Hearing some laughter, Josh brought his attention across the street down a little ways to a couple guys wrestling. A smile immediately spread across his features as he recognized the guys as Justin and Joey. Crossing the dead street, Josh ran over to his old friends whom he hadn't seen since Christmas.

"Nice to know some things never change." He said, smiling down at the two guys, only to be knocked over by them.

"Finally, man! We didn't think we'd ever see you around here again." Justin said, giving him a nugie.

"Nice to know you still remember where you're from!"

"Alright! OK! I guess I deserve that, now will you let me up?" He said, fighting them off him.

"Fine, fine." They both agreed, standing up and helping him to his feet. "So, how ya been man? How's school? Ya know, since you can't pick up a phone and call every once in a while and check in with your buds!"

"I know, I'm sorry. I guess I just figured ya'll hated me since...well, you know."

"Well, we were all pissed at you at one point or another, ‘cause let's face it, that was fucked up, man. But you're our friend either way."

"Yeah, what he said." Joey was never one for intelligent conversation.

"Thanks guys." Eyeing the coffee shop to his right, he took a dive. "She still work there?"

"You know she does. She ain't gonna leave that damn coffee shop until she goes away for music school."

"So, she's still doing music?"

"Of course she is. I don't know of anything that ever meant anything more to her than her music." Then Justin looked into Josh's eyes. "Even you."

"I know." Josh gave his friend a little smile, still eyeing the old shop.

"You wanna go in? She's working."

"Nah. I'm not ready yet." Josh said, shaking his head.

"When are you gonna stop being a fucking coward and face the fact that Raleigh at the very least deserves an explanation as to why you broke her heart? And in that way too!"

Wow. Neither Josh nor Justin were expecting that to come from Joey. But it did, and Josh knew he was right. He couldn't keep running from the choice he had made about his five year relationship with the woman he loved all his life.

"You're right, Joe. I am a coward and I can't keep running. But I'm not going to go in there and make a scene while she's working. Is she playing tonight?"

"Yeah. Usually goes on every other night at nine. But lately she hasn't been playing. Been busy with a lot of stuff. Tonight's her night though. She's doing a huge concert type thing." Justin informed him. "See you there?"

"Yeah man. Count on it." Looking around he sighed. "Well, I should get going. I was on my way to get some things for my mom from Bud's."

"Alright, catch ya later. Don't be late!"

"I won't." Josh gave each of them a "manly hug" before walking away. You know the one. Where they do a half hand shake, half hug type thing. Pretty dumb.

Giving the two a wave, Josh walked away in the direction of Bud's, the town grocery store. His mind was filled with thoughts of Raleigh and how she'd react once she saw him. How would he even react? He had been told she looks a little different than the last time he had seen her, but how different could she look? Josh thought she was perfect the way she was, why would she need to change that?

Ok, so every now and again she'd complain about being too chubby, but girls who you couldn't decipher between a twig and her, that just wasn't attractive to him. She had this long, curly brown hair that he had loved to run his fingers through, and the smell of her shampoo was just amazing. An aphrodisiac all in it's own. Her eyes were almost a lilac color, one that he loved the most. No matter how often he saw them, Josh just could not get enough of her beautiful, amazing eyes. He didn't know what it was, but there was something powerful about them. It was like, without even trying, she could look deep into your soul to find how you really, truly feel about something if you weren't man, or woman, enough to speak the truth.

Which was another thing he adored about this amazing young woman. When it came down to it, she could never lie to him, or anybody she cared that much about. But she was fully trustworthy. You could tell her the biggest secret about one of her best friends, and she would hold it to her grave. Which was why Josh felt so terrible. The way he had ended things, it was just horrible. She was such a true person, somebody he could easily see himself spending the rest of his life with, which he had spent most of it with already. And he had lied to her about so many things. When he came home for Christmas, he pretended everything was fine. He acted as though nothing had changed, when in fact, it had. And then as soon as he got back to school in New York, he sent the letter that crushed her life.

How could somebody be so heartless? So uncaring? Well, maybe that's what he wanted all along. To make her believe he was heartless and uncaring, so then maybe, it would make it easier for her to hate him.

~*~

"Josh? Honey, you in here?" Karen, Josh's mother, said, knocking on the bathroom door.

"Yeah, I'll be out in a second, Mom." Josh shouted out to her, before taking another look at himself in the mirror.

Was he really ready to see her again? He didn't really think so, but ready or not, here he comes.

Opening the door, he told his mom, "it's all yours." Before walking past her down the hallway.

