CHAPTER ONE

The Call

The sound of Eli Goldsworthy's phone ringing shattered the stillness of his apartment. It was an unfamiliar noise in the dead of night, pulling him out of the haze of half-sleep. The dim light from the streetlamps outside cast shadows across the room, and Eli squinted at the screen. Drew Torres—a name he hadn't seen in months, maybe even years. Not since the last time the band had almost reformed before everything fell apart again—a constant cycle of hope, and then failure.

With a deep groan, he rubbed his eyes and answered the phone. "Drew? It's late." His voice was rough, thick with the remnants of sleep and too many late-night musings about the past.

Drew's voice on the other end was shaky, strangled. "Eli... Adam's gone."

Eli's heart skipped a beat, the words not immediately sinking in. His stomach twisted, and he sat up, his mind racing. "What do you mean, gone?"

There was a long pause. The silence on the other end was heavy, suffocating. "He's gone. Car accident. Didn't make it." Drew's voice cracked like fragile glass, speaking only bursts of words at once since he could barely form coherent sentences. "The funeral's in a few days. We're all getting together."

The room seemed to tilt as Eli processed the words. He didn't move at first—couldn't. Adam. The guy who had stood by him through the darkest times, even when Eli was too stubborn to accept help. The guy who never once turned his back on him, despite all the mistakes Eli had made. His best friend.

His mind raced through fragments of memories: Adam's wide, goofy grin, the way he'd always known how to break the tension when things got too heavy, his tireless energy that had kept the band alive through the worst of their conflicts. Adam was the glue that held them together, and now that glue was gone.

Eli's breath caught in his throat. His voice was barely a whisper when he finally spoke. "Yeah… yeah, I'll be there."

The call ended abruptly. Eli sat there in silence, his hand still gripping the phone, his chest tight. His thoughts spiralled, tumbling over themselves, ricocheting off his guilt. He should've stayed in better touch with Adam. He should've made more of an effort to reach out, to keep the friendship alive. But life had gotten in the way, and somewhere along the line, they had all grown apart. Adam had called about a month ago and Eli remembered sending it off to voicemail. A voicemail that was long and winded about what was the point of having a phone if he was never going to pick it up.

His gaze drifted to the bottle of whiskey sitting on the shelf across the room. He wasn't drinking anymore, but tonight, he felt that old temptation pull at him. Adam would have been the one person who could've talked him down from this. Adam would have told him to keep his head up, to keep moving forward. But now…

Eli ran a hand through his hair, feeling the familiar weight of regret. The band. His friends. They were all scattered now—fractured. But Adam, through it all, had stayed hopeful, had believed in a reunion. Eli had never quite shared that belief.

The thought of seeing everyone again, all the unresolved emotions from the past bubbling to the surface, made his stomach churn. But he knew he had to go. Not just for Adam. For himself.

He also knew he needed a drink.

Clare Edwards stared at her phone, her thumb hovering over the screen. Alli was calling. At this hour? Clare's chest tightened. She didn't get late-night calls anymore. Not from Alli. Not from anyone. Her life had become quiet, predictable.

With a soft sigh, Clare answered. "Alli? Is everything okay?" Her voice was tentative, her mind already running through the worst possible scenarios.

There was a long silence on the other end before Alli spoke, her voice thick with emotion. "Clare, it's Adam. He's gone. There was an accident. He didn't make it."

The words hit Clare like a punch to the gut. Adam. Her old friend. The one who had always kept the peace, who had encouraged her to go after her dreams even when she thought she didn't deserve them. Adam had been the glue that held the group together when everything else fell apart.

"Gone?" Clare repeated numbly, her mind struggling to process the news. "What happened?"

"Car accident," Alli's voice faltered. "I know… I know this is hard, Clare, but the funeral's in a few days. We're all getting together. Tell me you're coming?"

Clare squeezed her eyes shut, biting her lip. She wasn't sure she could handle it. Facing the people she had left behind, dredging up memories she'd buried so deep. And then there was KC, her ex-fiancé, who she hadn't seen since their breakup. A breakup that had fractured her own sense of identity, leaving her unsure of who she was outside of the relationship. What if he showed? What is another brooding someone showed?

"I don't know," Clare whispered. "I haven't seen any of you in so long… I don't know if I can—"

"You don't have to go if you don't want to," Alli interjected softly. "But Adam… he was our friend. He'd want you to be there."

Clare's heart clenched in her chest. Alli was right. Adam would've wanted her to be there. But could she handle it? Could she face the ghosts of her past? The life she had walked away from.

"I'll think about it," Clare said quietly, hanging up the phone without another word.

She sat in the quiet of her room, feeling the weight of the decision pressing down on her. The news of Adam's death had cracked open a door she'd long since shut. She couldn't help but think of everything she had left behind—her friends, her relationship with Eli that had burned out, the promises she'd made to herself.

Her gaze fell to the bookshelf across the room, where a few old photos of the group still rested, memories of a time that seemed so far away. Adam's face smiled back at her from one of them, his arms around her and Eli, their faces full of youthful hope. That was before everything got complicated, before love turned toxic, before Adam's life was reduced to a memory.

Clare picked up one of the photos, her fingers tracing the edges. Would it be too painful to attend? Would it be too painful to stay away? She didn't know anymore.

Eli leaned back against the couch, staring at the ceiling, the hum of the city outside the only sound in the room. He thought of all the conversations he'd had with Adam over the years. Adam had never given up on him, never stopped believing that things could get better. Eli had, at times, doubted it.

But now, as he thought of Adam's smile, the undeniable warmth of his friendship, he couldn't help but wonder: Could Adam have made a difference? Could he have kept the band together? Could he have stopped Eli from making so many of the same mistakes?

But it didn't matter anymore. Adam was gone.

Eli took a deep breath, feeling the weight of it all settle in his chest, or maybe it was the whiskey reentering his system after so long. He wasn't sure what he was supposed to feel. Grief. Anger. Regret. Maybe all of them.

But one thing was certain: He had to face his past.

Clare sat up in bed, the weight of the decision pressing on her chest. There was no easy way to answer the question—no simple path to follow. But as the night stretched on, she knew one thing for sure: the funeral was a reckoning.

A reckoning with her past, with the people she had once loved, and with the woman she had become.

She had no choice. She had to go.

The call had come. Adam was gone. And she was about to confront everything she had tried so hard to leave behind.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Next chapter soon.