Taylor's POV...
Curious and clueless, I followed Eleanor downstairs in which she leads me to the front door. Upon exiting the house, to my surprise, I see a familiar figure standing in front of our house, in which his presence didn't really came into my mind before. Standing tall, his brown hair is combed neatly, as he looks all comfortable in his navy sweater, along with his white pants and black sneakers. The guy looked at me with a small smile, in which I instantly smile back. My best friend, Joey Carlson, has appear again in front of my door, after a while.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Joey," Eleanor says as she walks up to Joey and give him a bear hug.
"Happy Thanksgiving too, Eleanor," Joey says as he hugs Eleanor back. "Congrats for you and Fred."
"Man, you already knew? I was just about to tell you," Eleanor says in a sassy yet surprised tone as she slowly removes her arms from his embrace.
"Well, Tim was too excited that you're going to be his cousin-in-law soon," Joey says.
"Haha, yeah right. That was the last thing I actually thought I wanted, at least 10 years ago," Eleanor states. "But well, everything's cool now."
After smiling at Eleanor, Joey's gaze slowly shifts to mine, where our eyes meet again, for the first time after a while. Man, the last time I saw him I think was a few years ago, during Christmas. Yet, we haven't been in contact much since being on Broadway had got me quite busy to catch up on social life.
"Well, I'll leave the two of you to catch up. Bye bye," Eleanor says in a sassy tone as she walks away, leaving the two of us standing outside the house on a breezy autumn night.
"Hey, how are you?" Joey asks all of a sudden, his vision still locks with mine.
"I'm good," I say, my lips forms a small smile. "And how about you?"
"Cool," Joey says. "It's nice to be back here during autumn. I always love the breezy atmosphere."
"I agree," I say. Hearing Joey's statement made me remember how much the boy loved the autum season.
"Do you want to go for a night walk and enjoy the sight?" Joey asks.
Hearing that, I smile at Joey, as flashbacks from our teenage years starts surfacing back, to the times where we used to spend a lot of time together during every season. From spring days playdate at the park, a fun summer time at the beach, a relaxing walk during autumn, to building snowmans together during winter.
"Sure," I say, in which he smiles back.
"Let's go," Joey says, and the two of us starts walking through the neighborhood.
As the breezy autumn wind passes by our direction, both Joey and start to admire the beautiful sight of the neighborhood, with a lot of fallen leaves scattered on the ground with beautiful colours. For the first time after a while, I can feel butterflies starts dancing inside my heart, as I took some chances to glance at Joey for a few second. His presence gave me a nostalgic feeling, on how I used to feel this way back when we were younger.
"So how is life in the big apple?" Joey asks.
"Pretty good," I answer. "Though sometimes broadway can be exhausting. Not that I'm complaining."
"I see," Joey says. "That's part of adulthood. You get tired and you'll need to take a rest and repeat."
"Yeah," I say. "What about you?"
"Well, Kyle and I thought about opening a small cafe in San Diego, along with some of his college friends," Joey says. "The grand opening will actually be next month."
"Really? That's great. Congratulations," I say in a happy tone. After a while of not hearing much news for Joey, it's great to hear that he's finally going to start a business with his brother and some of his friends. The last time I heard some news about him after he left LA, he was busy taking some part time jobs back in San Diego while staying with his brother.
"Thanks," Joey says. "I'll be serving a special complimentary for you."
Hearing that, I could feel my cheeks starts to heat up as my heart begins to beat slightly faster than before. His words, in which I knew he only intended to be friendly and give me complimentary as a friend. Yet, I can't lie that my heart wants to believe it in as a different meaning. I could say that I'm in a delusion.
"And you probably say that to all our friends," I say, trying to make it seem like his words didn't affect me to get a bit crazy inside.
"Of course," Joey says. "I also invited the others."
I smile shyly. "I only want you as my complimentary."
Hearing that, I notice Joey's eyes slightly widens, yet his lips remained silently sealed. Chances are he's probably surprised of my statement, which kind of made me thought about whether I shouldn't have said that to him. I mean, it is the first time we're seeing each other again after a few years, and maybe he's surprised about the statement I had to let out on a fine autumn night. Damn, I realize I just ruined a perfect catch up between us.
"Sorry about that. I-"
"It's ok, don't sweat it," Joey says with a smile as he turns his head to see me, though I could tell his eyes looked kind of awkward.
"If you noticed, I am already your complimentary tonight," Joey adds.
I turn my head back to see Joey, as my cheeks begin to heat up again. Even after growing up over the past years, he is still the same boy I knew from my childhood days. The boy who prioritise peace over conflicts, and just wants everything to be good for everyone. In this realization, flashbacks from 10 years ago starts surfacing back, from when I first realized I was falling for him, to the night we said our farewell. I come to realize, that his caring soul has been one of the things I missed the most about him, after he left LA, and after I went to New York City.
"It's good to catch up," I say. "I missed you, Joey."
"I missed you too, Taylor," Joey says, his lips slowly forms a shy smile.
"We didn't contact much since you left for San Diego," I say. "Honestly, I thought you about forgot me."
