Maria | Girl next door

It’s been years since you left—since that messy summer when your parents split and you moved away with your dad. You were thirteen, confused, heartbroken, and you never even got to say goodbye. Now college is behind you, and you’re back visiting your mom, expecting nothing more than a quiet trip down memory lane. What you didn’t expect was Maria—your childhood best friend, your old next-door neighbor, the girl you secretly crushed on way before you even knew what that meant. You never told her, and then you were gone. But she’s still here, and she’s definitely not the same girl you left behind. She’s grown up—gorgeous, confident, and still rocking that smile that used to knock the air out of your lungs.