Antwan's POV (Flashback – The Morning After the Storm)
I barely slept.
That storm wasn't just loud—it felt like it was tearing something apart inside me.
I'd texted Julia a few times the night before. Nothing. I told myself her battery probably died, or she was with Camila, or just lying low until the rain stopped. But it didn't stop. And neither did the sinking feeling in my gut.
I woke up before the sun rose.
Still nothing.
That's when I said screw it. I threw on a hoodie, grabbed my keys, and drove through back roads toward her house. I didn't even know if it was safe, but I had to see her. Had to know she was okay.
When I pulled up to her house, her dad's car was parked out front but no sign of her. The lights were off. No movement inside.
That's when I drove to Tyler's.
I didn't want to believe it. Didn't want to assume anything.
But I knew.
She always went to him when she was scared. When she needed someone to fix a flat, or haul something heavy, or just hide from her feelings. He was safe in a dangerous sort of way. She never talked about it, but I saw it.
And I hated it.
I parked across the street. I didn't even know why I was there. Maybe I thought she'd walk out and I could offer her a ride, or coffee, or maybe just an excuse to be near her for a few more minutes.
She came out around 6 a.m.
Wearing the same clothes she had on the day before. Hair messy. Face unreadable. She didn't see me. I didn't say anything.
I just watched her.
She looked like a stranger.
She looked like someone who had done something she wasn't ready to admit.
Later that day, I went to her house. Told myself it was to check in on her—just a friend checking on another friend. She opened the door slowly, like she wasn't sure what I was going to say.
I couldn't keep it in.
"You okay?"
She nodded.
I didn't believe it.
"Did something happen?"
Silence.
That's when I did the thing I swore I wouldn't. I told her.
"I… I've liked you for a long time, Julia. I don't know if I ever really stopped. Maybe I never really started, not properly. But I do. I care about you. Like, really care."
Her eyes went wide—like she didn't expect it. Like she hadn't seen it coming.
But how could she not?
Hadn't she noticed the way I always sat beside her, waited after class, stood a little too close just to hear her laugh?
I wanted to kiss her.
God, I wanted to kiss her and make her forget whatever had happened the night before. Make her see me.
But she didn't move.
Didn't say anything.
She just stood there, wrapped in a towel, hair still damp from a shower, eyes wide and lost.
That's when I knew.
It was him.
Tyler.
She didn't have to say a word. I could see it in her face. Regret, maybe. Confusion, definitely. But what broke me wasn't that she didn't pick me—it was that she hadn't even told me I was in the race.
I felt stupid.
I forced a smile, told her I just wanted her to be happy, and left before she could say anything else. Because the moment she opened her mouth, I knew I'd either break or beg.
Neither of which would've made me feel any less like a fool.
The thing is… I'm not mad at her.
Not really.
I'm mad that I let myself hope.
I'm mad that I finally got the courage to say it—after all this time—and I was too late.
And now we're back in school. Sitting in the same circle, breathing the same air, pretending like something irreversible didn't happen.
I see the way she avoids my eyes.
I see the way Tyler won't touch her. Or tease her
And I wonder if maybe—just maybe—I wasn't the only one who left a piece of himself behind that night.
I took a deep breath as Camilla came skipping up to us she seemed not to notice anything or so she pretend she told us he was dating someone new that treated her well
Which honestly she deserves Julia got up to hug her and I saw it a hickey my heart dropped but I kept quiet I lefts for guy class and so did Tyler not that it mattered