C1 Third year?
Three years was a long time.
At least, that was what Sierra West had always told herself.
Long enough to forget someone's voice.
Long enough to stop remembering the way they smiled.
Long enough for a person who had once occupied nearly every thought in your head to become nothing more than a name buried somewhere in the past.
Or so she thought.
“Sierra!”
She looked up from her laptop.
Her coworker stood beside her desk, holding a folder against her chest.
“Are you listening to me?”
Sierra blinked and glanced at the screen in front of her.
“Sorry. What?”
“I asked if you finished the report.”
Sierra looked down at the document she'd been working on.
“Yes.”
Her coworker raised an eyebrow.
“You've been staring at that same page for five minutes.”
“I was thinking.”
“About the report?”
“Obviously.”
The woman gave her a skeptical look before walking away.
Sierra smiled faintly to herself.
She hadn't been thinking about the report.
She'd been thinking about dinner.
More specifically, whether she had enough energy to go.
Elizabeth had been asking her all week.
Dinner.
Saturday.
Nothing complicated.
Just family and a few friends.
Sierra had already said no twice.
Then Elizabeth had called again that morning.
Please, Sierra.
That was how she'd gotten her.
Her sister knew exactly how to make her feel guilty.
Sierra leaned back in her chair and glanced at the time.
5:18 p.m.
She had officially survived another day.
She shut her laptop and gathered her things.
Her phone buzzed.
Elizabeth.
Sierra answered.
“Hello?”
“You're coming tonight, right?”
Sierra sighed.
“Hello to you too.”
“That's not an answer.”
“I told you I'd try.”
“No. You said you'd think about it.”
“Which is basically the same thing.”
“It absolutely isn't.”
Sierra laughed quietly as she walked toward the exit.
“You're very dramatic.”
“And you're very difficult.”
“I learned from you.”
“Don't blame me for your personality.”
Sierra shook her head.
“How's Chris?”
“Still alive. Barely.”
“That bad?”
“He's been helping Peter with something all afternoon.”
Sierra stopped walking for a moment.
“Peter's there?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh.”
She hadn't meant for the word to sound strange.
Elizabeth noticed anyway.
“Why did you say it like that?”
“Like what?”
“Like you just heard bad news.”
“I didn't.”
“Okay.”
There was a pause.
Then Elizabeth said casually, “Alex is here too.”
Sierra stopped again.
This time, she couldn't hide it.
The noise of the office around her seemed to fade for a moment.
Her fingers tightened slightly around the phone.
“Alex?”
“Yes.”
Sierra stared at the glass doors ahead of her.
Three years.
Three years since she'd heard that name spoken casually.
Three years since she'd heard his voice.
She swallowed.
“Oh.”
There was silence on the other end.
Elizabeth didn't say anything.
She didn't have to.
Sierra could already imagine the expression on her sister's face.
“You didn't tell me he was coming.”
“I didn't know until today.”
“Right.”
“You don't have to come.”
Sierra looked toward the doors again.
For a brief moment, something old stirred inside her.
Something she had spent three years convincing herself was dead.
She pushed it down.
“I'll come.”
Elizabeth was quiet for a second.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
Sierra forced a smile even though Elizabeth couldn't see it.
“I'll see you later.”
“Okay. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
The call ended.
Sierra lowered the phone.
Alex.
She hadn't seen him in three years.
And somehow, hearing his name still did something to her.
She hated that.
She had moved on.
She had a job.
A life.
Friends.
Responsibilities.
She had become someone who didn't wait around for people who had already decided they didn't want her.
Especially him.
So why did her heart feel like it had forgotten that lesson?
---
By the time Sierra arrived at the house, the evening had already started.
She stepped inside and immediately heard laughter coming from the living room.
“Sierra!”
Elizabeth appeared almost instantly.
“You actually came.”
“You sound surprised.”
“I am.”
Sierra laughed.
Elizabeth pulled her into a hug before Sierra could protest.
“You look tired.”
“I am tired.”
“You need to rest more.”
“You sound like Mom.”
“Someone has to.”
Sierra rolled her eyes.
“Where's Samantha?”
“Kitchen.”
Of course.
Samantha was probably eating something.
Sierra followed Elizabeth into the kitchen.
Samantha was sitting on the counter, scrolling through her phone while eating straight from a bowl.
She looked up.
“There she is.”
Sierra smiled.
“You didn't wait for me?”
“I was hungry.”
“You're always hungry.”
“That's because food is important.”
Samantha jumped down from the counter and hugged her.
Unlike Elizabeth, Samantha didn't fuss over Sierra.
She simply squeezed her once and stepped back.
“You look exhausted.”
“Thank you.”
“You're welcome.”
Sierra laughed.
That was Samantha.
