Don't forget, this is a continuation of the introduction/prologue! If you need to, go back and read that :)

His Game: Epilogue

Joey POV

"Joey?"

In an instant, my eyes find him through the crowded bar. Despite the dancing bodies moving all around and the strobing lights only illuminating spaces for a second or two before darting off somewhere else, I find him.

I never thought I would see Rhett Calvetti again.

I never see people from the places I've lived in and moved on from. I put them so far out of my mind, that even if I do run across someone from my past, I wouldn't put two and two together and they'd be just another stranger on the street.

I shouldn't be surprised that that tactic doesn't work with Rhett.

"Joey?" He repeats, his body slipping easily through the crowd and towards me.

My friends have already dissipated into the bar, finding the craziest part of the dancing room and have joined the drunkest people so they don't look as ridiculous when they dance.

Then he's in front of me, and everything I've fought so hard to keep away for the last few years threatens to come rushing back.

I'm still the same Joey I was and he's still the same Rhett I remember. Only now he's older. He has a dusting of dark stubble across his jaw, signifying a few days of missed shaving, and he fills his shirt out with more muscle than when we were 18. His hair is slightly shorter, lighter, and all of his features seem more defined. But his eyes are what make me nearly suck in a breath.

They used to be so playful, so confident to the point of pure cockiness. Now, they seem almost darker. Older. They're missing the mischievous smile they always held. But, I do notice the way they shine with the same emotion they did back then as he looks at me now. 

Rhett grins as he steps up to me, a disbelieving laugh passing his lips. "Josephine Chapman, what are the-"

"Joey," I cut him off, a teasing grin playing naturally at my lips as I stare at him through my lashes.

He looks confused for all of a second, and then his eyes melt into a sort of familiarity and he glances down with a small chuckle, throwing his hands in his pockets.

"My mistake," he says as he lifts his eyes to mine, "Joey, cute." He tries to smirk, to get that first moment we met completely right, but he can't hold it without having it turn into a nearly mesmerized smile.

My own teasing smirk melts into a small smile and I stare up at him, still partially under the belief that this is some weird dream and that he's not really standing in front of me.

"It's good to see you, Rhett," I say honestly.

He nods towards the bar with that same smile refusing to leave his lips. "Let me buy you a drink."

We sit at the bar, the bartender sliding over with two beers already in hand. He glances at me, back at Rhett, then at me once more, and something in his eyes seems to click as he nods to himself. And this time when he glances between us, he smiles and walks away as though he just won something.

I direct my attention back to Rhett who's looking out at the crowd, trying to wrap my head around what's happening right now. I'm sitting at a bar with Rhett Calvetti, someone I left when he was still a boy, and am now seeing again as a man.

"I didn't think I'd ever run into you again," I admit.

He glances down at his beer and spins to face the bar, "I know."

I flinch a little from the pained nostalgia in his voice, recalling our last moments together when I rejected him. But I did what I had to do to let us both move on.

Rhett moves past it and sends me a smile.

"It's been a long time though, was beginning to think I'd never see you either," he says.

"What has it been?" I ask, grabbing my own bottle and feeling the cold glass numb my fingers. "Five years?"

He lifts the drink to his lips, pausing to answer before he takes a sip. "Since we met? Six today."

I freeze.

"Today?"

Taking another large swallow, Rhett keeps his eyes trained tightly on the sweating label of the bottle. "Today is October 9th." Then he shifts his eyes to me with a sort of ironic smile, "What are the odds, right?"

"Right."

My voice comes out small, because his words shock me to my core. Every year, October 9th has left a sour taste in my mouth. I suppose a part of my mind refused to let me look at a calendar today, protecting me from the slew of heartache that comes with it every year.

I shift my eyes to the beer in my hands, lifting it up and downing half of it.

After Rhett drove off that day, I sank back into the mindset I've been forced to keep by moving around so much. Every time I move, I have to rid the memories from my mind, put up my walls to build up my confidence, and don't allow the world to know how much it's hurt me.

But leaving him... putting up that façade was harder than it ever had been with any move before. I spent most nights in my room for the first month in Chicago, and I rarely spoke to anyone other than Jacob.

It took me awhile to sink back into myself. To be the confident Josephine I let the world see, and I think a small part of her was left with Rhett.

"How was college, anyways? You get into your dream school?" Rhett asks, breaking the silence that blanketed us.

Flashbacks of late night talks with Rhett about where I always wished to go to school appear across my eyes, and I take a second to force them down. I was able to keep my feelings for him at the back of my mind for the past six years, I can't let them come back now.

He's moved on. I've moved on.

"I did," I say, "And it was everything I dreamed it would be. What about you?"