Joey chuckles. "I could never forget about you. Just got busy with work, so I couldn't always update."
Hearing his answer, I let out a sigh. Somehow, his presence right now, made it felt like it was just yesterday where we took the roles of Cinderella and the Prince for the school's play, which pretty much was the start of everything, since it was where we acidentally had our first kiss. Yet, I still remember how not talking to him for a long time made it felt like forever. For what I remember, the yearning only became stronger when I tried to start a new life in New York City.
Looking at him now, I start to question these feelings that running inside my heart. After the emotional roller-coaster we had regarding our friendship, growing feelings, family, and other matters, do I still feel the same way for him, even after the 10 years of absense? To be honest, I don't even need to think about my answer to my own question. Yes, after all these years, I still do love him the same way.
"Taylor? Are you ok?" Joey asks.
I snap back to reality, as I slowly turn my head to see him. Our steps came to a stop, as our eyes meet, I noticed his eyes shows a look of wonders. As the autum wind continues to gently blows at our direction, my cheeks starts to heat up, with my heart beat again beating faster. Staring into his eyes made me feel a warm feeling of returning home, giving me faith that no matter how far I go, other than my family and friends, there's someone who I know who has a special place in my heart, which is him. The person I've been missing for too long, gives me the most grateful feeling of his presence right here, right now. Maybe, I just miss him too much, that I want to just stare deeply and get lost in his eyes.
"Yeah," I say. "It's just, I miss you too much."
Hearing this, Joey's lips remained silent, with his eyes now looked as if he has a thousand questions in his head. I'm not surprised since I believe that it's kind of shocking for him, to know that I'm being maybe too emotional during our first meeting after a while. Yet, I didn't want to hide my feelings. As adults, I know I'm not at the age where I would want to play games as kids and not be clear of my feelings. It's time to say whatever my heart feels, and ask him, whatever got my head wondering.
"Can I ask you a question, Joe?" I ask him all of a sudden, in which I guess it could make him more surprise.
"Sure, what is it?"
I became silent for a moment as I start to put together the right words to ask him. After all, I want this question to be put together in the best way.
"If you could turn back the time, would there be anything you wish you could change?" I ask him.
Joey takes a deep breath, as his vision shifts down to the ground for a second. I could tell he looked both surprised and speechless at my question.
"No," Joey says. "All the things that happened, I want to take them as lessons to move forward in this life."
"I see," I say, though deep down, that really wasn't the answer I was expecting to hear. More specifically, I just want to know how he feels about the past we had, in which turned our warm friendship into a relationship filled with sweetness and bitterness.
"Can I ask you another a question?" I ask him again.
"Sure, what is it?"
"If you could turn back the time, would you still want to go on the same path with me?" I ask him.
Joey smiles. "I would always choose you, Tay. As my best friend, as my lover, even if I can go back and start over, I'll choose you all over again."
Hearing that, I felt my heart being touched in the most gentle way. I could feel tears slowly starts to fill my eyes, as my lips couldn't help but let out a smile of happiness. Even with the emotions all mixed up inside, suddenly it's like my heart felt relief after hearing Joey's answer. My best friend who is also my first love, whom I still love after all these years. Like his answer, even if I could turn back the time, I would also choose Joey, over and over again, as my best friend, as my lover, as my first love.
Without any other words, I quickly wrap my arms around Joey, as I pull him closer into a tight embrace. Gently, I feel his strong arms wrapped around my body, as I lay my head on his chest. This moment brought me back to the last time we hugged 10 years ago, and how the feelings I had never changed a bit. Through the absense through out the years, I believed that the yearning only made me care more about him. Tonight, I am beyond grateful, to finally be in his arms once again.
"Do you want to go to my house and have some pumpkin pie?" I ask him, with my arms still wrapped around tightly around his body.
"Sounds great. Of course, it would be better if we have some together," he answers in a playful manner.
"Haha, I couldn't agree more," I say as I slowly let go of my arms from him, while slowly shifting my eyes to meet his.
"Let's go," I whisper in a gentle tone, in which he nod.
As the two of us heads back to my house, Joey's hand gently grabs mine as we continue to walk slowly. Feeling his touch, I smile as I feel the warmth of his  hand, releasing the happy butterflies now dancing inside of me. From his embrace to holding hands while walking through the autumn breeze, I look back at the memories of our times together, feeling beyond grateful that despite many ups and downs, tears, and bitterness, the sparks we share together since our childhood days remains alive. In this moment, I now understand that I just want to cherish every moment in life, especially with the ones I love the most. While sweet memories will leave us with good stories, the bitter ones will help us grow. Though the future is still a mystery, knowing that I am blessed with love and affection, I am happy to go forward to whatever's coming.
Regarding Joey, even though we now go through different paths, I am looking forward to whatever's in store for us in the future. Together or not, as long as the two of us are happy, one thing I wish, is that the affection we have for one another will never change.
Joey...even if one day we don't end up together, I never regret every single moment we had together. Even if we don't end up as each other's last, I will always be thankful that you were, and will always be, my first love.
THE END.