𝙫𝙞. 𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙨𝙤 𝙙𝙤 𝙮𝙤𝙪

WILL WE TALK? - SAM FENDER

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—IT STARTED WITH one late-night text.then another.and another.

by friday, they'd been talking almost every day — little things at first. random memes. old inside jokes. stuff about school, dance, football. nothing too deep. but it was easy. like they'd just picked up from where they left off, without needing to explain anything.

liz hadn't realised how much she'd missed it until it was there again. the way he texted — half-sarcastic, half-sincere. how he'd type something dumb like "ur so dramatic" and then follow it with "but i kinda missed that."

she'd find herself smiling at her phone more than she wanted to admit.even saoirse had noticed.

"you've been on your phone constantly," saoirse said, lying on liz's bed with a bag of minstrels."no i haven't.""you have. who's got you grinning like that?"liz looked away, pretending to scroll. "no one."saoirse laughed. "you're so bad at lying. it's owen, isn't it?" liz groaned, covering her face with a pillow. "maybe." "oh my god, you're actually talking again." "don't make a big deal out of it.""liz, you're glowing. that is a big deal."

liz threw the pillow at her. "shut up."

across town, harry was saying pretty much the same thing.

they were sitting on the pitch after training, finishing bottles of lucozade, boots caked in mud. harry kicked at the grass. "so... you and liz talking again, yeah?"owen tried to sound casual. "kinda.""kinda?"

"yeah. just talking."harry smirked. "you've been smiling at your phone all week, mate." owen rolled his eyes. "you lot love making everything a thing.""only when it is a thing.""it's not.""sure." owen glanced over, trying not to smile. "you're annoying." "and you're whipped," harry shot back, grinning. "it's fine, i've accepted it."

owen didn't say anything after that — mostly because harry wasn't wrong.

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later that night, harry was scrolling through his phone when a thought hit him.he opened instagram and saw saoirse sent a reel about a minute ago, tapped on her name, and started typing.

harry: hey, random questionsaoirse: what's up?harry: u and liz doin anything this wkndsaoirse: not really yharry: me n the lads were thinkin abt goin out again pitches or shops or somethin maybe go townsaoirse: oh yeah?harry: yeah. thought we could get everyone out. been ages innitsaoirse: right. everyone as in?harry: everyone everyone saoirse: omg i've a feeling ur plotting smth😭harry: i'm not plotting 😇saoirse: u so areharry: nah i just think it'd be nice for certain ppl to hang out againsaoirse: ur too obvious cooper jrharry: fine then but ur not sayin no are yousaoirse: ...noharry: that's what i thought 😏

she laughed, tossing her phone onto her bed.harry was absolutely up to something  but for once, she didn't mind.

by sunday, liz's messages with owen were longer than ever. they'd gone from "wyd" to voice notes, from dry jokes to quiet, sleepy texts like "i missed this."

and she couldn't lie — she did too.

somewhere in between laughing over stupid memories and talking about music, things had started to feel new again.not like before, when everything was tense and uncertain. this time it was softer. slower. safer.still, she didn't really know what it meant.

and neither did he.

meanwhile, on owen's side  he was sat in his room, scrolling through the messages again, half smiling, half overthinking.

harry had said something earlier — "u shld ask her to go out bro it's been ages since." and now it wouldn't leave his head.

he didn't know if he was ready.but he wanted to be.

by the end of the weekend, two best friends  one on each side of town — were scheming quietly through their phones, trying to line up a "group hangout."

neither liz nor owen had a clue.

but harry and saoirse?they knew exactly what they were doing.

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saoirse had dragged liz out of the house early, claiming she "needed fresh air" when really she'd just been texting harry all morning, plotting. charlie couldn't make it, so it was just the four of them — harry, owen, saoirse, and liz.

they met outside the shopping centre, by that dodgy fountain that never quite worked properly.harry and owen were already there, drinks in hand, both mid-argument about something football-related.

"you're actually delusional," harry was saying. "that was never a foul." "it was, mate," owen said, smirking. "even the ref said so." "yeah, 'cause you were in a netflix show — they're all scared of you now.""oh shut up."

liz laughed as she and saoirse walked over. "you two ever stop?"harry grinned. "nah, it's tradition." owen looked up — and for a second, the whole world just sort of stuttered.

she was standing there in her off the shoulder hoodie and flared leggings, hair down and wavy, light catching on the little gold hoops she always wore.he smiled before he even realised he was smiling.

"hey," he said."hey," she said back, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

saoirse gave harry a look, like yep, we did that.

the plan was simple  arcade, food, then maybe shopping. just a chill day. inside the arcade, it was all flashing lights and noise. harry and saoirse disappeared almost instantly to the basketball hoops, leaving owen and liz at the air hockey table.