He nods, "College was fun. Most of it I don't remember," he says with a sly grin, "But there was always something missing."

He tenses for a second and stares tightly at his beer, as if he wishes he hadn't added the last part, but my eyes soften.

"I know what you mean," I admit gently.

He looks at me and his small smile sends all of my feelings rushing past the weak barrier I put up, and suddenly I feel like we're back in high school playing some silly teenage dating game that produced real adult feelings.

"So, what brought you to San Francisco?" I ask, referring to the city that this bar lives in. "You live here now?"

He slowly nods, "I do, Dino and Roger too. What about you, though? What brought you back out to the Golden State?"

I glance behind us and try to spot my friends in the dancing mix of drunkards and chuckle once I spot them. "Me and a few friends are doing a cross country tour, and Sam had it on his bucket list to see the Golden Gate Bridge."

I sense the subtle tensing of Rhett's shoulders, "Sam? That the guy you came in with?"

I quirk a brow at the sudden jealous shift in his tone, only there's something different about this than years before. Back then, there was a possessive undertone to his behavior when other guys send a few flirtatious comments my way. Now, though, his voice doesn't sound angered or protective.

After all, there's no longer anything between us to protect.

Instead his voice sounds calm, words easing out, but I pick up on the defeat layered beneath his easygoing tone.

"Come on, Rhett," I chuckle, "you really think anyone could tame and lay claim to me? He's my best friends boyfriend. You know, the other girl I walked in with?"

Though barely tensed, I see Rhett's muscles relax and his grip on his beer comes more natural. His expression shows slight embarrassment of being bothered by the thought of me dating someone, even after all these years.

"You always did have a cute jealous look," I muse, sipping my drink with a small smirk.

He glances over at me and scoffs with a small grin, "I'm not jealous, Joey. I was simply surprised at the idea someone was able to win you, a wild horse, over."

But he's always been a poor liar.

I quirk a brow at him, "You may have an older look, but jealousy is one thing age does not change."

He leans back in his chair and studies me, "You think I look older?"

"Well you didn't have the scruff back in high school. And," I add, nodding jokingly to his still toned as ever body, "I think all of those beers are catching up to you."

He quirks a brow and instantly smirks, "Sweetheart, I can promise you that this body is just as fit as it was back when we first met." Then he lifts his hand to the scruff on his face, going up his jaw and back down, "As for this, you like it?"

I smirk, "If I say no are you going to shave it off?"

His lips mirror mine, "Babe, I'd do anything you ask."

A smile stretches across my face from such a familiar joking pattern sparking between us, and I start to laugh. He instantly joins in, eyes stuck to me the entire time. The high pitch of my laugh was something I grew up being embarrassed of, especially when Billy Rutherford would look upon me in disgust when he heard it the first time. However, I learned to deal with having an overly obnoxious laugh and refused to let it bother me anymore. I didn't learn to love it until I saw the way it made Rhett look at me.

I missed that look.

"No, I like it," I decide after my laughter subsides.

He smiles, "Finally, after all these years I finally get a compliment from Josephine Chapman. I must be special or something."

I smirk, "You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?"

He grins, a halfhearted smile that doesn't reach his eyes, and doesn't respond.

"Well, what about me," I ask, "How do I look?"

Rhett glances me over, raking his eyes slowly over my body, and then looks back at his beer, lifting to drink it with a small smirk. "Still beautiful as ever."

"Smooth, aren't you?"

"I've seen a few more rom-coms since the last time you saw me."

"Doing your homework, I see."

Rhett chuckles and I find myself unable to look away from his eyes as the same boyish mischief slowly begins to appear in them again.

"Had to figure out a better way to get girls to fall for me." 

Despite the sour taste of his cocky words, I know it is meant as a joke and I chuckle.

"I feel like we've had this discussion. Remember? Me, you, a small bridge I nearly fell off of? 30 days isn't a long time to fall in love."

Rhett slowly nods, and suddenly the mood shifts.

"It was long enough for everyone but you."

Ouch.

I wince. Hard. He notices and a flash of guilt appears, but he averts his gaze rather quickly and I do the same.

I was waiting for him to bring up that day. First time we see one another in six years? It was inevitable that one of us at least hints to it, we can't just act as though it never happened.

We can't do exactly what I've trained myself to do and pretend we never happened.

I lower my eyes to my beer, "You were supposed to say 'some months have 31,'" I say quietly.

He chuckles, but there's no humor to it. As he lifts the beer to his mouth, he pauses. "I've learned by now that one extra day doesn't make a difference."

Thankfully, I don't have to respond, because suddenly two more familiar faces come stumbling over from the crowd and the bartender is back with two more beers.

