"What are you doing here?" I ask Bryce just as I see my brother filing through the doorway after him, his attention occupied by something on his phone.

He briefly looks up, giving me a quick smile and a "Hey, Lex," before resuming typing away on the device.

Perks of living in a small city I guess; running into your brother and his best friend of nine years at the new local cafe.

Bryce promptly rolls his eyes. "Your brother is whiny and made us come all the way here for coffee. Apparently Tim Hortons isn't cool enough for him or some shit."

He responds coolly as if he didn't just butt into Mateo and I's conversation.

Actually, on that note, I'm reminded of the mini staring contest Bryce and Mateo are still participating in.

And then I recall the way Bryce somehow knew the exact city, located in a different country, that Mateo's dad inhabits.

"How come you knew but I didn't?" I ask Bryce, half jokingly but still expecting a legitimate answer.

Mateo looks like he wants to say something but is slightly scared to do so, and the warning look Bryce is shooting him doesn't seem to boost Mateo's confidence any more.

Mateo and Bryce seem to be communicating with glares and stares more so than any actual words, and it's odd for them to seem as though they despise each other as much as they do seeing as they just met one another.

"Well I was living in Orlando and Caleb DiLaurentis is a fairly known name," Bryce says, almost growing impatient.

Mateo doesn't add anything, simply nodding and looking at Charlie.

"Didn't you have a soccer game?" he asks and Charlie nods.

"Yeah, but I ended up dragging Bryce along so I decided we could do something afterwards too."

Bryce crinkles his nose, crossing his arms over his chest. I can't help but notice how muscular his arms really are, and I mentally slap my face for watching as the muscles flex slightly.

I would be wondering why he's outside in just a long-sleeved T-shirt in the cold autumn weather, but it's Bryce for Christ's sake.

Judging him is useless.

"Saying that makes it sound like we're planning on fucking after this," Bryce comments and I can't help but to gently shove him for speaking like that in public, loud enough for everybody to hear.

His only response is "Sorry, Mother Theresa," and I huff at the comparison.

"Next!" the young girl working at one of the cash registers calls out, and I quickly realize that Mateo and I are next in line. He gestures for me to step forward to order, and I promptly do so. I decide to just order a large chai latte and a plain bagel, and it's just as I'm reaching into my purse to grab my wallet that I'm gently tapped on the shoulder.

"Hey, let me pay," Mateo offers kindly. Despite the convincing look he's giving me with those warm brown eyes, I politely decline his offer.

"Don't worry about it. I'll pay," I reassure, and his expression shifts vaguely.

"Are you sure?" he continues and I nod.

"Yeah, but thank you for the offer," I smile.

The guy working the other registers calls for the next customer, and Mateo briskly walks over.

I reach into my wallet, handing the girl a twenty dollar bill, and she pulls open the register to return the appropriate change.

"Must be nice having three guys follow you around," she practically mocks, and I'm taken back a little.

Scanning her face, I conclude that I've never seen this girl before in my life. She looks around my age, perhaps even a year younger. I guess that means we could go to the same school.

That being said, if I haven't noticed her I'm sure she hasn't noticed me. I'm not at all outgoing, so the only people who've heard my name were probably the ones in classes with me.

"Actually, the shorter one is my brother, so . . ." I trail off. Charlie isn't necessarily short, but compared to the super tall Bryce, and Mateo who is also around 6'2, my brother does look fairly short.

"Make that two guys then," the girl says, dropping my change into my awaiting hand.

"Thanks," I say to her, tucking the change into my wallet and my wallet back into my purse. I do have a debit card but I'm really not sure when the last time I put money in that account was. I have all the money I made working over the summer in a different account, meant to go towards college.

Stealing a quick glance at her name tag, which reads 'Morgan', I walk away from the register to where I'm supposed to wait for my food and drink. Mateo walks up behind me and I instantly hear his voice in my ear.

"That was a bizarre exchange, was it not?" he asks and I let out a small laugh. I'm sure it must have been funny for him to hear that whole conversation.

"I don't think bizarre is quite the right word."

It's probably safe to assume that she's just tired and has probably taken far too may coffee orders today.

Mateo seems to be watching something and when I follow his eyes I see the Morgan girl suddenly in a much better mood, a huge smile plastered on her face as she takes Bryce's order.

