Everything in Burlingame is within walking distance.

I step off the school porch and take a right, walking the two blocks that lead me to the main street. I hear Ben following, just a few steps back.

I see Faye's Diner, Abel's General Store, and Allen’s Grocery.

It’s a time warp. Everything is so close, and the price tags don’t cause you to double over in shock, not compared to LA prices.

Ben pulls ahead of me and walks to Thompson Books, stopping at a cart of paperbacks on the sidewalk. His gravity is strong, like his brother's. They look so alike now. He's grown up, nearly as handsome as Bryan now. Broad shouldered, with a wide smile and full lips.

“What are you up to today? Other than splitting up conversations.” I call after him. I can’t spend time with him. He’s not why I’m here, but I’m curious about him. He doesn't seem intent on wounding me with resentment over absent goodbyes.

“A little light reading. Maybe you can help me figure out the big words, Miss Writer.” He waves the book in his hand in front of my face.

I snatch it, my fingers grazing his.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. The pages blow air in my face as my thumb buzzes through them. It feels good. The day is already stifling.

“Can’t. I’m busy.” I'm not. There's nothing to do here, and I'm not sure I can handle another visit with my father for a day or two. I feel worn and raw.

“Yeah, me, too.” He pulls a piece of paper from his back pocket. I snatch it.

“Who makes paper lists these days?” I scan the pages, finding nothing interesting.

“People who aren’t living on their cell phones. You should try it sometime.”

Am I obsessed with my cell phone? Sure. But no more than anyone else these days. Being back in Burlingame makes it feel like a strange object from a distant future. Plus, the service is shitty here. When I’m back in my old room, I have to make sure I prop it near the window, and it’s at the perfect angle, to ensure I get texts and alerts.

I push Ben’s list back into his chest. He grabs it, and his fingers graze mine this time. I see Mrs. Forrester, the town lawyer's secretary, eye us through the glass, her eyebrow raising.

I'm going to be hot gossip in no time. How did this happen? How did I get out here in the open? I was doing so good at staying put, hidden away. One look at Ben and I'm walking the cobblestone streets, showing everyone I'm back. That it wasn't a rumor. I’ll be the talk of the town when I leave.

And I will leave. I need to remind myself of this.

My life is not here and it never will be again.

I brush past Ben, pulling my cell phone from the small cross-body purse hanging by my hip. I hear his footsteps behind me.

“Where to first, Sevvy?” The name makes my steps slow for a minute. I think of prom, cream satin, ringlets in my hair, baby’s breath. I shrug my shoulders, and the memories slip away. “I'm getting some groceries.”

“Do you have any idea how overpriced they are there?”

“Yes, compared to local big cities," I use air quotes like the jackass I am, "but I don’t feel like driving to Topeka. And my aunt says the Auburn Apple Market grocery is closed down.”

“So you’re just going to overpay? Ah, well, we all know you have the money.”

I hear the implication. Small towns and small minds romanticized Hollywood and Orange County. “Just because I live in LA doesn’t mean I’m loaded.”

“But they made that thing you wrote into a movie.” His voice is too similar to Bryan’s. I don’t like it.

“Also doesn't mean I’m loaded,” I say, pushing the comparison away. I am doing okay when it comes to money. I can pay my bills, and I put 10% of everything I make into my savings account, just like my father taught me. I have no debt. I am doing better than I was as a child. I wanted for nothing then, though, thanks to my father.

I think of his face. So long and with eyes that have dulled.

He is more than the disease, but he is losing. I’m going to lose him.

I suddenly have no patience for Ben and his following figure.

“Are you going to follow me around all day? Is that what’s about to happen? Because I don’t think I can take it today.” I stop and square my stance, look up into his face. His eyes are wide, and his palms go up in surrender.

“Sorry. I had to get out of the house. I didn’t expect to see you. And when I did, I thought, okay. This day won’t suck.”

"They all suck here.” And not just because it was boring, but because it was quickly becoming a black hole.