"Hand these to dipshit number one and number two, would you Calvetti?" He asks, passing them to Rhett to hand to who I assume are Dino and Roger.

I chuckle at the nicknames and watch as Rhett does too, standing to walk them over. As Rhett stands, however, I notice something fall out of his pocket, and my heart stops.

It's a polaroid.

Old and worn down, but the picture is still crisp and clear.

It's our polaroid.

I gently pick it up and glance at Rhett who must be realizing it fell from his pocket, because now he's staring at me wide eyed and stiff as a board. His eyes are laser focused on my expression, gaging my reaction carefully as he stands there with his breath caught in his throat.

"You kept this?" I ask quietly.

He glances down at it and then back at me, "If I say no and it somehow ended up in that seat, would you believe me?"

I can't help the small chuckle that escapes my lips, and within seconds I'm digging into my purse and pulling out the picture of him that I took at the lake.

"Me too."

But he doesn't seem as happy about this one, and his response comes out nearly emotionless aside from the icy undertones.

"I know, Joey. You kept them all," he says, turning back to Roger and Dino who have finally reached us.

I threw all of the others away, I want to tell him. I tried to toss yours into the trash with them, but I never could.

And I did. After a few months, the other polaroid's made me sick to my stomach as I looked at them and recalled the heartache in Rhett's eyes when had found them in my drawer. I gathered them all up, unable to even look at them, and dumped them in the garbage bin in my room. I stormed away from them afterward, but from the corner of my eye the polaroid sitting on the very top caught my eye. It was Rhett. 

Against my better judgement, I went back and delicately took his out of the bin, wiping off a bit of ketchup it had fallen into, and placed it back in the drawer.

Before I can tell all of that to Rhett, Dino and Roger walk around him to me and Dino envelopes me into a giant hug.

They look the same, though Dino did let the years of drinking catch up to him. His arms are as muscular as ever, but he's got a gut on him that I know is from how many beers he's consumed in the past six years.

Roger got a little buffer and shaved his head, and even grew a goatee in place of his baby face back in high school.

"Joey, Joey, Joey," Dino says as he crushes me, "You, my friend, never said goodbye so I don't know if I can technically say hello."

I forgot how thick his accent is.

I chuckle as we pull apart, "It would have been too difficult to say goodbye to you, Bernardino." I tease.

He pouts at me, but it only lasts a second before he grins and pulls me back for another bone-crushing hug.

Then I move onto Roger, who sends me a warm smile and a soft hug. There's something in his eye as he looks between me and Rhett, but he doesn't speak on it.

"How've you been, Joey?" Dino asks, placing a hand on his hip as he takes a huge gulp of his beer.

"I've been good," I say casually, "But tell me about you, what got all three of you out here to San Francisco together?"

"Dino is too afraid to live on his own," Roger deadpans. "And Rhett and I work for the same company."

"Joey, you's won't believe what has happened to me," Dino says with a big grin, pulling out his phone. "I've got me a baby girl."

My jaw drops.

"Dino!" I exclaim, "Congratulations! I didn't know you were married."

"Oh, no," Roger says, after guzzling his beer. "He's not married. The dumbass didn't wrap up and got some girl pregnant a year ago."

Dino rolls his eyes, "May have been a mistake, but little Angie is the best mistake I'll ever make," he grins, shoving his phone towards me. "Look at her!"

I smile as he shows me pictures and videos of his little girl. Videos of them going down the slide together, videos of them playing pattycake, and a few pictures of his pride and joy asleep on his chest while he snores away.

"She's beautiful, Dino. I'm happy for you," I say honestly.

He continues to smile at the pictures on his phone, "She's with her mother now, I'll have to be quiet when I get home so's I don't wake her."

I furrow my brow, "But you said you weren't married?"

"Isabel and I tried to date and make things work so that Angie could have a traditional household, and she moved in with me. We quickly realized we were better off as friends. We get along great, there's just not that...connection, ya know? But we live together to make things easier for Angie."

I stare at Dino with a sense of admiration I never had for him before, "That's amazing, Dino. You seem very happy."

"That little Angel has made me the happiest person on this earth."

I smirk, "What are you gonna do when she's old enough to start dating?"

"Pray she doesn't meet a guy like Rhett before he found you."

From the corner of my eye, I see Rhett holding both polaroids and staring down at them with an unreadable expression, and that's when Roger pulls Dino away even while he's still babbling on about Angie.

"I never could throw it out," Rhett suddenly says, keeping his eyes on the polaroid.

My mouth suddenly feels dry as I watch him, and I reach for my beer to let it coat my throat before I respond. "I couldn't either."

