Serena

"Oh my God, I'm so proud of you. This is amazing!" I shouted, whilst hugging Miguel.

My feet were off the ground, as I hugged his tall figure.

His tanned skin looked a lot more bronzer since coming back, which made his blue eyes shine brighter. It only made him look a lot more handsome.

"Thank you, baby," he said, giving me a kiss on the cheek, once he'd set me on the ground.

Sara was then the next person to hug him.

"Honestly, Miguel this is amazing," she gushed.

He waved us off. "You both are too much."

When I spotted Chris, I ran over to him, practically jumping on his back, causing him to stumble forward, and then laugh.

"You're back!" I practically yelled, tightening my hold on him, before letting go.

As soon as I did, he turned around and wrapped me up in a bear hug.

"I've missed you, Chris. You're not allowed to go away for so long anymore," I whined.

Chris had gotten himself a tan too, but not as strong as I expected. I wouldn't be surprised if he was avoiding the sun and instead spending his time in front of the computer, messing about or creating things.

"I've missed you too, Serena," he said, kissing the top of my head.

He pulled away from me, to hug Sara, who was muttering some things in Spanish, which we didn't really know if they were pleasantries or curses.

"I actually have been gone really long. You have a ring on your finger-" he said to me and then looked at Sara, "-and you're now pregnant," he said and we both laughed.

Sara frowned. "I know, we're old now. Gross," she shuddered.

"Speak for yourself," I scoffed, earning a smack from her.

I was by the doorway, waiting on Will to get here, since he was running a little late after closing the cafe.

Instead of him, I saw two other familiar faces.

"Hey, you both made it," I smiled, seeing Liam and Bea, dressed in their best evening wear.

Liam wore a suit, black blazer and white shirt, whilst Bea wore her own black dress, matching him.

"Bumblebee, you look so beautiful," I said, crouching down to hug the girl.

She blushed at my words. "Thank you. You look pretty too."

I kissed her nose, earning a giggle from her. "Aren't you the sweetest?" I cooed, and Bea nodded her head agreeing with me.

Looking up, I saw Liam smiling at me.

"Hey," he greeted.

I straightened up and smiled back at him. "Hey. I'm glad you came. You're going to love this," I told him.

Liam looked confused but just nodded anyway.

I motioned for him to follow me and did so, holding onto Bea's hand securely and gently tugging her along.

Grinning to myself, I tapped on Chris' shoulder. When he turned around, he smiled, before the expression morphed into one of pure shock, when he noticed who was behind me.

"No fucking way. Oh my God," Chris said.

I quickly moved out of the way and let Chris hug Liam, who also shared the same shocked expression.

Letting the two of them talk and share the surprise of seeing each other again, I walked back to the entrance, quickly spotting Will who was just walking in.

"Hey, beautiful," he grinned, walking over and giving me a kiss on the temple.

"Hi," I smiled and held his hand, as we walked back to out friends.

Chris and Liam were still talking to one another, I guess catching up, whilst Bea was just looking up at the two of them.

When I walked towards her, she turned to look at me and grinned.

"Will, you remember Bea," I said.

He smiled. "Of course," he said and then bowed slightly for her, "Your highness," he curtsied, which caused her giggle.

I then saw Sara and Danny approach us and I quickly mouthed, 'be nice', in his direction, knowing that he'd see Liam.

"Hey, Liam. You remember Sara and Danny, right?" I said, and he nodded.

"Of course. How are you guys?" He said and then looked surprised when Sara pulled him into a hug.

"Oh my God. It's like a high school reunion right now. I'm so happy," she sniffled.

I gave her a weird look and then glanced back at Liam, who seemed really confused.

"Excuse her, she's been a little emotional lately," I told him.

Sara glared at me. "I'm allowed to be, I have crazy pregnancy hormones."

I rolled my eyes at her. "You've said that before, when you weren't even pregnant."

Will let out a laugh at my words, but that turned into a cough, when Sara's death stare landed onto him.

"But I could've been," she snapped back.

"Congratulations," Liam interrupted us, looking at both Sara and Danny, who was staring him down a little.

Sara smiled. "Thank you."

Her eyes then looked down towards Bea, who was holding onto the edge of Liam's blazer, with a curious look on her chubby little face.

"And who's this little one?" Sara asked.

Liam looked down at Bea, with a proud expression on his face. "This will be Beatrice, my daughter," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, she is just everything," Sara said, so happily and I could even see Danny's face soften seeing her.

"Hi, sweetie," Sara said.

Bea grinned back. "Hi!"

Whilst everyone talked and caught up with one another, Danny then took that moment to pull me aside.

"So you guys are friends again?" He asked. He had his arms crossed, staring down at me like a Dad.

I sighed, "Danny-"

"Has he even apologised?" Danny asked, cutting me off.

"He did," I replied.

Danny raised a brow, he was definitely skeptical of that. "For everything?" He questioned.

"For what he knows he did wrong, yes," I said.

