They started walking again.
"I remember," April said quietly.
Shane looked at her, surprised. "Remember?"
"In high school. You and your friends were kind of legendary." Her mouth curved. "The Mountain Division crew, always in trouble for something. I remember sophomore year when you guys 'borrowed' the principal's golf cart for a 'tactical maneuver.'"
Shane laughed despite himself. "In our defense, we returned it."
"With pine cones stuffed in the exhaust and a hand-drawn 'captured enemy vehicle' sign duct-taped to the windshield." April shook her head, but she was grinning. "Principal Hoffman was not amused."
"Worth it though." Shane's chest warmed at the memory, at the fact that April had been paying attention even back then. "You noticed us all the way back then?"
Something flickered across her face. "Dude, I saidlegendary, didn’t I? But I mostly paid attention to you."
The admission hung in the air between them, weighted with all the things they'd never said to each other when they were teenagers. When April was the smart girl from the wrong family and Shane was the golden boy who wasn't supposed to look twice at her.
"I didn't know that," Shane said softly.
"That was kind of the point." April's smile turned bittersweet. "You were busy being popular. I was busy trying to prove I was more than my last name."
"April—"
"It's okay." She touched his arm briefly. "We were kids. We didn't know anything."
"I knew enough to tell my parents to hire you as my tutor." Shane caught her hand before she could pull it away. "Best decision I ever made."
"Really? Because I'm pretty sure you failed that calc test on purpose so you'd have an excuse to see me."
Shane's ears went hot. "That is absolutely not—" He stopped at her knowing look. "Okay, maybe a little bit."
April laughed, and the sound chased away the ghosts of who they used to be, leaving only who they were now.
Two people who'd found their way back to each other despite everything.
"Come on," she said, tugging him forward. "Kevin's getting ahead of us again."
She didn't let go of his hand right away, and Shane counted that as a victory.
As they climbed, the trail narrowed, twisting through a boulder field where the sun hit hard and the air shimmered. Shane ran his hand along the nearest slab of sandstone. “Touch both sides,” he told Kevin.
Kevin obeyed, palms flat on the rock. “This side’s warm. That one’s cool.”
“Exactly. South side keeps the heat. North side stays shaded. The rock remembers the sun longer than we do.”
April brushed her fingers across the same surface, eyes thoughtful. "You make it sound poetic."
Shane smiled. "Guess geology's got a romantic streak."
April held his gaze for a beat too long, something playful dancing in her expression. "Since when did Shane Foti get poetic?"
Shane stepped closer, voice dropping low enough that only she could hear. "Since I started trying to impress you again."
Her breath caught. "Is it working?"
"You tell me." He was close enough now to see the pulse jumping in her throat, close enough that if Kevin wasn't twenty feet away, Shane would've kissed her right there against the sun-warmed stone.
"Maybe." April's voice came out slightly breathless. "A little."
