— f o u r —

REED AND ADAM BOTH turned to stare at him at the slam of the car door, with the engine still idling. Oliver glared at them in response.

"What?" he demanded. "I'm not allowed in the car either?"

Adam went from surprised to dumbfounded. "What are you talking about?"

Oliver ignored the question and turned his attention to Reed, daring him to try kick him out of the car. He didn't think Adam would be too hard to convince to listen to him, but there was no point trying it if Reed wasn't even willing to hear him out. Reed was the one who showed his anger of the two of them, not Oliver, so that might have been why he looked momentarily startled. Oliver would have felt triumphant at his expression if he wasn't annoyed. Catching Reed off-guard always felt like an accomplishment because he tried so hard not to be surprised, even if it was easy enough to do. He was far more expressive with his face than he realised.

"Fine," Reed said finally. "Whatever. Do what you want."

"And what is that?" Adam demanded, beginning to look a little annoyed himself. "I swear, if one of you doesn't start explaining what's going on, I'll kick you both out of my car and leave you to sort out your issues yourself."

"I'm giving you both an explanation to clear the air. I'm not spending the next year tiptoeing around you," Oliver said, looking at Reed who was resolutely avoiding his gaze. "Especially if we're on the same swim team."

"Okay." Adam considered it for a second before sighing. "We'll talk, but not here. Doesn't really seem like a car conversation."

"Your house?" Oliver suggested.

"No," Reed said immediately, sharper than Oliver was expecting. He just scowled at Oliver's confused glance and shook his head. "Not my house or Adam's house."

Oliver wasn't surprised that he'd declared his own house off-limits, because he was touchy about the fact that he wasn't as well off as the other Woodway kids and his mother when she was home, but he wasn't expecting the vehemence at the Montgomery household. It had been the place they hung out most because it was the middle point between their houses, and his parents were usually out with only the housekeeper watching over them. Reed had never cared about it then. Adam didn't look surprised and just shrugged when he saw Oliver's confusion.

"A lot has changed since you left," he said. "For reasons neither of them care to explain to me, Brooks and Reed have decided they're at war with one another. That apparently means not going to my house as much as possible."

"Fine," Oliver said slowly, knowing that was a discussion for another day. If Reed didn't want to tell Adam he certainly would start spilling his secrets to Oliver. "Not my house, either."

His parents were still under the impression that this past week had been a happy reunion with Reed and Adam for him, and that pretence would fall apart pretty quickly if the three of them turned up now to his mother's inevitable questions.

"Then where?" Adam asked.

"Juniper's," Reed said. "Bailey has a shift there now. At least I can get a free drink out of this."

Oliver just nodded when Adam glanced back at him for confirmation and didn't even have time to grab his seatbelt before Adam stepped on the gas, tearing out of the car park so fast Oliver was surprised he didn't clip off a wing mirror or two in the process. He soon learnt that despite how serious and responsible Adam was, he drove as if the brake didn't exist and the only way was up — on the speed. Oliver was quick to snap his seatbelt on as they sped down the road, hurtling past other cars and turning the world outside into a indistinguishable blur. He turned a five minute car ride into possibly less than a minute.

"Did you really pass your driving test?" Oliver wondered, unclipping his seatbelt only once the engine was safely switched off. "There is such a thing as a speed limit, you know. And looking before you turn."

"I look," Adam said archly. "I just don't waste my time spending ages doing it."

"He calls it economic driving," Reed said, making a show of rolling his eyes.

"Economic?" Oliver said in disbelief. "For our parents, after we die in a road traffic accident so they don't have to look after us anymore?"

"Hilarious," Adam said flatly, but Oliver didn't miss the twitch of Reed's lips in a barely suppressed smile. It felt like more of a triumph than something as trivial as that should have been and Oliver was a acutely aware that he still cared too much about what Reed thought about him. "Driving slow and looking over my shoulder constantly wastes time. Driving like this gets you places faster."

"Tell me how that holds up when you end up in court."