"Where you off to?"

"I ran into Justin and Joey earlier when I was going to Bud's for you, so now I'm going down to The Landing to meet up with them."

"Mmhmm, you better not do anything to upset Raleigh while she's playing." Karen warned him. She had loved that girl like she was her own daughter. But Josh was her son so of course she still loved him and reasoned that there were good reasons for doing what he did, although she had yet to hear some of them.

"Don't worry Mom. I'm gonna be keeping a low profile, believe me."

"Good. I'll see you later, Baby. Don't be home too late."

"Yeah, I know. Bye Mom." He gave her a kiss on the cheek before grabbing his car keys and leaving the house. He couldn't believe how nervous he felt. It was like he hadn't seen her in years, when it had only been five months. Maybe it was because he hadn't had the balls to break things off in person, or even over the phone. Yeah, that had to be it.

Throwing the car into park, Josh got out and walked towards the coffee shop he had come to know very well, and back into his past. Walking in, he was greeted with the familiar scent of the different coffee types. Which brought tons of different memories, some good, some bad. But they were welcome. It had been too long.

"Dude, you made it!" Joey yelled across the room, before jumping up and running over to tackle him.

"Nice to see you too." Josh laughed as Joey picked him up off the floor. "Now put me down."

"Alright, alright. Come on, the guys are all here." Joey started to lead him over to their table next to the platform where Raleigh was going to be singing, but before Josh could even think to move, Janie, Raleigh's older sister, was in front of him.

"What are you doing here."

"I'm fine, how are you, Janie?" He said sarcastically.

"Cut the bullshit. Nobody break's Ray's heart and gets away with it. Not even someone who was practically family. Now, I ask again. What are you doing here?" Josh could read all over her face and eyes she wasn't joking. She always had her sister's back, and if she didn't one of their brothers certainly would have. He had witnessed many people almost get the crap beat out of them because they did or said something to Raleigh. You didn't screw with the Coons family. They were close.

"I'm just here to hang out and catch up with my buddies. Is that a crime?"

"It is if you make a scene with Ray. Just watch yourself." With that, Janie left him and went back to waitressing. The Landing was a family business, which is partly why Raleigh never had the heart to leave it. Not until she goes away to college anyway.

Walking to the table Joey was leading him to before Janie blocked his way, Josh eyed James. "Hey guys."

"Josh? Damn, feels like it's been forever." Chris, the oldest of the group of friends said, standing up to give him a hug.

"I know what you mean. So how you been, man? How's Mandy doing? You two still together?"

"Oh yeah, man. We're doing better than ever. She's uh..."

"What? She's what?" Josh urged as he watched Chris smile from ear to ear and scratch his face.

"She's pregnant, dude. I'm gonna be a dad." It was so easy to tell that Chris was so happy, as happy as he'd ever been. He'd always talk about marrying Amanda Knowles and raising a family with her one day. They were sweethearts, not just as kids, but all through high school and college. They made a long distant relationship work. Theirs was the perfect example of a strong relationship. One that could make it through all time. One Josh and Raleigh obviously hadn't had.

"Wow, man. Congrats. I'm happy for you." Josh said, giving Chris a pat on his shoulder. And he really was happy for the man. He would make a great father, because he had a great father.

"Thanks." Chris beamed, happiness oozing out of him. With the lights dimming, the guys sat down and everyone became quiet when they heard Mr. Coons' voice booming through the speakers all around the cafe.

"Alright ya'll. I know what ya'll have been waiting for, and it's that time!" He stopped and waited a minute as everyone screamed. Looking around himself, Josh could swear all of Shelby and half of Memphis was there tonight, that's how packed it was. And it wasn't all that big either. "So, without further adue, it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you, my daughter, with her brand new look, give it up ya'll, for Raleigh!" Not one light shown, but tons of voices screamed for the woman. When he had left, Raleigh was not this popular. Did the people love her voice that much? Then two purple lights shown down on her still body as the music began. Or did they just love to look at her?