"This is the only one I have."

"Same for me."

He snaps his eyes to me as he comprehends what I mean, and I offer a small smile.

"That day..." he starts, and instantly trails off.

I shake my head, "We had something, Rhett. I know that. If the circumstances had been different..." now I trail off, not knowing what to say.

"We could have made it work."

"It was better this way," I say gently.

But even I don't believe that. One day does make a difference. We only knew one another for 30 days, and right now makes 31.

"Joey!" I hear my name being called, and I turn my attention to my friend, Rose, running over to me. "I hate to cut this session short, but Sam pissed off some Italian with arms bigger than fucking boulders, and I'd rather not have my boyfriend beaten to a pulp. So, we need to go."

"Oh my god, what did Sam do? Is he okay-"

Wait. Italian. Big arms, confrontational..

"Oh wait, that's just Dino. He's harmless-"

But as I say it, the crowd gasps and the music is cut off as Dino sends a punch across Sam's jaw.

Well, shit.

Rose grabs our other friend, Mary, and Sam and start to leave the bar and I'm forced to follow.

"We'll be waiting outside," Rose says, gently checking Sam's jaw to see how badly it hurts him.

I turn back to Rhett and drop my gaze to the table, "All good things must come to an end, I suppose," I say.

Rhett doesn't respond, he just stares down silently.

"It was really good to see you, Rhett. I'm glad we got to catch up," I say as I start to stand from my stool.

There's so much more I want to say, I want to tell him. Things I haven't told you, messages I never sent.

But my mouth stays shut.

I can't deny the fact my heart is suddenly back to wanting him, and I silently curse Sam for choosing this bar. I was fine not seeing Rhett. I was able to keep the ache in my chest away after a while, but now I'm scared it won't ever leave.

Rhett just nods, refusing to look my way or say anything in response.

I wonder if this is how he felt when I left him.

I nod through the ache in my heart and start to walk away, but I stop before I get too far and turn back to him.

"For the record," I say, but he doesn't move aside from the stiffening of his neck, "with how often I used to move, leaving you was by far the hardest." I admit, pausing again before taking a small breath. "And I would have responded if I had known what to say," I end, referring to the texts I was too afraid to answer.

He may not have known it, but those texts nearly mirrored my exact thoughts. I didn't get over Rhett in a night, not a week, and not a month. I don't think I had moved on from him until he sent his very last text, and even then I kept wondering if he'd ever send another.

I wait a few seconds longer, hoping he will say something back to me like I never did to him. But after I wait and his posture doesn't show any indication it will change, I hang my head and walk out to my awaiting friends.

"Who was that, Joey?" Rose asks.

"Rhett."

I see her eyes widen, but Sam and Mary don't think anything of it. Rose is the only one I've told about Rhett. I tried to avoid talking about him, it made it easier to forget him. But Rose found the polaroid one day, and I let it all out to her.

"Shit, Joey I'm so sorry we can go back inside and-"

"No," I say, cutting her off. "It's too late."

She knows I mean more than just going back in to continue our talk.

Rose closes her mouth and frowns, and that's when our cab pulls up. With a heavy heart, I follow them towards it. I refuse to let myself look back at the bar, refuse to let myself look back at the memories of Rhett and I, just like I did six years ago.

Only this time, it somehow hurts more.

"Joey!"

Or maybe this time, we won't let heartbreak run our lives.

I stop in my tracks as I hear Rhett's voice, and turn around to see him jogging down the sidewalk towards me. He stops once he reaches me, a new light to his eyes and his pained expression gone and instead turned into a irreplaceable sense of hope.

"Those texts," he starts, "you got them?"

"I can't tell you how many times I read them over before bed every night," I admit, "fingers dancing across the screen as I tried to think of something to say. I wish I had."

Rhett stares at me for a few seconds longer, green eyes deep in thought but unwavering. And slowly, his lips morph into a playful grin that has the remnants of his boyish smirk.

"Do you want to play a game?"

I smile in shock from the question, a small laugh/snort escaping me. 

"What are the rules?" I ask, trying to keep a flirtatious facade but failing from the giddy feeling coursing through my veins.

He smiles down at me, and I suddenly see that his feelings for me never left, and it hits me that the distance only made mine deepen.

"I was thinking we could discuss that over a midnight snack," he says, "I know a great Chinese place just around the corner."

I stare at him for a few moments, afraid that if I blink this moment will be over and I'll wake up in my own bed, crying at the fact this was all a dream. But when Rhett's smile widens, my fears run away and excitement fills its place.

"Well then, what are we waiting for, Punk?"

The End

I decided I couldn't leave it there...next up, Epilogue pt. 2