She's tucked her blonde bob of hair behind her ears, and seems to be paying total attention to Bryce's every move as he pulls a card out of his wallet, tapping to pay.

"Have a nice day!" the girl chirps and Bryce is already turned to walk away.

"You too," he replies dryly. It only takes him a few large strides to be standing next to me, and he instantly shakes his head in defeat.

"People really kill me sometimes. It's a shame I can't just turn off the Bradshaw Charm."

The way his face remains dead serious nearly makes me believe that he isn't even joking, but then I see a slight glimmer in his eyes that makes me grin like a lunatic.

I'm totally aware how weird it is for him to just show up here out of nowhere and act as if he fits back into our little circle like a perfectly manufactured puzzle piece.

But God, have I missed him these past years. He really does have that charm he mentioned, and his ability to brighten a room has never gone unnoticed by me. Sure, sometimes his pestering gets irritating at times and I know that both Jasmine and I weren't the most enthusiastic to see him again, but I've already started to come around to his presence and I'm sure she will too.

Though I do kind of feel bad for Ryan, Daniel, and Mateo who are all probably confused by Bryce's general demeanor.

Not to mention poor Jordan, who hasn't even met Bryce yet. Jordan is incredibly sweet though, and I've mentioned Bryce to him before a handful of times so I don't think he'll be too taken back.

Jordan is off visiting his family in California right now, and I really do envy him for that; Jordan loves the idea of large cities just as much as I do.

My dream is obviously New York, as I have big dreams of Broadway.

Charlie walks up behind me, letting out a huge yawn.

"How did your game go?" I ask and he shrugs, putting his phone in his coat pocket.

"We won by a goal. Kinda pathetic because we weren't playing against a very good team but it's better than losing."

"I don't understand the appeal in sports. I mean seriously, most are boring as hell to watch and why would you want to be running around looking like shit in front of a bunch of people?" Bryce comments.

He reaches up to brush a stray strand of hair that has fallen into his eyes and I notice how it has a slight curl to it, more like a wave, and he's let it grow out a bit longer than it used to be.

"You really need to watch your language in public," I scold, noticing my new apparent enemy, the cashier, making a desperate attempt to catch our attention.

"Could you guys just get your food? You're holding up the line." Her tone is monotonous and I realize just how exhausted she looks.

"Of course, sorry about that," I say, grabbing my tea and bagel and Mateo grabs what looks like a breakfast sandwich and a coffee. Bryce and Charlie grab their drinks too and Bryce flashes the barista a small smile that seems to make her blush.

Mateo walks over to sit at a table against the windowed wall and I follow, sitting across from him. Bryce turns to leave the cafe, leaving my brother looking conflicted.

"We aren't sitting with them?" he asks.

Bryce looks at Charlie as if he's an idiot. "Charles. I'm pretty sure they're on a date. Let's leave them to it."

He raises a sculpted eyebrow and I notice how frequently he does that.

Mateo seems hesitant, but reluctantly says, "It's fine, you two should stay."

Charlie seems satisfied with that answer and he plops down in the seat next to Mateo. Bryce looks vaguely irritated but he still walks over and pulls out the chair next to me.

"You know that some people play sports because they want to do something other then posting shirtless photos of themselves on Instagram, right?" Mateo asks Bryce, seemingly continuing the conversation we were just on.

Bryce nearly spits out the coffee in his mouth.

"Let's not go there," he says briskly but the damage seems to already have been done because Charlie has already grabbed his phone from his pocket.

"It's fine. Literally everybody I know our age posts photos of themselves half naked online. What's your username?" he asks Bryce who's staring blankly down at the table.

"It's just my name," he replies quietly and Charlie begins typing away.

He taps a final button a moment before his eyes go wide. "What the hell? Four point seven m—"

"Four point seven? Last time I checked it was at four point six," Bryce cuts off, and my head is already swirling.

"Four point seven what?" I ask. God, these three are getting on my last nerves.

Charlie hands me the phone across the table. "Four point seven million followers on Instagram," he answers, and sure enough, that's what the screen reads.

And upon scrolling down a bit in his feed, I can definitely confirm that it's our Bryce all right.