"Shut up." Adam shot him a peeved look in the rear view mirror. "Don't think you're off the hook yet. You still have a lot of explaining to do."

Juniper's was moderately busy for a Friday afternoon, all the local school kids enjoying the start of the weekend. Oliver found it strange that a few of the faces looked vaguely familiar and yet he couldn't actually place a name to them. Probably people he'd had a couple of classes with but never actually been friends with.

"Oh, hey," Bailey said, when the three of them approached the counter. She shot Reed an almost accusatory look. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming, Reed? We could have come together from practice."

"This wasn't my decision," he muttered, and he didn't need to look at Oliver for him to know that was directed at him. "We won't be staying for long."

"As long as we need," Oliver said.

Reed glared at him. "No — "

"I'll just have a hot chocolate," Oliver cut in, not in the mood to start at argument over something stupid. "Do you guys want anything?"

Adam ordered a black coffee but Reed just huffed and stalked to one of the booths in the corner of the room. "I apologise for my boyfriend's sulky behaviour," Bailey said, rolling her eyes as she put together their drinks. "Out of curiosity, what did you do to make Reed so mad at you? Am I allowed to ask that?" she added, when Oliver glanced uncertainly at Adam. "He hasn't said anything to me. I just figured from how he reacted at swim practice and from guessing that you're the reason we don't eat in the cafeteria anymore."

"We used to be friends until Oliver moved to London without telling us," Adam said. "And for reasons I don't understand, Reed is more angry about that than seems necessary."

That confirmed to Oliver that Reed had never mentioned what else had happened that night at Oliver's house but he wasn't surprised. He didn't think Reed would tell anyone and Oliver certainly hadn't. That was still between the two of them. It meant they couldn't discuss it now, in front of Adam, and Oliver was a coward for being relieved about that. Maybe if they became friends again they could just move on and pretend it never happened. He wasn't sure, even now, if that's what he wanted. But it was certainly the easiest route forward.

"Well, good luck with that conversation." Bailey slid their drinks across to them with a wry smile. "You're going to need it."

"Fine," Reed said, the moment Oliver and Adam had taken a seat at their booth in the corner. "You forced your way into Adam's car and convinced us to hear you out. So explain."

Oliver blew out breath. "What do you want to know?"

"What do I want to know?" Reed repeated with incredulity. "Well, let's see. Why you fucked off to London out of nowhere, why you never told us you were leaving, why you ignored all of our calls, why you then blocked our numbers, why — "

"Okay," Oliver interrupted, sensing that allowing him to finish his never-ending list would only give Reed more reasons to be pissed off at him. "I guess I'll go from the start. We had to move to London because of Lexie."

"Lexie?" Adam frowned.

"I don't know if you guys remember, but she was a pretty sick baby. She was always in and out of the hospital, had lots of appointments, was on all kinds of medication." Reed and Adam remained silent but Oliver was sure they did remember. He'd spent his last year at Woodway, the year Lexie was born, travelling straight from school to the hospital by bus to visit his sister on more days than not. "When she was one, the doctors suggested she move to a more specialised hospital for kids with problems like hers. The only problem there was only one in the country."

"And it was in London," Adam guessed, to which Oliver nodded. "Okay. That makes sense. What doesn't make sense it why the hell you wouldn't tell us you were leaving."

"I tried." Oliver stared down at his hot chocolate to avoid having to look at Reed. He'd been uncharacteristically quiet since Oliver had started explaining and he was scared at whatever he'd see in Reed's expression. "In those weeks leading up to the move, I kept trying to find the right moment to tell you guys and it never came. That last sleepover I had at my house was meant to be when I finally told you but — "

"But you didn't," Reed interjected, his voice hard. Beneath it there was an undertone of unease, of something else, and when Oliver looked up his heart skipped a beat at the intensity of his blue gaze. Oliver wondered if Reed had any idea how sometimes, when he looked at people like that, it felt as if he was staring straight into their soul. "You didn't, did you? And that was the last time we ever saw you."

