Miles didn't bother showing up to school that morning. After the night he had, the thought of sitting in class pretending to care about algebra felt almost laughable. Instead, he walked aimlessly through the noisy, crowded streets until he reached the old petrol station near the car wash where his older brother, Theo, usually hung out before his afternoon shifts at the mechanic shop. Theo was leaning against his beat-up motorcycle, cigarette in hand, sunglasses on even though the sun barely broke through the cloudy sky. Miles hadn't seen him in a few weeks - not since their dad told Theo to never come back after their last explosive argument.
"Didn't expect you," Theo said without looking up, but his voice held a warmth that Miles hadn't heard from anyone else in weeks.
Miles just shrugged and leaned against the wall beside him. For a few moments, they stood in silence, the kind that didn't need to be filled. Then, slowly, Miles began to talk - about their dad, their mom, the way everything at home felt like it was rotting from the inside out. He didn't cry, but Theo could tell from the way he clenched his jaw and stared at the concrete that he was barely holding it together. Theo didn't say much - just offered him a bottle of Coke and a quiet,
"You ever need out, you call me. I mean it."
Miles nodded, not trusting his voice. For the first time in a while, he didn't feel like a kid stuck in someone else's mess - he felt like maybe, just maybe, he had a way out.
"where's the girlfriend?" theo asked him, trying to atleast lighten up the mood or atleast get his younger brother to smile.
"leias not my girlfriend" Miles finally spoke up and theo let out a huff of laughter, coughing a bit from the smoke entering and leaving his lungs.
"not yet atleast, its clear you two are just too dumb to notice your clear feelings for each other" theo stated. He was right though, even if Miles didn't want to admit it, the truth was right infront of him. He was just too afraid to tell leia, not because he was nervous about the rejection. Well, he was, but it was more of a fear of losing her or putting her off by confessing.
---
Leia sat at her usual spot by the window in English class, her gaze flickering between the half-filled page of notes and the empty seat next to her. The chair scraped slightly when someone walked past it, but no one sat down. Miles still wasn't here. She tried to ignore it, tried to focus on the teacher droning on about the tragic irony in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, but the words blurred together into background noise. Miles loved to mock this kind of stuff, always whispering snarky comments that made her laugh until she had to cover her mouth.
But today, there was no one to lean toward, no quiet commentary, no warmth next to her. Her stomach twisted in a way she hated - that familiar, gnawing ache of uncertainty that usually only came from home. She checked her phone under the desk again. Still no reply. Still nothing since last night. That wasn't like him. Miles always texted back, even if it was something dumb or sarcastic or a single emoji. And she knew something was off yesterday when he barely smiled at her at the diner, even when she'd called him cringe and made that face he always claimed was his favorite. She stared at the little typing cursor on their chat for a second, but didn't type anything. She didn't want to sound needy. Or clingy. Or worse, like she cared too much. She glanced around the class, wondering if anyone else even noticed he was missing. Of course they didn't. To most people, Miles was just some quiet, sarcastic kid with headphones and bad posture.
But to her, he was everything. Her anchor. Her reminder that she wasn't crazy, that not every part of life had to be bitter and violent and loud. And now he was gone, and she didn't know why, and she hated the way her hands felt cold and the way her throat burned like she might cry in the middle of a lesson about star-crossed lovers who died because they couldn't just say what they felt. What a stupid story. What a stupid day. What a stupid boy - making her care this much without even trying.
---
The last bell finally rang, but Leia barely heard it over the static buzz in her mind. The whole day had dragged by like she was underwater - blurry, muffled, and cold. She moved through the crowded hallway like a ghost, nodding half-heartedly to people who didn't really care whether she was there or not. All she could think about was him. The boy who hadn't shown up, hadn't texted, hadn't given her any clue that he was even breathing. Her heartbeat quickened as she pushed open the heavy school doors, the warm afternoon air hitting her like a wave she hadn't braced for. She blinked against the brightness, adjusting her backpack strap on her shoulder and preparing herself for the usual lonely walk home. But then she saw him.
Miles.
Leaning against the brick wall by the school gate, headphones around his neck, hands shoved deep in his pockets, hair messy like he hadn't cared enough to fix it. He looked tired - not just physically, but in that way people look when the world has taken too much out of them and given nothing back. Leia froze for a second, unsure if she was hallucinating or if maybe she'd actually lost her mind in English class. But then he looked up, and their eyes met, and her breath caught in her throat.
She didn't run to him - that wasn't their style. But her feet moved faster than usual, like they were acting on their own. When she reached him, she didn't say anything right away. She just stared at him, searching his face for something - anything - to tell her he was okay. Miles didn't speak either. He just looked at her with that soft, half-guilty expression he always wore when he knew he'd scared her a little. And then, quietly, he held out her pink notebook - the one she'd left at the diner the day before without realizing.
"I figured you'd want this," he said, his voice low, almost hesitant.
Leia took it, but didn't look at the notebook. Her eyes stayed on him. "Where were you?" she asked, not accusingly - just softly, like she'd been holding the question in all day and it hurt to finally let it go.
Miles shrugged, looked away, then back at her. "With Theo... I just... I couldn't do today."
There was a silence between them, but it wasn't awkward. It was heavy. Familiar. And comforting, in a strange way. Leia wanted to say a thousand things - that she was scared, that she missed him, that he was the only thing that made her feel safe anymore. But instead, she just nodded.
"Okay," she said. "But next time, tell me. So I don't spend all day thinking something happened to you."
His lips curled into a faint smile - real, but tired. "Okay," he echoed.
And just like that, without another word, they fell into step beside each other, walking away from the school as the sun dipped lower in the sky. Still in their little bubble. Still not saying the things that mattered most. But still choosing each other - even in silence.