Chapter Text
An apple came sailing through the air and landed with a this on the table in front of Dana who watched it bounce then roll off to the ground. Any other time she would probably have gone to rescue it, apples being her favourite fruit, but she had felt a shift in the air, one that she had not at all been prepared for. She knew what it meant, whose arrival it signalled. She didn't know what it was about Logan Reese that made her feel this way, but whatever it was, she couldn't fight it, not even after having been away from him and this entire school for three years.
She remained in her seat, not daring to even look round. She wasn't at all prepared to see him again, despite knowing that she was going to be coming back here for the last semester of her entire school career for over a month. She hadn't dared tell any of her old friends that though, in fact part of her had actually hoped that they had forgotten about her, but as that mop of curly brown hair sat opposite her, she knew that she was out of luck there.
"Dana?" Logan sounded surprised to see her there, which she supposed made sense, but still - she didn't even really expect him to recognise her.
"Hi." She said quietly, trying for a smile as she met his gaze. She had hoped that the distance between them would have made her heart forget him, but it would seem that it had done the opposite.
"You're back?"
Dana blinked a couple of times, part of her wondering if he was stupid or just in shock. Obviously she was back as she was sitting right there in front of him. She opened her mouth to answer him but he cut her off with a slight wave of his hand.
"Don't answer that. I just - wow. Have you seen Zoey yet?" Logan was moving around the bench now so that he was sitting next to her.
It made Dana both relax and tense up to have him so close to her. When she left for France she was only fourteen years old, just a child, but that didn't mean that she had ever forgotten how he had smelled, like honey, hair gel, and what she could only guess was gym shoes.
"No, I've not seen anyone yet. I only just got here." That was a lie. She'd arrived last night but she had decided to hide away in her dorm and adjust to PCA life again. Sure, hiding from the outside world was probably counter-productive, but she wasn't really looking at the logic just then. She realised though, that she could just use the excuse that she didn't know where to find the others, it wasn't as if they had actually kept in touch with her.
"They'll be happy to see you." Logan's smile seemed genuine, but Dana wasn't sure if she could let herself believe it. It all seemed too surreal that he was even sat there with her in the first place, especially without first insulting her or trying to start an argument. She had to admit that it was refreshing, but it was not at all how she anticipated this reunion going.
Dana picked up her own apple, taking a bite as she thought it over. As anxious as she was about being back here, she wanted to believe him that everyone had missed her - she'd missed them even if that had been something that she had found difficult to admit to begin with.
"Where are they now?" Dana asked, letting herself get caught up in the idea of getting reacquainted with her old friends for a moment. It certainly helped that Logan was now right next to her, his knee touching hers. Dana couldn't help but let her thoughts run away with the idea that he had missed her as much as she had missed him.
"Probably in the girls' dorm." Logan told her before nodding in the direction of the same old building that Zoey's dorm had always been. "Wanna come?" He asked her, flashing her a smile before he got to his feet.
Dana followed suit before she'd even had a chance to make the decision herself. It would be good to see them all and she knew that - and she wasn't ready to leave him again either. "They're all still in the same place then?" She asked as they walked. She wanted to ask so many questions about a million different things that could have happened over the years, but she didn't want him to start asking questions about what she had been doing, so she kept her mouth mostly closed.
"Uh, kinda. Quinn, Lola, and Zoey are all in the same form, but Michael and I have a new roommate. You've missed some stuff, but we've plenty time to get caught up." Logan told her. This, and the absence of both Nicole and Chase's names, made a knot form in the pit of Dana's stomach. She really had missed a lot.
Just before they could walk into the building, however, Logan stopped them and pressed a soft kiss to the top of Dana's head. "It's good to see you again." He said softly before he disappeared inside. Dana hesitated for a moment before she followed him. They'd shared a proper kiss once before, right before she'd left, and now she found herself wanting to repeat it.