Ever After Us

Chapter 2: Now

Seven years.

It didn’t seem possible that so much time had passed, but Amelia’s life had a way of making years blur together. Days flowed into weeks, then into months, all marked by the same routine—teaching, grading, and repeating the same lessons she once believed in with the hope that maybe her students would, too.

But her easel, the one that used to hold so much of her heart, had remained untouched in the corner of her living room for years now. A ghost of who she used to be, buried beneath the dust of things she didn’t dare confront.

“Miss Reed?”

Amelia blinked and looked up from the pile of art supplies she was organizing. Her favorite student, Mila, stood there holding a canvas dripping with neon colors. It was a chaotic mess of greens, pinks, and something that looked suspiciously like glitter.

“Does this... look okay?” Mila’s eyes were wide, searching Amelia’s face for approval.

Amelia smiled, moving closer to inspect the canvas. "It looks like a rave exploded," she said, then gently added, "in a good way."

Mila grinned, her braces flashing under the fluorescent lights. “I was going for... loud.”

Amelia chuckled, shaking her head. "Mission accomplished."

She handed Mila a damp rag. “But maybe tone down the glitter a bit? It’s starting to look like your painting’s going to jump off the canvas and start a disco party.”

The bell rang, loud and final, signaling the end of class. A chorus of groans followed as students packed their bags, and the sound of scraping chairs filled the room. Mila shot Amelia a bright smile before running off to catch up with her friends, her canvas bouncing in her hands like a prized trophy.

As the students filtered out, Amelia let herself take a long breath. She enjoyed teaching, she really did. But sometimes, the contrast between what she taught and what she had once dreamed of doing herself was too stark to ignore.

She could still remember that last gallery opening—the rush, the excitement, the hope. The way Eli had looked at her like she was the most fascinating thing in the room. And she could remember just as clearly the way he’d looked at her the last time they spoke. Cold. Distant. A stranger.

Shaking her head to clear the thoughts, Amelia began tidying the classroom, picking up stray brushes and half-empty paint jars. The remnants of a chaotic class were oddly comforting—evidence that something, at least, had been created today.

The café smelled of freshly brewed coffee and caramelized pastries, a welcome contrast to the sharp scent of paint and acrylics that clung to Amelia’s clothes. It was her favorite hideaway, a small, cozy spot just a few blocks from the school, where she could sit by the window, sip a latte, and pretend for a little while that the world outside was uncomplicated.

She had settled into her usual seat, a novel open in front of her, when the door chimed softly. She barely noticed the sound, absorbed in the pages, but something made her look up. Maybe it was the quiet murmur that swept through the café or the way time seemed to slow down for just a moment.

There, framed by the door, was Elias Hunter.

Her breath caught in her throat. For a second, she thought she must be imagining things. Eli? Here?

But no, it was him. He looked... different. Older, sure, but more polished, if that was possible. His hair was shorter now, neatly trimmed, and his clothes were no longer the casual outfits of their younger days. He wore a tailored suit, the kind that screamed success without even trying. The kind that said, “I don’t need to prove anything.”

Amelia hadn’t seen him since... well, since everything fell apart. And now, here he was, standing in her sanctuary like some phantom of the past come back to haunt her. She quickly ducked her head, pulling her novel up to her face in a desperate attempt to disappear. Maybe he hadn’t seen her. Maybe—

“Amelia?”

The sound of his voice froze her. He’d spotted her. Of course he had. Elias always had a way of finding her, even when she didn’t want to be found.

She lowered her book slowly, forcing herself to look up and meet his gaze. His eyes, dark and thoughtful as ever, locked onto hers, and for a moment, they both just stared. Time stretched between them, thick and uncomfortable, like all the years they hadn’t spoken had suddenly settled into the space between their table and the door.

“Eli,” she said, the name coming out more as a breath than a greeting.

He gave her a small, hesitant smile, the kind that made him look more human and less... untouchable. “It’s been a while.”

Amelia nodded, trying to swallow the knot of emotions rising in her throat. “Yeah. A while.”

There was an awkward pause as Elias glanced around the café, like he wasn’t quite sure what to do next. Finally, he gestured toward the empty seat across from her. “Mind if I join you?”

Her first instinct was to say no, to invent some excuse about needing to leave or how she was in the middle of something. But her curiosity—damn her curiosity—got the better of her.

“Sure,” she heard herself say, and then immediately regretted it.

Eli slid into the chair, sitting across from her as if no time had passed at all. But it had, hadn’t it? So much had happened since the last time they sat together, and yet here they were, trying to make sense of something that didn’t have an easy answer.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” he said, his voice soft, almost cautious. It wasn’t like him to be cautious. Elias was always so sure, so confident, so... Eli.

“I live here,” Amelia said with a shrug, as if that explained everything.

His brow furrowed. “Here? In this town?”

She nodded. “Teaching at the middle school. Art.” The words felt flat, even to her. They sounded nothing like the passionate artist she used to be. But that was her life now, wasn’t it? Safe. Predictable.

He blinked, a flicker of surprise passing over his face. “Teaching? I didn’t think—” He caught himself, then quickly amended, “I didn’t know you wanted to teach.”

Amelia smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Neither did I.”

Another awkward pause settled between them. Eli drummed his fingers lightly on the table, his gaze drifting to the window for a moment. Outside, the town moved on, blissfully unaware of the storm brewing between two people who once thought they could weather anything.

“I’m back in town for a bit,” he said, finally breaking the silence. “Business.”

Of course. It was always business with Eli. Even when they were together, business had been his first love, his greatest passion. Maybe that was why it hurt so much when he had chosen it over her.

Amelia swallowed the lump in her throat. “Right. That makes sense.”

She hadn’t meant for her voice to sound so bitter, but there it was, hanging in the air between them. Eli shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and for the first time since he walked in, she saw something like guilt flicker in his eyes.

“I—” he started, then stopped, running a hand through his hair. “I didn’t mean for things to... end the way they did.”

There it was. The unspoken thing between them. The breakup. The wound they had both tried to pretend didn’t still hurt.

“Neither did I,” Amelia said quietly, her fingers tightening around her coffee cup.

For a moment, they were both silent, the weight of their shared history pressing down on them. So much had been left unsaid between them, and now it felt like there was too much to say, too many years of silence to break.

“I’ve missed you,” Eli said softly, his voice barely audible above the hum of the café.

Amelia felt her heart stumble at his words. She hadn’t expected him to say that, not after all this time. Not after everything.

“I’ve missed you too,” she admitted, her voice small and hesitant, but honest.

Eli looked at her then, really looked at her, and for the first time in years, Amelia felt like she wasn’t just a ghost to him. Like maybe, just maybe, they could find a way to talk about what had happened. To finally confront the pain they had both been running from for so long.

But even as the thought crossed her mind, a part of her wondered if it was too late. If too much had changed. If they had become strangers, lost in the years that had pulled them apart.

The truth was, Amelia didn’t know. But sitting there, across from Eli, she realized she wasn’t sure if she was ready to find out.