"Who even are you?" Charlie continues, and I look up at Bryce to see him staring at Charlie, unamused.

"It's really not a big deal. That shit kinda just happened."

Upon taking a closer look at some of the photos Bryce has up, I can confirm that quiet a few are, in fact, him shirtless, but I'm also drawn to the dark designs etched into the skin on his right arm.

Bryce catches my quizzical expression and leans closer to me. I feel my breath catch at how damn close he is to my face right now but he's just staring at the screen in the palm of my hand.

"Right. You haven't seen them yet," he seems to answer knowingly.

Just like that, he outstretches his arm in my direction with a faint smile.

"Go ahead," he offers. Without another thought I reach for the hem of the sleeve of his shirt, rolling it up just enough to reveal the start of an array of tattoos.

The inked patterns cover nearly all of his arm from what I can see right now. It's hard to decipher what any of the pictures mean, and I'm not sure if any of it has any relevance, but something about the extra change I've uncovered about Bryce just makes me think of how much we both must have changed since the last time we really saw one another. I trace a finger along a thin black line that looks like a stem with thorns, and Bryce flinches as soon as my fingertip meets the soft skin of his forearm.

My eyes must be practically bulging out of my head right about now, and this assumption is confirmed by the soft sound of Bryce's laughter.

"What? Did you think I edited the same tattoos into every single photo?" His question is clearly rhetorical, and I pinch him, rolling his sleeve back down.

He seems to be accustomed to the way I seem to be attacking him already as he doesn't even react to the pull on his skin.

"That many tattoos at seventeen?" Mateo asks, bringing up a good point.

"My dad's cool with it as long as I pay for them myself," Bryce replies, and he catches me staring at him.

Frankly, I didn't even notice that I was still watching him like a hawk but something about his presence seems to be enchanting. I can tell already that he must always be the center of attention at parties, and with his looks and attitude, it's not even shocking that he's a hit online too.

"You've got to stop looking at me like that," he teases.

I shake my head at him, still holding eye contact as I warn him of something that could be an issue for him in the near future.

"You know that the school has a bunch of rules about these things," I tell him.

"For example," I continue, pushing my hair back behind my ears to reveal the piercings I have, "I always wear my hair down so nobody calls me out on these."

Contrary to how Bryce's parents seem to have felt about his tattoos, my parents were not thrilled about the idea of me getting the handful of cartilage piercings I wanted.

I eventually managed to persuade them solely on the fact that piercings aren't entirely permanent, and any subtle scars would just be hidden by my long hair.

"Damn, she's a bad girl," he jokes.

"But you do realize that this shit isn't coming off my arm, right?" he questions which makes me roll my eyes.

"Seems like a 'you' issue. You'll figure it out. There's a few people I know of who get away with breaking the rules," I reassure despite how Bryce doesn't seem like he'll need any reassuring.

It's at that moment that I for some reason remember that I'm supposedly here on a 'date' with Mateo and that Charlie is also seated at the table. When I turn away from Bryce towards the other two guys. they both wear the same bored expressions, watching Bryce and I.

"You two are weird," my brother comments, and Bryce raises his middle finger at him.

I swat his hand down which earns me a tug on my hair.

I reach up to tug his hair in return and he grins at me.

"Can you two save that for later?" Charlie asks, then turning to Mateo.

"I hate to break it to you Matt, but they act like a married couple already."

The thought of Bryce and I as a couple, not even thinking of marriage, gives me weird feelings, so desperate to change the topic I turn to Mateo.

"That's how you know Bryce then?" I inquire.

Mateo looks off to the side away from the three of us for a moment. "Sure."

We end up finishing our food and drinks quietly, making slight conversation every so often. When it's time for us to part ways, we say a quick temporary farewell as Mateo and I clim into his car, Charlie on his way to drive Bryce home apparently.

Mateo and I don't say much on the way back to my place, and when his car rolls to a halt in front of my house, I turn to him quickly.

"Sorry about all of that," I say with a weak smile, knowing how much I ended up neglecting him the whole time. He shakes his head and smiles.

"Don't worry about it."

We remain like this for a second, staring at each other.

He leans a little closer, and for a fleeting moment I'm terrified he's about to kiss me.