Oliver stared right back at him. They both knew exactly what had happened at that sleepover, the first crack that had triggered the crumbling downfall of their friendship, and Oliver wasn't sure what exactly Reed was goading him into saying. Neither of them had spoken to each other about what happened, forget to Adam. Oliver didn't plan on having that discussion regardless of what Reed wanted.

"You said that I ignored our calls and blocked our numbers, implying you and Adam," Oliver said. "But you didn't call me once, Reed. It wouldn't have mattered if I blocked your number or not."

Reed glared at him. "Did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Did you block my number?"

"Yes," Oliver replied, knowing there was no point in beating around the bush with Reed. He always preferred the straightforward answer and it could clash at time with Oliver's preference to take the pussy way out, where possible. "I blocked it."

"You shouldn't have bothered." Reed voice was ice cold all over again. "I never called."

Oliver's hot chocolate tasted like dust in his mouth. He was certain this had nothing to do with him leaving for London without saying anything and everything to do with the less than friendly terms they'd ended on. It was the biggest argument they'd ever had and maybe they could have recovered from that, maybe, if Oliver hadn't disappeared on him with one final fuck up. Then the years of silence had cemented that tension into hatred, on Reed's end, anyway.

God, Oliver had really fucked up.

"This is stupid," Adam said, his voice laced with irritation. "Clearly, whatever the deal is between you two is isn't just about Oliver leaving to London and I have no idea what it is about. So one of you can fucking suck it up and tell me what is going on because I'm done with always being out of the loop."

Oliver looked at him in surprise. "Always?"

"The two of you were best friends long before I came into the picture and you were closer. Whatever," Adam said, when Oliver opened his mouth to interject. He was almost glad because Oliver wasn't sure what exactly he'd been about to say in defence. Present day aside, Oliver and Reed had always been a little closer, a natural familiarity that came with knowing each other for so long. "I don't care. I just want you to be upfront about everything now because otherwise we can't put this behind us and move forward."

Oliver sighed. "Fine - "

"No," Reed snapped. "Don't say a fucking word."

"Reed," Adam said with a scowl. "Seriously?"

"We had an argument. A big one," Oliver said, speaking a little faster before either of them could interrupt. Neither of them were ready for the full truth to come out but Adam deserved an answer. "It was during that last sleepover we had, the one at my house. You fell asleep early, Adam, and there was an argument and then I moved to London before it could be resolved. Reed never tried to call and I blocked his number, your number too, because I wanted to move on. I didn't think I'd be seeing either of you again."

"Yet here you are," Adam said quietly.

Oliver glanced at Reed but he was resolutely avoiding looking at both of them and glaring off into the distance with gritted teeth. He was aware of Bailey looking over at them from behind the counter, attempting to be subtle but not subtle enough for Oliver to miss it. He wasn't sure what she was seeing but it certainly wasn't the happy reunion anyone would be expecting.

"Look, I know I fucked up." Oliver squeezed the styrofoam cup between his hands so tightly it began to crumple a little and wished this whole apology thing was a little easier. Swallowing his pride to do it was hard enough - knowing they could still turn around and tell him to fuck off made it nearly impossible, but he had to at least try. "I was an asshole to both of you and I, uh...I'm sorry. I do regret it. Even if it didn't seem like I did I aways regretted how I ended things here. I know that doesn't change what happened but I really did miss you guys."

"Cheesy," Reed muttered, but the edge had fallen away from his words.

"Shut up and let me finish," Oliver ordered. The corner of Reed's mouth tugged into a reluctant smile and Oliver almost rolled his eyes. Of course, of all the things he'd said, that was the one that managed to drag a smile out of that stubborn idiot. "This whole spiel is cringey as hell but you're going to shut up and listen to whole thing because...well, because I'm telling you to."

Reed was definitely smirking now. "Go ahead, smartass."

Oliver had to bite his lip to stop himself breaking out into a smile. This whole week, Reed had made it clear all his insults were intended in a less than friendly but this was the first time there'd been a hint of that familiar teasing behind them. He was getting ahead of himself. Just because he wasn't being blatantly hostile, it didn't mean he was forgiven. It was never that simple with Reed."

