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[center][color=silver][i]It tasted like regret, rolling in across his teeth like waves lapping at the shore.[/i] He couldn't clear these wistful words from his head as he pulled his rental car up outside of the resort. He knew that he had written them himself, smudged them out and written them again and again. He had never finished that poem but he had gone home with his fingers blackened by graphite. He knew that frustration again as he looked up at the building sprawling before him. He wasn't [i]ready[/i], not entirely, he wasn't [i]scared[/i] but he didn't know what waited for him there. The Caden that many of his classmates had known had been lost to adulthood, a child's shadow to the man he was now. 

He was glad that highschool had been fleeting and that college had formed him into the person he was today but he wondered if he was even recognizable. He wondered if [i]they[/i] were even recognizable. He knew the reflection that stared back at him nowadays was that of a much more confident person than the tired-looking kid with black hair that often scowled at him in old photos. It was sometimes jarring to think back to the kid that he had once been and he struggled to understand what he had been so afraid of. Nearly nothing scared him nowadays but he knew that he'd once been so afraid of [i]everything[/i].

Leaving Brooklyn hadn't been hard with no person to tie him down. He had asked a friend to watch his cat and he'd bought the tickets kind of unthinkingly. The invitation had put him into a kind of auto-pilot which had lead to him recklessly packing his suitcase and taking off with little other word. It had been like a movie scene, except the main character wasn't about to embark on a life changing adventure. This main character was about to relive highschool, for better or for worse. 

Being so close to his past that he could nearly touch it was a strange kind of anticipation. It was a building of raw emotion that he wasn't eager to see boil over but mostly it was [i]exciting[/i], a break in the lull of day to day life. Even more exciting was the idea of possibly seeing [i]Reina[/i] again. He had not seen her since their falling out in highschool but he had [i]heard[/i] about her from Theodore in passing. He tried not to ask for updates, often felt very silly when the worry crept in, but he couldn't help [i]wondering[/i]. He and Reina had lost whatever they had once been behind in highschool but he had been left with some lingering feelings. 

Maybe it was baggage, maybe it was excuses or apologies for not being better, he wasn't sure but it was [i]something[/i]. Caden was a person who loved with everything on the line and to have such an abrupt end was strange and devasting to him as a young man. He had moved on, of course, and though that had ended badly, a small part of him always wondered; [i]what if?[/i] [i]What if Rei had been the one?[/i] When it came down to it, these were just silly questions but he couldn't steady his heartbeat as he approached the building. He knew he had words for this feeling, he'd written them a thousand times and he was resolved to write them a thousand more. 

"[color=8493ca]Caden Burke,[/color]" he addressed the person working the desk. "[color=8493ca]I'm here for the King's Academy reunion.[/color]" Saying the words made him feel like he was sealing his fate, licking the envelope closed and signing it to his fellow attendees. As he headed to his room to prepare for the party, he wondered if he had any words for the churning mixture of anxiety, excitement and apprehension that he was feeling. He thought he might have written them at least a hundred times but sometimes it was easier just to ponder them. He thought they were quite a lot like [i]what if?[/i]
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