Danny rolled his eyes. "So not for everything," he stated. "God, Serena, he's made you cry countless times," he reminded me.

I shook my head. "I can't expect him to apologise for he doesn't even know he did."

Those times when we were teenagers and I would be in tears, it wasn't really anyone's fault, I couldn't place blame. I couldn't be mad at Liam and Julie for being in love, they weren't even aware of my feelings and that was how I wanted it.

"Just be careful, yeah?" Danny said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I tilted my head at him. "Of?"

"Come off it, cupcake-" he scoffed, "-you may not realise this, but you still look at him like he holds your heart."

My face scrunched up. "I do not," I denied. "Besides, I have Will," I said, glancing over to my fiancé, who was talking to Miguel.

"I just don't want you hurt, okay? I actually care about you a little bit," Danny then said, gesturing with his thumb and finger, how little he cares. Liar.

It was really weird seeing a picture of yourself hung up at an exhibition.

I barely ever posted on social media, since I would forget to or I was just not sure if it actually was a good picture, and that post would be too big of a commitment to me.

However, a picture at an exhibition, now that was something else.

It wasn't a picture you could archive or delete, mainly because you promised your friends' boyfriend he could use it, which I now regretted.

"It's really nice."

I jumped a little at the voice.

Looking to my side, I saw Liam trying to stifle his laughter.

"You startled me," I stated the obvious, still with a hand placed against my chest.

Liam gave me a fake, apologetic look. "Sorry," he didn't even try to sound convincing, which annoyingly made me smile, rather than get mad.

He then looked at the picture I had been staring at.

"I didn't know your picture was going to be up as well. Are there more?" He asked, turning back towards me.

I shook my head frantically. "Oh, God. No. I allowed Miguel to only display one picture. Although I'm pretty sure he has more, but my deal was only one was allowed."

Whenever we hung out, Miguel always brought his camera, since in his words, 'there are always moments happening and someone needs to capture them, so I'm always working'.

This picture was taken during one of those moments.

"You should've said yes to more," Liam said.

I let out a little laugh. "The idea of having my face plastered around this gallery is a little...disconcerting."

Liam then looked back at the picture, as did I. "Where was this taken?"

"This was Danny's birthday. Sara planned a rooftop bar kind of thing for his party and Miguel got this candid shot of me," I told him.

Sara wanted to earn some extra brownie points as a girlfriend, since Danny's last birthday before that, she nearly set the kitchen on fire. So, she booked this amazing place, and we had a great night there.

The picture Miguel had taken, was of me peering over the balcony as the sun was setting. The sky was looking golden, and the light was on my face, making my brown eyes sparkle even brighter. He got the perfect shot.

"It's beautiful," Liam said.

I couldn't help but let out an unattractive snort at his words. "I'm not going to pay you for compliments."

"I'm serious, Rena," Liam said, and I turned to see him giving me an intense look.

I couldn't tell if he was talking about the picture or me, but I just gave him a smile, one which he returned.

Liam

I couldn't help but watch as Rena held Bea in her arms, the two of them looking at one of the pictures hung on the wall, laughing with each other.

Rena didn't care about her dress getting creased holding Bea, instead she was fixing Bea's outfit.

The sight of them, filled my heart with some weird, warm, fuzzy kind of feeling.

A feeling I hadn't experienced in a very long time.

"She's really something, isn't she?" I was snapped out of my thoughts by a voice and looked to my side, to see Chris stood next to me.

"What?" I asked, as I took the champagne flute from his hand that he was offering.

Chris then nodded towards the direction that Serena and Bea were in. "Serena, she's pretty special," he said.

I looked back at her and I couldn't help the smile that develop on my face. "She is," the true words just slipped out.

"Can I ask you something?" Chris questioned and I turned to him. "Don't take it the wrong way or anything," he added, looking a little unsure.

I shook my head. "I won't. Go ahead."

He paused for a moment, "How did you never fall for Serena?"

His question took me aback and I'm pretty sure my confusion was written on my face, since Chris spoke up again.

"I mean, you guys were neighbours and... I don't know, I just thought that maybe there would be something between you both. You know, she was the girl next door, you were the boy next door, is that not generally how love stories go?" Chris then said, leaving me a little speechless.

Rena and I were neighbours whilst growing up since I moved into the house next to hers, and although I became a crappy friend in-between that period, we became friends again after.

"Um, no. I don't-...she's my friend-" I began to say, a stutter getting the best of me, "-and I was with Julie."

Chris then chuckled, shaking his head gently. "Sorry, I'm probably talking out my ass right now," he said.

Just when I was about to say it was alright, he carried on.

"Back in high school, I thought eventually something would happen between you guys," he said.

"You did?" I asked in surprise, I felt my eyes might have gone comically wide at this point.

"A few of us did, even Holden," Chris told me and I felt like the air was sucked out of my lungs.

