Chapter 3: Lonely

Walking across the bar, her heels clicking against the floorboards, posture straight, perfect smile, and people looking at her with admiration, envy and some intimidated, Capri remained unnerved, unbothered, all from years of experience and perfecting the art. But beneath her polished exterior, her heart was pounding like a war drum in her chest.

Chyler hadn't changed so much in terms of appearance. She was still that tomboy chic— still sharp-jawed, still eye-piercing, still wearing that quiet strength like armor. She was however more confident and more solid, no longer that scrappy teenager Capri had dared to kiss in highschool. She was something more— something drawing. And God help her, she still felt it.

The butterflies, the curling warmth in her stomach and chest each time she saw her, angry and alive threatening to expose her lifelong front.

She sat down beside the animated guy that Chy was with. Brian, as he had introduced himself. He was looking at her with wide-eyed amusement, like he was in the front row of live drama. Chy's expression on the other hand was unreadable and she hated how much that unnerved her.

"You look good," Capri said finally. It wasn't small talk like at the mall and it was honest.

Chyler tilted her head. "You look expensive."

Capri laughed, short, surprised but warm. "Fair."

They lapsed into silence for a few seconds before Capri leaned in slightly. "How have you been? Have you lived in the City long?"

The question stung but Chyler nodded. "Never left. I joined the force like six years ago? I've been working at Sycamore PD since then."

"Currently suspended," Brye jumped in, saying it like it wasn't a big deal. Chyler shot him a piercing gaze that almost sent him crawling under the booth, while Capri's curiosity shot up.

"Suspended?" Capri raised a brow, genuinely intrigued.

"Long story." Chyler shrugged like it didn't matter but there was a flicker of frustration behind her eyes. "I have a habit of doing the right thing the wrong way."

Capri smiled. That sounded exactly like the Chy she remembered. The one who stood up for justice, who walked out of class when a teacher was unfair, the one who once looked at her dead in the eye and told her she wasn't living her truth. Capri had been seventeen and terrified. And she had run away from that truth.

She could still see the way Chy's face had fallen, how she had nodded like she had expected her rejection all along. Capri had gone back to her friends, her boyfriend and her perfect image. Chyler had never brought it up again but Capri had never forgotten. She swallowed hard, shifting in her seat.

"So... the reunion?"

"I don't think so," Chyler said coolly.

Capri gave a tight smile. "Why not? You are not working."

Brye slurped his drink hard from a straw, sneaking a look at Chyler over the rim of his glass. At that moment, Caden's voice called out from a few steps. "Capri, we are heading out."

Capri stood slowly. "Well, I should go." Then, to Chyler's surprise, Capri leaned forward, resting her hand lightly on the table. "I'd love to catch up some more," she said softly. "Don't miss the reunion, okay?" She hesitated the added, "Please."

It hung in the air, fragile and sincere. Chyler's pulse went haywire, her gaze alternating between Capri's hand on the table and briefly on her face. Then, Capri walked away without waiting for an answer.

"Girl, if your heart beats any faster, I'm calling a priest not a doctor." Chyler let out a long labored breath, snapping herself back. "That, was out of this world intense!"

"We kissed in highschool," she murmured. "Then she told that it was a mistake, went to become Miss Sycamore High alongside her now husband, Prom King Caden Channing."

Brye winced. "Yikes!"

"Yeah." She sighed and stared hard at her drink, her heart doing somersaults in her chest.

★★★

Capri ended up at a club downtown with too many TVs and way too many of Caden's old and new football buddies. She sat through another night of forced laughter, her cocktail barely touched. Caden was in his element— loud, surrounded by the echoes of a time when he was king. She on the other hand was fading with each passing minute, forgotten even when sitting right beside him.

He didn't touch her hand. He didn't ask if she was okay and didn't even notice when she excused herself and sat in the bathroom for ten minutes just to breathe.

By the time they stumbled back to the hotel room, Capri's feet ached in her heels, all from having to support a dead drunk Caden to their room. Her head throbbed from all the noise at the club and Caden collapsed onto the bed face first without even looking her way. She stood there for a long moment, watching him snore into the overpriced hotel pillows. This was her life.

She peeled off her dress in silence, took a shower and then slipped into a nightgown. She lay beside him in the dark, the city lights casting shadows across the ceiling. Her chest ached in ways she couldn't begin to describe and her thoughts were already slipping somewhere else.

Chyler. The old locker room. The heat of the stolen kiss that she never felt with the man who was snoring beside her. Then to the way she had looked at her today. Not with judgement, but with distance. Capri blinked hard then reached for her phone.

Her fingers hovered above Instagram for a beat too long before she tapped the search bar. @chylerlee. The profile popped up among the first. Chyler Lee. SPD. Dog Mom (RIP Puffy). Capri's heart twisted at the last bit. She scrolled through the page, admiring photos of Chyler and her deceased dog, then tapped follow and waited. Before she could talk herself out of it, she typed.

"Hi."

Her heart hammered as the message went through and for the first time in years, she felt like she was doing something real.