Blunt.
Confident.
Always comfortable in her own skin.
She wasn't the kind of person who spent hours worrying about whether she looked perfectly feminine or whether she was behaving the way people expected her to.
She wore what she liked, said what she thought and somehow managed to make confidence look effortless.
Sierra had known her almost her entire life.
They weren't just cousins.
They were sisters.
They had grown up together, fought together, gotten into trouble together and kept each other's secrets.
Samantha tilted her head.
“So.”
Sierra narrowed her eyes.
“So what?”
“Nothing.”
“Samantha.”
“I'm just saying.”
“Don't.”
Samantha smiled.
“I haven't said anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I was.”
Sierra shook her head.
Elizabeth laughed.
“You two are impossible.”
A man's voice came from the living room.
“Who's impossible?”
Peter.
He appeared in the doorway with Chris behind him.
Peter looked exactly like the kind of person who could walk into a room full of strangers and leave twenty minutes later knowing everyone's name.
He smiled when he saw Sierra.
“Well, look who finally decided to show up.”
“Don't start.”
“I'm offended. I've been waiting all evening.”
“You've been here for thirty minutes.”
“Thirty very long minutes.”
Chris laughed.
Elizabeth walked over to her husband.
Peter's attention shifted briefly toward Samantha.
Samantha was still holding her bowl.
Their eyes met.
Peter smiled.
Samantha stared at him for a second.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You're smiling.”
“Am I not allowed to?”
“You look suspicious.”
Peter laughed.
Sierra noticed.
She also noticed Samantha trying not to smile.
Interesting.
But before she could say anything, she heard another voice.
Quiet.
Calm.
Almost too familiar.
“Sierra.”
Her entire body went still.
She turned.
And there he was.
Alex.
For three years, Sierra had imagined what it would be like to see him again.
Sometimes, in the middle of the night, she had wondered whether she'd recognize him.
Whether he'd look different.
Whether she'd feel anything.
She had always assumed that if they ever crossed paths again, she'd be prepared.
She wasn't.
Alex stood near the hallway, one hand resting casually in his pocket.
He looked older.
Not dramatically.
Just enough for Sierra to notice.
His expression was calm.
Controlled.
Exactly as she remembered.
Their eyes met.
For several seconds, neither of them moved.
Alex's face changed slightly.
It was barely noticeable.
But Sierra saw it.
He hadn't expected to see her either.
“Sierra,” he said again.
Her throat felt dry.
“Alex.”
Peter looked between them.
Chris looked at Elizabeth.
Elizabeth looked at Samantha.
Samantha looked directly at Sierra.
Nobody said anything.
Finally, Peter broke the silence.
“Well…”
He looked around the room.
“This is awkward.”
Chris laughed under his breath.
Alex glanced at him.
Peter raised his hands.
“What? Someone had to say it.”
Sierra looked away.
She hated how aware she suddenly was of Alex.
His presence.
His voice.
Everything.
Three years.
And somehow, standing in the same room with him made it feel like no time had passed at all.
Alex stepped slightly closer.
“How have you been?”
Sierra looked at him.
“Fine.”
“Good.”
Another silence.
“How about you?”
“I'm good.”
It was the simplest conversation in the world.
And somehow, it was the hardest one she'd ever had.
Sierra folded her arms.
She didn't want him to see that her hands were slightly trembling.
She didn't want anyone to see.
Especially him.
Peter eventually dragged Chris into another conversation, and Elizabeth disappeared into the kitchen with Samantha.
For a moment, Sierra and Alex were left standing across from each other.
Just like that.
Three years.
Three years of silence.
And now they were standing only a few feet apart.
Alex looked at her.
“You haven't changed much.”
Sierra gave him a small, humorless smile.
“I could say the same about you.”
Something almost like amusement crossed his face.
Almost.
Then it disappeared.
Sierra looked away.
She didn't want to remember.
She didn't want to remember the wedding.
The conversations.
The way he'd looked at her.
The way she'd thought there might be something between them.
And most of all—
The rejection.
She had spent three years trying not to think about it.
She wasn't going to start now.
“I should go help Elizabeth,” she said.
Alex nodded.
“Sure.”
Sierra turned.
“Sierra.”
She stopped.
She didn't turn around immediately.
“What?”
There was a pause.
Then Alex said quietly,
“It's good to see you.”
Sierra finally turned to face him.
For a second, she didn't know what to say.
So she gave him the safest answer.
“You too.”
Then she walked away.
She didn't look back.
Not once.
At least, that's what she told herself.
Because the truth was, as she entered the kitchen, her heart was beating faster than it had any right to.
And somewhere behind her, Alex remained exactly where she'd left him.
Watching her go.
Three years had passed.
But neither of them had really forgotten.
