"Hey Emma." Troy said quietly.

"What are you doing here?"

"I, uh, I don't know. I just… I wanted to see you."

"What so after 2 years you think the best thing to do is climb in my bedroom window?"

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking…" Emma said nothing. She didn't want to yell at him because it wouldn't solve anything, but she was pretty angry with him. Quietly she began to speak.

"Did you ever even think to call me?"

"Everyday. Every single day. But I was scared."

"Why?"

"I was alone Emma. I needed to think that someone still cared about me. I didn't know if u did or not. But not knowing, and just hoping, is better than knowing for sure you hated me."

"I don't hate you."

"You don't."

"No. I hated that I let you get close to me, because of how much I hurt when I found out about what had happened." Troy nodded and sunk his gaze. He was so ashamed of his actions.

"I uh, I don't expect you to forgive me: I just wanted to see you." Troy still didn't meet her gaze. "Do you want to go for ice cream?"

"That depends…" Troy looked up, bewildered that she hadn't flat out refused.

"On what?"

"Are you buying?"

"Yeeesss."

"Then I'm eating." Emma yelled out to her parents that she was going to sleep and then shut her door. Troy climbed out the window and lifted Emma out after him and the two set off down the road to the ice cream parlour. They were both silent on the walk; neither knowing what to say to break the awkward silence. Finally, Troy spoke.

"I went and visited my mum yesterday. She said you and Gabi were pretty tight." Emma nodded.

"After you left she decided to give me a chance. Then she introduced me to all her friends. But uh, she's changed a lot in the last two years. Sometimes when she says something I feel like I don't know her at all anymore. I grew up earlier than her, because I had to deal with things that are beyond the mind of a child. But we all change as we grow. We grew apart… It's not all bad though. Some people grow closer as they get older, and that has become true for me of Kelsie and Ryan. There's more to them than people usually look for." Troy nodded. He knew this was true. Although he had never become incredibly close personally to either of them, he had always respected Ryan for his true and honest nature, and always loved Kelsie for her gentle warmth and fierce loyalty.

Again they fell into the silence of their own thoughts. They reached the ice cream parlour and sat down inside on the long bar, looking out the glass windows in front of them which oversaw the promenade. They ate in silence until Troy began to talk.

"How's Gavin?"

"He's good. Really good actually. He got a full soccer scholarship to a really great collage in Ohio. He loves it. Next month he's going to Italy to play. I'm really proud of him. But I miss him. And… he misses you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Some people just I click I guess. And I think he felt that with you." Troy nodded slowly, letting it sink in, and realising for the first time that he really missed Gavin too.

"How often does he come home?"

"Not much. Whenever he can. But he's on a really tight training schedule, especially as Italy is coming up."

"It must be hard on you." Emma nodded, looking down at her icecream as she poked it with her spoon.

"It is. He's my best friend in the whole world… But he wants this. And so I want this for him. He deserves it." Troy nodded understandingly. After a short pause, Emma spoke. "How did you end up in San Antonio?" Troy swallowed a mouthful of icecream.

"I uh, well the night that I left I ran to the highway and ended up hitching a ride from this truckie who was headed to Santa Fe. Anyway, the guy was drunk. I don't remember his name. We got in an accident and while I was unconscious they checked my wallet for ID and found my fakie."

"Yeah I remember. Trey Parker from San Antonio. I should have known."

"Haha yeah well, anyway. They took me there, thinking all my medical records and all would be there. And I just ended up staying there. It wasn't a bad place. I'm glad to be back though. I didn't think I ever would be. But tonight I am." Emma smiled at him. It was small. But he saw it. It was there. She softly began to talk.

"Every year in the fall, I would dream that the unsettled voice inside you had grown silent, and that you might again come to live in the world. But then the winter would come ... and then another spring. And still you stayed away… I wrote you."

"You wrote me?"

"I wrote you 792 letters. I wrote you everyday that you were gone, until last week." She pulled out of her bag another scrapbook. This one even fuller than the last he had seen. In it was every letter she had written him, everything she had felt, and the tears she had cried. He took it from her, feeling the weight of it: not just in a physical sense, as he knew he was holding her soul in his hands which she had poured out so freely in each letter that she had no where to send.

"Why did you stop?"

"I lost faith in you. I didn't think you would remember me. Let alone, ever come back… I don't begrudge you that. These letters, writing them, it kept me sane. And alive. You were my diary; only you were real to me. Because of this, I would always hate you, because I would always love you."

"Oh Em, I am not fool enough to try to alter a life already lived. But I feel I have not done well trying to make my own decisions in this life. Making the mistakes was easy. Righting them seems infinitely harder." Emma nodded. But then left to go to the ladies. Troy opened the book of letters to the very last page. The very last letter Emma had written to him.

"My Dearest Troy,

I couldn't sleep last night because I know that it's over between us. I'm not bitter anymore, because I know that what we had was real. And if in some distant place in the future we see each other in our new lives, I'll smile at you with joy and remember how we spent the summer beneath the trees, learning from each other and growing in love.

The best love is the kind that awakens the soul and makes us reach for more, that plants a fire in our hearts and brings peace to our minds, and that's what you've given me. That's what I hope to give to you forever.

I love you. I'll be seeing you.

Emma"

Troy closed the book, willing the tears in his eyes not to fall down his face. But in the face of his own shame, he could not control that which is a most primal instinct. When Emma returned, she saw a pale Troy, with tears on his face, staring out the window. She took a moment to observe him, just as he was. In her own mind, she had built him up. Troy, who had the strength to save her, and the strength to come and go in and out of her heart as he pleased. But here she saw him for what he really was. He was merely a boy. A very confused child who tried too hard to grow up before him time. And now he sat, overwhelmed and exhausted, at a loss to his next move, and mourning the days when all was placed before him at his feet. She walked over to him and took his hand.

"Come on. Let's walk. You can show me where you're staying."

HEY GUYS, IM REALLY SORRY THIS IS SO INCREDIBLY SHORT BUT I WANTED TO POST IT CUZ I HAVENT POSTED IN A WHILE N I LEFT U GUYS WITH A CLIFFY. I START MY END OF SCHOOL FINALS ON FRIDAY SO THAT'S WHY I HAVENT BEEN POSTING CUZ IVE BEEN STUDYING. ALL REVIEWS WELCOME AND APPRECIATED! PEACE OUT XOX