"I'm here for good this year," Oliver continued. "And I don't really blame either of you if you want nothing to do with me after all these years, but it would sure be a lot easier if you did. I'm not saying it'll be exactly the same as before but it seems pointless to waste the entire year hating each other."

Adam folded his arms across his chest with a defensive look. "I never hated you."

"Maybe you didn't," Oliver said, with a pointed look at Reed. He gazed back at Oliver with a bored look and stuck his middle finger up. "Seriously? Did you seriously just flip me off?"

"Maybe I did, Sterling." There was a challenge in his tone but this time it wasn't hostile. Again, Oliver had to stop himself from smiling. This was progress. Questionable progress, but progress just the same. "What are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to finish what I was saying and pretend the person I'm trying to reconcile with isn't an immature idiot," Oliver said, his tone measured and without any heat. The familiar teasing was definitely there and Oliver was surprised at how easily it was to start falling back into that routine. "I'm not saying you have to forgive me, not straight away. But can't we at least try to be friends again? Leave everything that happened in the past and start fresh?"

He was looking at Reed for the last question. They both knew exactly what he was talking about - their argument, the one that left an awkward tension between them even five years later. He wasn't sure whether he was saying they sweep it under the rug to never discuss it again or that they wait until things were a little more steady to bring it up, but right now it didn't matter. First, he needed Reed to be okay with being in the same room as him. Baby steps, Oliver reminded himself. It was all about baby steps.

"I don't think we exactly have a choice to say yes seeing as Clair has now recruited you to our table for lunch. But it would have been yes anyway," Adam muttered, tacking a shrug on the end as if to retract from the meaning behind his words. Oliver knew that was the best he'd be getting considering how awkward Adam was with emotions. "You left me to deal with Reed for five years. Your turn to take responsibility."

"I did it for years before you came along," Oliver said with a small smile. "It only felt fair to let you experience my struggles too."

Adam's smile in response was grudging but genuine. "Fair. Now we're even."

"I'm sitting right here, you pricks," Reed grumbled.

He glanced at Oliver and Oliver stayed silent, waiting to see whether Reed was willing to get over this. He'd always been the stubborn one, the one to hold a grudge, and Oliver had said everything he could. He'd made all the apologies he needed to and there was nothing more he could do to have Reed forgive him. If he still wanted nothing to do with him, Oliver would just have to swallow the bitter rejection and resign himself to a year of uncomfortable weirdness.

"Alright," Reed said finally. "You said it yourself, we're going to be on the same swim team and apparently sitting together at lunch now. Avoiding the cafeteria every lunch period is too much effort. This doesn't mean you're off the hook," he warned, with an almost accusatory look in Oliver's direction. "Not yet. I'm still pissed off at you. But I guess we can maybe...try to be friends again. It couldn't be the worst thing in the world."

"Surely not the worst," Oliver said, trying and failing to suppress his smile.

Reed huffed. "Shut the fuck up. You owe me big time."

"I'll buy you a coffee?"

"More like a hundred coffees," Reed said. "You can't pay me off with anything less than at least one hundred."

"Oh, please," Adam said with a scoff. "You're worth, like, three coffees, Reed."

"I'm definitely worth more coffees than you," Reed retorted.

"You wish."

"Jesus, I'm not made of money and that shit is expensive. You both get one free coffee," Oliver said. "That's it."

"Pathetic," Reed said.

But for the first time since Oliver had returned to his old home, Reed's smile was entirely free of malice and Oliver's stomach began twisting into not entirely unpleasant knots at the sight of it. That could be a problem, just like it had been a problem five years ago, but it was also an entirely manageable problem. Reed had moved on and Oliver would just shove aside those pesky one-sided feelings that still lingered, without having to draw any attention to them or acting on them.

He was so close to having everything back to normal. He would never be stupid enough to make that mistake again.