She came on with something like Josh had never seen before. A black top that hugged her breasts, and showing quite a bit of cleavage, and didn't cover any of her stomach. The sleeves went all the way down her arms, and flared out at the ends. The skirt, if you'd call it that, was very low-cut, with a long slit up her left leg, going almost all the way up her leg to the top of the skirt. Both pieces were black with designs and a few sequins on the outer layer that sparkled perfectly in the lighting. Her shoes were very high strappy things that Josh had no idea how she was dancing in. Did she dress like this often to perform? Last he knew, she wasn't a superstar, and The Landing just had small people sing a few songs acoustically. Not have a big fiasco of a concert. But she did look good, he had to admit. His eyes unable to tear from her body. Her hair was definitely shorter than the last time he saw her, at least by a foot, but it was still to her chest. She had silver hoop earrings on, along with a lot of make-up. Mainly black eyeliner. Still scanning her new fit, tan perfected body, Josh's mouth dropped open and eyes widened at what he saw. She had her belly button pierced, along with a tattoo on her lower back. This was definitely not the girl he once knew. She hated needles, couldn't even be alone with the doctor when he told her she needed a shot. How in the hell did she do this?

Still, sitting there in complete shock, and awe at his ex-girlfriend, Josh wondered what drove him to break up with this woman. She was amazing, inside, and out. The way she sang and danced with such passion, it amazed him. She amazed him. She had gone through three songs already, all of which were like nothing he had heard from her before.

Then, he watched as she sat down on a stool and took a sip from her water bottle. Then she put the microphone to her beautiful lips, and she spoke in that oh so angelic voice Josh never could get enough of. What the hell was wrong with this man? Was he completely insane?

"Hey ya'll." Raleigh smiled at the crowd. "Wow, there is a lot of people here tonight, I'm not use to these kind of crowds." She let out a little giggle as everyone cheered yet again, did it ever stop? "I'm guessing you like the new stuff?" And more loud screams. "Good. So do I. How about the look? Do I pull it off?" She stood up and twirled around for everyone to see, and of course, they cheered. "Well thank you. Mom made it for me. I wasn't so sure of it, but I guess I must look good according to you guys." Her smile never once fell, even when she locked eyes with Josh. She seemed a little, hell, a lot shocked to see him, but would never let it show while on stage. This is what she was born for. She was always meant for bigger and better things than this little town. Those things being in the spotlight on a huge stage performing for millions of screaming, adoring fans. That's all she wanted more than anything. Swallowing, Raleigh looked down to the floor for a second before looking back up and bringing the microphone back to her mouth. "Well, I'm gonna bring things down a bit, hope ya'll don't mind." Of course they don't. "Well, as most of you know, Grandma Coons died last week." What? Josh felt like screaming. She died? How? All these questions, and tons more, ran through his mind. "And uh, it was really hard for my family and I. But you all stuck by our side and helped out in everyway you possibly could. And we thank you from the bottom of our hearts." Clearing her throat, she was obviously getting choked up, she spoke again. "This is a song I wrote a few days ago when I was just sitting up in my bedroom. My good friend, James here, is such a sweetheart. He's going to help me get through this. James will be playing the piano for me, and help me through the lyrics." She said, with her hand on his shoulder, his hand planted firmly on top of hers as to say he wasn't going anywhere, which of course infuriated Josh. Looking to the ceiling, Raleigh closed her eyes. "Wherever you are, Grammy, we love you, we miss you, and we hope to see you soon. This is for you."

Taking one more look at the crowd, and yes, Josh, she took a breath and closed her eyes, letting the words flow through her.

I really miss you
There's something that I gotta say

The things we did, the things we said
Keep coming back to me and make me smile again
You show me how to face the truth
Everything that's good in me I owe to you

Though the distance that's between us
Now may seem to be too far
It will never separate us
Deep inside, I know you are...

Never gone, never far
In my heart is where you are
Always close, everyday
Every step along the way
Even though for now we've got to say goodbye
I know you will be forever in my life
Never gone

Oh no no no no

I walk along, these empty streets
There is not a second you're not here with me
The love you gave, the grace you show
You'll always give me strength and be my cornerstone
Somehow you found a way to see the best I have in me
As long as time goes on
I swear to you that you will be...

Never gone, never far
In my heart is where you are
Always close, everyday
Every step along the way
Even though for now we've got to say goodbye
I know you will be forever in my life

Never gone from me
If there's one thing I believe
I will see you somewhere down the road again

Never gone, never far
In my heart is where you are
Always close, everyday
Every step along the way
Even though for now we've got to say goodbye
I know you will be forever in my life

Never gone, never far
In my heart is where you are
Always close, everyday
Every step along the way

Never gone, never far
In my heart is where you are

With the fading out of the piano and background music, everyone was silent for a moment, just soaking it all in, but then everyone burst out with cheers and applause. Every single person in there with tears staining their face, including Raleigh as she hugged the life out of James before he took his seat back with the guys. But not before giving Josh a stern look.

Wiping her eyes, Raleigh smiled at the crowd, who were still cheering wildly. "Thank you."