Our friends back in high school thought that something would develop between Rena and I? That's just...I have no words. Even Holden? He was dating her, why would he think that there would be something between us?

Was I missing something?

"I thought she liked you, especially when she had on that bracelet you gave her and wore it throughout college," Chris laughed and I snapped my head towards him so fast, I swear I nearly developed whiplash.

"She wore that in college?" I asked him.

Chris nodded. "Not everyday, but quite often. I'm not even sure when she stopped."

"I didn't know," my voice came out a little low, as I was just trying to process it all.

I can't believe she still has that thing, or that she continued to wear it after, for so long.

I remember when I bought Julie a pair of earrings from my first real job, and she wasn't so keen on the design of them, but would wear it for me on special occasions. I thought the bracelet would be like that for Serena.

That was my gift to Serena for always being there when we were teenagers. I just thought it would just end up being something laying in her jewellery box.

"She was so possessive of it. To be honest, it was kind of funny," Chris mentioned and then laughed. "Oh, there was even that toy elephant."

"She had that, too?" I asked, a little chuckle escaping me this time.

That was something I brought back Rena, after I went on my first date with Julie. Also because Rena's favourite animal was an elephant. I'm pretty sure she named it Peanut, if I remember correctly.

"You really didn't know this?" Chris asked me, his brows raised in surprise.

I shook my head. "Um, no. Communication between us hasn't been so great in the last few years," I said, which was a really vague version of what happened.

Chris's mouth opened and close for a second, before he cleared his throat. "Oh, sorry. I didn't know. I just thought she told you this."

"No, we didn't really speak for a while," I told him, a sad smile on my face, thinking about all those years we lost.

"Wow, that's so weird. You guys used to be so close," Chris remarked.

I looked in the direction Rena was, "We were."

Miguel, then came to where Chris and I stood, placing a kiss on Chris's cheek, causing him to blush slightly.

He was still so bashful, which reminded me of how he was back in high school. From our group of boys, he was the quiet, shy one, but definitely the smart one.

"What are we discussing?" He asked the two of us.

"Nothing, just talking about the old days," Chris smiled at his boyfriend.

Miguel then looked at me. "So, Liam, are you single?" He asked and I nearly choked on my drink at the sudden question.

"Miguel," Chris said, a little in scolding tone.

He scoffed in response. "I'm not asking for me, Chris. There are some real lovely ladies here I could introduce him to," Miguel then told me and I let out a little chuckle.

Chris looked at me, giving me an apologetic smile "I am sorry about that."

For some reason, a red tinge of colour developed on his face, when I was so sure it should be me looking a little flustered right now.

"It's fine," I waved off his concern. "Thank you for the offer, but I'm not really looking," I told him politely.

"Have you ever thought about it, though?" Chris asked, looking curious and I raised a brow at him. "You know, finding someone, since Julie...?" He trailed off and I knew what he meant.

He looked uncomfortable by his own question and I could tell he was about to apologise for what he asked, but I spoke up before he could.

"Not really. My world is Bea now, I haven't really thought about someone else," I told him.

For a long time, it's just been Bea and I. We formed our own little perfect world with just the two of us.

Of course, there were my parents and our friends, but at the end of the day, when we came home, we just had each other.

"You know, before I met Chris, I had a boyfriend in high school and I lost him too," Miguel started to say and his words surprised me, but Chris was giving him a smile, which told me he already knew of this.

Miguel then continued. "Those were the darkest days in my life and my college life did suffer because of it. I became a bit reckless. I thought I'd never be with someone, or just never want to be with someone, until I met Chris."

He smiled towards Chris, holding onto his hand. You could just tell how much they loved each other.

Miguel looked back to me, still with a smile on his face. "The best time to find someone else, is when you're not even looking. Your world right now is just you and your daughter, but trust me, someone will enter your world without you even realising it. Someone, that will get your heart racing again and then you'll never wanna let them go."

"Wise words, Miguel," Chris said, causing him to receive a wink from Miguel.

"I try, babe," he replied back.

Chris looked back at me, with that curious look. "So, anyone like that enter your life, Liam?"

I shook my head and they just smiled politely.

I had only recently started to mend myself, I wasn't think about finding or looking for anyone else. I could understand what Miguel meant, but maybe he was just lucky. I don't think there was anyone else for me.

As I sipped on my champagne, my gaze drifted over towards the other side of the gallery.

Rena was now holding onto Bea's hand, as my daughter was telling Will, Sara and Danny something, her face animated as she spoke, and her free hand waving about.

I smiled at the view, my chest filling up with some weird kind of warmth.

Suddenly, Rena turned her head slightly, as if she could feel my eyes on her.

She looked over her shoulder, a confused emotion on her face as she scanned the room, but then her eyes caught mine, and she gave me a full-blown smile, one that reached her eyes.

In that moment, I could feel my heart begin to race, the beats becoming more frequent. My hands even became a little sweaty and my throat felt dry.

I had to look away from her.

What the hell was that?