, and certainly not at me, the high school girlfriend she left in the dust with a hundred questions and not one answer.

"Well, what is she doing here?" Jisoo asks, scooping up a heaping helping of salsa with a tortilla chip and popping it into her mouth.

"No clue. All I know is what Hanbin told me, that she's back in town and she needs some kind of favor ."

I should have chosen my words more carefully, because my dirty-minded best friend hears the word favor and immediately starts wiggling her eyebrows suggestively, seemingly forgetting all about my hellish history with Lisa.

"Not that kind of favor," I say on a groan. I'm not in the mood for her antics right now.

"Then what the hell would she want from you?"

"I wish I knew so I could practice the best way to shoot her down. If anyone should be asking for something, it should be me, asking her for an apology."

Jisoo lifts her glass in agreement. "You've got that right. So, what are you going to do?"

"Cross my fingers that she stays as far away from me as possible?" I say. "That's the only plan I've come up with so far."

She purses her lips, holding back a snicker. "Maybe we can get you a disguise. Like those glasses with the fake nose and mustache, oh maybe even a mullet wig."

Cue me nearly snorting frozen margarita out my nose. Leave it to Jisoo to make me laugh, even in the crappiest of situations.

"But, seriously," she says, refocusing. "I have to ask this and you've got to give me an honest answer because that's in the best friend code handbook. Do you still have feelings for her?"

I chew thoughtfully on my straw as I drain the last of my drink. It would have been easier if she'd asked me to explain physics to her, or come up with the meaning of life.

Do I still have feelings for Lisa Manoban? I certainly feel something toward her. Anger? Regret? And a whole lot of confusion. My emotions are more blended than this frozen margarita, and I can't tease them apart. There's only one I can identify for certain, and that's anger. So that's the one I'm going with.

"The only feelings I have toward her are strong ones of wanting to jam a screwdriver into her balls."

Jisoo smirks, then finishes her drink. "Well, that's that, then."

With our glasses empty and our stomachs full of chips and salsa, we pay the check and say our good-byes. I'm an early-night kind of gal with a one drink in public limit. That way, I can always drive home, and I'm never at risk of a parent spotting me in a less-than-flattering state. It's one of the many important teacher rules that they don't teach you in undergrad.

"Text me when you get home!" Jisoo calls across the parking lot.

I give her a thumbs-up and one last wave before we climb into our separate cars and head off—Jisoo toward her downtown apartment, and me to my one-bedroom condo south of the city. She's always preferred to be in the thick of things, whereas I'm a bit more partial to the peace and quiet. That and the proximity to the beach. I wasn't kidding when I said that my only plans this summer are to lie in the sand.

Once I'm back in the comfort of my condo, I shrug off my purse and head straight for my closet, ditching my teacher clothes for an oversized tee and fuzzy lounge shorts.

Yes, it's early and yes, I'm already in pajamas. Sue me for thinking an eight o'clock bedtime on a Friday night sounds awfully good after the day I've had.

With my teeth brushed and my skin-care routine complete, I grab my phone from my purse and head straight to bed. No lesson planning, no grading spelling tests, just scrolling mindlessly through social media until I fall asleep. I freaking love summer break.

But before I can begin this evening's mind-numbing scrolling, a notification stops me dead in my tracks. I have a missed call from an unknown number. And that zip code? I'm pretty dang sure it's from New York. Not only that, but there's a voice mail waiting for me.

My cheeks burn hotter than North Carolina in July as I work up the courage to hit PLAY, slowly lifting my phone to my ear. Please be a spam call, please be a spam call, please be a spam call.

That deep, familiar voice buzzes into my ear. "Hey, Jennie, it's Lisa. Give me a call when you get a chance. It'd be great if we could talk."

Click. Silence.

That's it. Just fifteen seconds. No real message, no explanation of what in the world is going on. Just the request that I call her back. A request that I'm going to deny.

If only I could deny the fact that the sound of her voice sent that same electricity dancing down my spine, just like it did all those years ago.

Damn it.