Marcus/Rocco
"…It's good to see you again, Rocco."
The words settled heavily into the silence. For a second, nobody moved.
The parking lot noise blurred strangely around us. Students crossed
between cars laughing about finals and weekend plans while our entire group
stood frozen beside my car like reality had suddenly split open.
Noah looked deeply concerned.
"Okay," he muttered carefully. "Either I missed several seasons of plot
development or we're all having a shared mental breakdown."
Nobody answered him. Because Darren still looked at me like he still
couldn't believe I existed. Not the least shocked or scared. Just relieved.
"You disappeared after the funeral," Darren said quietly, finally
looking toward Callie.
Callie's expression tightened instantly. Not guilt. Pain.
"I know," she answered softly.
I look between them. "Wait… You attended my funeral?"
The words hit strangely hard.
Because they thought I was dead. For years, and I wasn't even aware.
"We never saw your body," Darren admitted after a moment. "But there was
a coffin. Everyone said your family was gone." His jaw tightened slightly.
"Then Callie disappeared after too."
Noah slowly pushed his hand through his hair.
"I'm way less confused and way more concerned now."
Riley elbowed him lightly without taking her eyes off Darren.
Callie stayed quiet beside me.
"We couldn't bear the loss of losing you… both… so we moved here. My
parents thought it'd give us a fresh start." Darren continued.
Something uncomfortable shifted inside my chest.
I thought I had remembered everything. Not perfectly or every detail but
enough.
Enough to know Rocco had existed. And I had finally began to accept both
parts of me. This cracked something open again. Because memories were one
thing, a person standing in front of you saying; I thought you were dead.
Was another entirely.
"That's when we saw you again sophomore year." Darren admitted quietly,
looking back at me. "I didn't believe it but there you were acting exactly the
same."
My brow furrowed slightly. "What do you mean?"
He laughed softly under his breath.
"The way you get quiet when you're thinking." He shrugged faintly. "Or
get into fights that doesn't involve because your friend is in trouble."
Noah chuckled and pointed.
"He does do that."
"Thank you, Noah," Riley muttered.
Darren smiled slightly at them.
"You used to make the exact same face whenever anyone annoyed you."
For a moment, nobody spoke. The air between us felt too heavy. We were
trying to process it.
Beside me, Valen remained unusually silent. Just watching.
Callie finally cleared her throat. "…How's she doing."
Darren glanced towards her again. "She's good… and nearby."
Callie immediately stiffened. My gaze shifted toward her.
"You told her?" Callie asked.
"She figured it out before I did," Darren admitted. "She saw him playing
during a soccer match. Wouldn't stop asking about him after."
Callie rubbed her thumb nervously against her sleeve. That tiny movement
alone told me more than words could have.
She was nervous. And Callie never got nervous.
The parking lot lights flickered faintly overhead as evening settled
deeper around the school. Then headlights swept across the pavement.
Everyone turned instinctively.
A dark car rolled slowly into the lot before stopping a few rows away.
Darren exhaled quietly. The driver's door opened. A girl stepped out
slowly.
Dark curls spilled over the collar of her coat as she shut the car door
behind her.
She looked straight at Darren then smiled. "Thanks for lending me the
car…"
Then she looked behind him and stopped moving. Her eyes landing on
Callie instantly.
The breath left her lungs so suddenly I heard it from several feet away.
"Oh my…" she whispered.
Callie looked wrecked. Every wall she normally carried collapsed so fast
it hurt to watch.
"Liv…"
At the moment, it hit me. This wasn't just Rocco's past standing in
front of us. This was Callie's too.
The girl, Liv… stared at her like she couldn't decide whether to cry or
laugh first.
She crossed the distance between them almost immediately before pulling
Callie into a hug hard enough to nearly knock her backward.
Callie made a small sound before hugging her back just as tightly. And
just like that, years collapsed between them.
No sarcasm. No guarded expressions. No pretending they were okay. Just
grief finally finding somewhere to go.
"You disappeared," Livia said shakily against Callie's shoulder.
"I know," Callie whispered back.
"I looked everywhere for you."
Callie shut her eyes tightly. "I'm sorry."
Livia pulled back just enough to look at her properly.
"You idiot," she whispered, already crying despite the laugh tangled in
her voice. "You vanished for seven years."
Callie laughed weakly too, wiping quickly at her eyes. "I know."
Noah looked emotionally overwhelmed. "I feel like I should not be here."
"We absolutely should not," Riley agreed softly.
But neither of them moved. Neither did i.
Because now, she was looking at me.
The emotion in her face shifted instantly the moment her eyes met mine.
Not simple shock. Something deeper. Aching. Like she'd spent years
preparing herself for this moment and still wasn't ready for it.
She took a slow careful step closer.
Suddenly a strange flicker crossed my mind. Summer sunlight. A younger
girl yelling at Darren while grabbing my wrist and dragging me across grass.
Laughter. Warmth. Bright skies.
The memory vanished but the feeling stayed.
"You really are alive," Livia said softly.
The words weren't dramatic. That somehow made them hurt more. Because
technically, she was wrong.
Rocco wasn't alive. Except part of him was. Inside me. Beside me.
Entangled with everything I'd become.
And now, I wasn't sure where Marcus ended and Rocco began anymore.
Livia laughed quietly under her breath, shaking her head slightly like
she still couldn't believe what she was seeing.
"I told you," She murmured toward Darren. "I told you it was him."
Darren smiled tiredly. "Yeah."
Her eyes returned to mine again. Searching. Not for answers. For him.
And maybe that was the hardest part. Because I could feel the shape of
what she remembered emotionally even when the details still escaped me.
Like my soul remembered them before my mind fully could.
Callie moved beside her quietly now, eyes still red.
"You really figured it out?" she asked.
Livia nodded slowly without looking away from me.
"He smiled as carefree as he always did when playing soccer," she
admitted softly.
Noah blinked. "That's insane."
"You were always terrible at hiding emotions," Darren added.
"I still don't understand how any of this is happening," Riley admitted
quietly.
Neither did I. not fully.
But standing here now, for the
first time since getting my memories back, Rocco no longer felt like fragments
inside my head.
He felt real. With a real life. With real people who had mourned him for
seven years.
And that reality terrified me more than I'd like to admit.
Livia stepped closer again.
Close enough now that I could see tears threatening the corners of her
eyes despite how hard she was trying to stay composed.
Then she smiled. Small. Sad. Warm in a way.
Like seeing someone return from a place grief had already buried them.
"Hi, Rocco."