“I’m not going to argue that. But I have my reasons. I’d wager a guess they differ from yours. Is it my brother? I can't believe that’s back on." Wide grin again. I want to slap him.

But Bryan and I, who knows what is going on there? I let Ben believe that’s the reason for my long face. I don't want to discuss my father right now. I nod.

"Hey, Hollywood. Don't take my shit so seriously." Ben is smirking, and I don't know how I feel about it. The warmth in my belly. It's familiar, being near him. And I wonder if it's due to the time I have spent with Bryan. They are a year apart, and their voices have a natural softness, one I crave when the world gets loud. I need caffeine. I need a reason for this buzzing. Something I can blame.

I look at his broad shoulders and dark denim. He is disheveled, unkempt in a way the kind of boys I am drawn to never are.

When did I last see Ben Winthrop? I don’t want to think about that week. I don’t want to think of nameless people.

"Please don't call me that,” I say. A little defeated.

"Why not? That's where you're from, right? Own it."

"Yeah, but I'm not like, Hollywood. Not the way you're saying it."

"Are you vegan? Do you do yoga?"

"Ben, people do that everywhere. That's not just an LA thing. Be more original." I walk away, no idea where I'm going.

"Hey, Sevvy, wait." I hear his Converse scratch across the sidewalk as he hurries to catch up.

I smile before I can stop myself, stop in my tracks. With a name like Severin, you're bound to be handed a few nicknames. It doesn't roll off the tongue easily. I turn to him and he pulls his palms up again, sweet surrender.

"What, Winny?" I laugh, giving my peace offering easily. He smiles and I want to hug him. To thank him for prom all over again.

"When did you get into town?" He starts walking down the sidewalk, so I follow.

"Two weeks ago, maybe a little more." Too much has happened already. I feel stretched thin and anxious. I need a drink or something. Anything to get a release. "I didn't know you still lived here."

"I don't. I'm home for the summer. College break."

I look up at him. "Still in college?"

"Yeah, that's what happens when you say you're not going and then change your mind and start late. Not all of us have things figured out when we leave this place, Sevvy."

I stop walking and take in the town square. My breathing is even, but my heart stutters. There appears to be a farmers’ market near the gazebo and some sort of festival. I didn't expect to see a crowd.

I don't want to face this town, the people, just yet. I feel like something is waiting for me. A humiliation. An ambush.

I'm always waiting for someone to drop a vat of pig’s blood on me or some shit like that.

"You okay?" Ben crosses his arms and arches a brow at me. His face is scruffy, more than a five o'clock shadow covers his skin. His forearms are tan.

"Yeah. I think. It's just, this town. I haven't seen anyone since I got back. Just my dad and my aunt. And your brother. What the hell is going on over there?” I wave my arms at the crowd.

“It’s Summer Fest. Remember it? And how much have you seen my brother?" His tone is changed, his vibe, all of it shifts.

"Wait, what does that tone imply? I didn't even mean to see him. It wasn't some goal or anything. I live across from the school. Did you forget that?" I don't know why I'm explaining myself. It's an old habit. Explaining my time with Bryan, making excuses.

"We weren't friends in school. So, yeah. I guess I did." He is lying about forgetting. We both know it. He pauses, looking into the crowd of people with me. "So, what was that like?"

"What was what like?"

"Seeing my brother for the first time in years?"

"Weird. Like being in a room with a live wire. He has this animosity toward me. It wasn't fun." I have no words to describe it. But, I'm keyed up. It feels like there is a bat in my stomach, flying about. The butterfly feeling escaped us years ago.

"Over the movie?"

"Yeah. You know about the movie?"

"Everyone does. My mom called me about it. She likes to tell me about everything that goes on here and everything that happens with Bryan. Like I care.” He shrugs. “It's why I barely tell her anything about my private life or dating. Because I know she would be on the phone with Bryan an hour later telling him everything. Like either one of us cares about what the other is doing."

"Do you guys hate each other or something?" They were never the kind of brothers you saw talking in school or hanging out. With just a year separating them, I didn't see why. My sister was like my best friend, and we had many years between us.

