“Not happening.” She leaned forward and shook her head. “Oh my God! Wait! How am I forgetting about last night? Girl, you need to tell me all about your date with Walker and how the hell the two of you ended up here!”

I smiled and a quick laugh escaped from within me at her enthusiasm. My brain didn’t miss the way my heart sped up at the mention of his name, either. “I don’t even know where to start with that one.”

“There can’t be that much to tell. It was only last night.” She reached for her drink and took a swig before tilting her head at me with a glimmer in her eye. “What aren’t you telling me?”

My back sank into the cushions of the couch until I could squish myself against it no more. I sighed. “Last night was a disaster. I was a total bitch at dinner, and I let it slip that I was only there because Jayson wanted him to sign with our agency.”

“Madison in bitch mode is quite entertaining. I like it,” Keri said with a knowing grin.

“So he told me to leave. Straight up pointed and everything, and told me to leave the restaurant.”

Her hand flew over her gaping mouth. “Shut up.”

“Seriously. It was so embarrassing. I walked outside and the paparazzi fucking swarmed me. They were yelling my name and asking my about my job and it was madness.”

“How’d they even—” She stopped mid-thought. “Jayson told them.”

I nodded before continuing. “Walker rushed out after me, hopped in my car, and refused to leave. He told me he wanted to talk to me. We had nowhere to go and that’s how we ended up here.”

“He wanted to talk to you? Talk to you about what? And he wouldn’t get out of your car? I think I love this guy.” She laughed, clearly having a great time at my expense.

“Let me finish.”

She scowled at me and muttered, “Then finish.”

Swallowing another gulp of soda, I placed the can between my legs and buried my head in my hands. “Okay,” I started, looking up at my clueless friend. “So whatever, we’re here last night. It’s fine. We had a great time. He kissed me, blah blah. Let’s just fast forward to today.”

“He kissed you?” Keri’s eyes widened to the size of saucers. “I want to hear about that!”

“Hold on!” I shouted back at her. “So after I quit, I called Walker from the parking garage.”

“Wait! You called Walker first?” Her hand smacked down on the arm of the couch, sending dust particles into the air. “He was the first person you called?”

The realization of her statement hit me like a weighted gym bag. “Yeah, I guess.” I shrugged as I tried to slough it off. “Anyway, Keri, just listen.” She folded her arms across her chest as I tried to navigate my words carefully. “So he asks me to meet him at this café. And it’s like the one place in Malibu I never go because it reminds me of the guy I met that one summer.”

“Oh, your Malibu guy, right?” Keri brought it up so naturally, as if this were a subject we discussed on a daily basis. I think we talked about it one time, but Keri had a memory like an elephant. She remembered everything.

I fast-forwarded to the point where I got to the café. Keri’s face was a mixture of confusion and excitement as she listened to me spill the details of my afternoon, which felt like it happened eons ago instead of mere hours.

“So I step out of the car and we’re talking and he can’t take it anymore. He confesses to me who he is. And then I feel like such a fucking idiot for not ever seeing it before because really, Keri? Even though he doesn’t look the same”—I paused for affect—“he still totally looks the same!”

“You’re not saying…” Keri scrunched up her face, and then the light bulb came on. “Oh my God, you’re not saying… Walker’s n-not,” she stuttered, then her eyes got huge. “He’s your surfer summer love guy?”

“How insane is that? I mean, this kind of thing just… Does. Not. Happen,” I said, my head still trying to comprehend the events and correlate them with my life now.

“But his name wasn’t Walker? I mean, even you would remember a name like that.”

“I guess Walker’s his middle name. When I met him that summer, he went by Scotty.”

“That’s right! Scotty the surfer!” She smiled, clearly remembering more of my story. “So you didn’t recognize him at all? Ever? Nothing about him has ever struck you as familiar? I know how bad you are with faces, but really?” Poor Keri looked like her head was spinning with a million questions that I’d already asked myself earlier.

“The only thing about him that was familiar were his eyes, but I thought I just recognized them because of his being a celebrity. And of course, now I feel like I should have always known because even though he’s changed so much since then, he’s still totally him. You know?”

She shook her head. “I want to yell at you because we’ve seen him so many times online and on TV, but I’m also the girl who has to remind you where we know people from everywhere we go. You really, really suck at faces. But Walker Rhodes? How do you forget that face, no matter how much you suck at remembering people?”

It was so frustrating, having to defend myself when she knew how horrible I was with faces. “It was over ten years ago, and we were just kids. He looked totally different then. Keri, he was just a boy, but now he’s a grown-ass man. A really hot, grown-ass man.”

Keri jumped up from the couch and started pacing in small circles. “Madison. You do realize how amazing this is, don’t you? This is the kind of thing they write movies about. I’m going to write a movie about this. Yeah. Maybe I’ll become a screenwriter and your story will be the first one I write.”

“Keri!” I practically screeched.

“Don’t worry, I’m kidding. Kind of,” she said as she scrunched up her face while she thought. “It’s not a horrible idea. You’d know the writer, so the story would be incredibly flattering on your behalf.”

“Oh my gosh, shut up!”

Her pacing continued and I swore I could see the wheels turning in her mind. “So, did he know? That night at the concert, when he pulled you onstage?”

I nodded. “He said he recognized me right away.”

“This all makes so much sense. I mean, the way he’s been acting. The way he was with you at his concert. All of it.” Keri sat back down on the couch, her hands folded in her lap. “So, how do you feel?”

I sucked in a breath and tried to stop the smile from forming on my lips. “I can’t believe it’s him. I can’t believe he recognized me. When I think about him, I feel like he’s always been a part of me. You know?”

A smile spread across her face. “I don’t think we ever get over our first loves completely. We move on, of course, but I think a part of them is always with us.”

“I think if you would have asked me that question a few days ago, my answer would have been completely different. I would have told you I was fine, and that he rarely, if ever, crossed my mind.”

“And now?”

“I can’t imagine ever not being with him again.” The words slipped out before my mind had the sense to stop them. “But that’s crazy, right?”

“It is.” Keri reached out a hand and placed it on my knee. “But it kind of isn’t. You two have a past that bonds you. No one can tell you how to feel about it.”

“It’s so weird, though. Seeing him and realizing who he is…there is just this immediate comfort and trust. I know there’s a lot we don’t know about each other anymore, and I’m sure we’ve both changed, but when I look at him, all I see is the boy I fell in love with at the beach all those years ago.” I wiped at the lone tear that fell from my eye.

“I get that,” Keri said as she nodded. “This is a stupid example, but it’s like when I go to a club and I happen to run into someone that I knew from high school. Sometimes I want to be around that person because it feels like I’ve known them forever. And there’s this connection there that this person knows me differently than anyone else in the room does.”