"harry and saoire seem quite close don't you think?" liz crossed her arms, smirking at the two of them giggling, the way harry watched her with the biggest smile on his face whilst she absolutely dominated him in the basketball hoops — despite how insanely competitive he is against other people. owen nodded. "erm- guess so" he shrugged with a small grin

"you're gonna lose," she said, grabbing the paddle."you say that every time," he replied."and i still win every time.""we'll see."

they played three rounds — she won two, he barely won one, and she didn't let him forget it. by the end, they were both doubled over laughing, breathless from how stupidly competitive it got.

"you cheated!" he said, still smiling. "you're just bad.""nah, i saw you leaning over the line." "cry about it.""i actually might."

they ended up walking side by side as they left, hands brushing occasionally — small, accidental, but neither of them moved away. in the food court, saoirse and harry were bickering about where to eat.

"greggs," saoirse said firmly."no, that place by the corner does better chips.""you're obsessed with chips." "you're obsessed with being wrong."

liz and owen just laughed. "they act like an old married couple," liz whispered. "honestly" owen said, smirking. "bet they text more than we do."liz raised an eyebrow. "oh? you keeping score now?""maybe."

they got food eventually  something easy, all sitting together in one of those too-bright booths by the window. conversation came and went in waves. jokes, laughter, small silences that didn't feel awkward anymore. and somewhere in between, liz realised just how normal it felt being next to him again. like all the stuff between them hadn't changed anything.

after food, they wandered through town — shops, side streets, aimless chatting.at one point, they ran into a few girls from the all-girls school. one of them — lydia spotted liz instantly.

"oh my god, liz!" she called out, walking over. "didn't know you were out." liz smiled. "hey!" lydia's eyes flicked between the four of them, her grin turning sly. "what's this then? double date? two-man??"  liz froze. saoirse snorted into her drink. harry tried (and failed) to look casual.

saoirse just blinked. "girl noooo it's not like that!""sure," lydia said, still smiling. "two boys, two girls. looks pretty date-y to me.." she said teasingly

liz laughed it off, cheeks going red. "you're so annoying." lydia winked. "if you say so." then she wandered off with her friends, leaving chaos in her wake.

saoirse burst out laughing. "double date, she says.""that was painful," liz muttered. "painful for you maybe," harry said. "some of us looked good."owen rolled his eyes. "you're unbelievable." 

"of course you're saying that, you've been giving saoirse googly eyes since she came!" liz teased. harrys face immediately turned red, started scratching the back of his neck. "yeah and?" he tilts his head, saoirse staring at liz with a jaw about to drop. 

"i'm trying not to judge you right now" saoirse joked, nudging harry's arm. "i'm just messin' around" he laughs, everyone knew he wasn't though.

but even after they laughed it off, liz couldn't help the way her stomach fluttered.double date. the words stuck, looping quietly in her head.

they were outside one of the clothing shops when it happened. 

a girl, maybe their age maybe a bit younger — came up shyly, phone in hand. "um, sorry," she said, looking at owen. "are you owen cooper?"

he froze for half a second, then nodded. "yeah, that's me." her face lit up. "oh my god, can i get a photo?""yeah, course."

he smiled for the camera, polite, used to it by now.but then she bit her lip, hesitating. "could i, um... get your snap too?"

liz looked away instantly, pretending to check her phone, even though her chest tightened a little.

owen laughed awkwardly. "uh, sorry — can't do that. but nice to meet you, yeah?" the girl blushed, said thank you, then left grinning.

harry waited two whole seconds before smirking. "smooth.""shut up," owen muttered."nah but you handled that well, to be fair.""drop it."liz was still staring at her phone. saoirse was watching her quietly, already clocking the shift in her expression.

"you good?" saoirse asked under her breath.liz nodded, forcing a smile. "yeah. fine."

but she wasn't. not really.

she knew owen was popular now, even her dad was talking about how him and her used to be close, liz making excuses that they both just "fell out" cause she didn't want to tell her dad that the boy she liked for ages got a girlfriend. well.. had.

she realised that owen was no longer her owen.  he was never hers and that just stung a little more.

she realised that more girls would probably go for him now which made her heart kinda ache. what if she wasn't the one he wanted? he wasn't hers. she'd told herself that. she'd promised herself that.

so why did it still sting like that?

as they headed home later, the sky fading into that deep orange kind of light, owen kept glancing at her.she was quieter now.smiling still, but in that half-hearted way he recognised.

he wanted to say something  ask if she was okay, maybe make her laugh again  but the words never came out.

they just walked side by side, the sound of their steps filling the silence.it wasn't awkward.just... loaded.

and for both of them, it felt like being right back where they started — the kind of almost that never really goes away.

the thought of him makes her  heart trip over itself,  not as bad as before, but just enough to remind her that she's not over it.