"Yeah, ever since we were kids." I stare at him. He doesn't blink. "Okay, maybe hate is a strong word. I find him to be...annoying."

"I'm glad my sister doesn't feel that way about me."

"I'm sure your sister isn't a dick." He claps a hand on my shoulder. "Okay, Hollywood. You need to face this. You need to get out there and smile and say hi to people and remember that most old people won't even recognize you and this town is like half retirement home and half farmers’ market." He points at the vegetable and pie stands.

I laugh, shrugging his hand off. "Okay. This is fine. It's fine." I'm lying to myself, and the thought that Aurora could be in the crowd makes my stomach lurch.

"The best part is you're walking in with me so everyone will be like 'omg she is with the other brother now! How will she mess up his life?!'"

I turn to him so quickly he flinches.

His hands go up in surrender for a fight I haven't even started. "I was just joking!"

"Don't be an ass. What the fuck? I hadn't even thought of anything like that. So let's add that to the list, huh?" A few heads at the edge of the crowd turn toward my shrill tone. I wave meekly.

"Calm down."

"In the history of the words 'calm' and 'down' how many times do you ever think that has worked to calm down a woman?"

"Maybe five or six times?" His teeth bite down on his lip, stifling a laugh that would have caused me to punch him.

I walk across the street, checking for traffic only when I'm halfway in the road. I hear Ben following, he calls to me, using my last name this time. "Thompson. Wait."

"How many different names are you going to call me today?" I call over my shoulder. "Pick one and stick with it."

"I reject constant and all it stands for."

I laugh at his word choice and freeze on the sidewalk. "Do you have any friends who are still here?" I only have one that stayed in Burlingame. I haven't spoken to Britt in years.

"You've lost your accent, you know?" He ignores my question. I jump right back at him.

"You have, too. Where are you going to college?"

"Pennsylvania. They say I have an accent there. Anywhere I go on the coasts, they say that. I don't hear it, but they do."

"It was always the same for me." My friends pointed out my accent, my word choice.

"You're stalling, Thompson."

"Hold my hand?" I fake a pleading tone. Well, it's half fake.

He reaches for me, and I jerk my hand. "I was joking. I mean, like, metaphorically hold it."

"Walk with you?"

"Can you do that?"

"Walk with my high school crush around town? I think I can handle that."

"Crush? Me? No." We start walking. I keep my eyes straight ahead, afraid they will meet with someone I don't want to see.

"Oh, please. You knew that. I spent half of prom making moon eyes at you."

"I didn't notice." A lie. I taste the liquor. Remember the night.

"I know. You were too busy staring at Bryan and Aurora and feeling sorry for yourself."

"Well. I couldn't help it. I don't hide things well. My feelings," I wave my hand in front of my face, "they just live there, for everyone to see, whether I want them to or not."

"I like that about you. Even when you don't want to say how you feel, it's all there."

"You think an awful lot about my face, don't you?"

"Don't flatter yourself. It's this town. Being here brings it all back. Memories and shit. I can recall prom like it was yesterday now. It's not the same for you?"

"Yeah, it is. I know what you mean. I've used the words time warp in my inner monologue a million times already."

"Inner monologue? Quit it." He play-punches me on the shoulder, and I try to swat his hand away, but I'm too slow.

"This is how I talk. Did that not come back to you, too?"

"It’s all rushing back now." He nudges my shoulder, and I stumble a bit. He's always finding little ways to touch me, and I have no clue how I feel about it. Ben isn't his brother. He doesn't make my heart flutter, and I'm not sweating in his presence. Not the way I do when someone I find attractive is near. Well, I'm sweating but for an entirely different reason. The Kansas heat is going to be the death of me.

"You think Aurora is going to show up here when she's done with Bryan?"

"Are you curious about when you'll have to face her or are you curious about how long she is going to be alone with Bryan?"

I look up into his eyes. "Both."

We stand there for a moment, dissecting what it means. When I look into the crowd again, I see Aurora. Her arm is slung over the shoulder of a friend. It’s not one of the usual suspects. It's my friend. It’s Britt.