I didn't look back.
I walked until the building faded behind me, until the echo of Noah's voice stopped chasing my thoughts. The campus opened up into wide green spaces, students scattered across benches and walkways like pieces on a board I didn't know how to play anymore.
I told myself I was fine.
I wasn't shaking.
I wasn't crying.
I wasn't seventeen and broken.
But my chest still felt too tight.
"Hey."
The voice was gentle. Careful. The kind that didn't assume it had the right to your attention.
I turned.
Liam Brooks stood a few feet away, holding two cups of coffee like he wasn't sure which one belonged to who. He had kind eyes—steady ones. The type that looked like they listened even when you didn't speak.
"You left your notebook," he said, lifting it slightly.
Of course I had.
"Thanks," I replied, taking it from him. Our fingers brushed—nothing electric, nothing dangerous. Just warm. Normal.
He hesitated. "You okay? You looked… overwhelmed."
I considered lying again. It came easily to me these days.
But something about Liam made it harder.
"First-day nerves," I said instead.
He smiled. "Same. I keep thinking someone's going to tap me on the shoulder and tell me I don't belong here."
I let out a small laugh before I could stop myself. It surprised me.
"Coffee?" he offered, lifting one cup. "You look like you could use it."
I nodded. "Yeah. Thanks."
We walked in silence for a moment. Comfortable silence. The kind that didn't ask questions or demand explanations.
I wondered what it would feel like to build something without ruins underneath it.
"So," Liam said casually, "you were sitting near Noah Reyes in class."
My stomach tightened.
"I didn't plan that," I said quickly.
"I figured," he replied. No judgment. Just observation. "You two know each other?"
I stared ahead. "We used to."
He didn't push. Just nodded.
"I'm on your side of the group project, by the way," he added. "If you don't hate group work as much as I do."
"That depends," I said. "Are you useless?"
He grinned. "Painfully average."
That earned another laugh. Real this time.
For a moment—just a moment—I felt light.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
I ignored it.
It buzzed again.
Still ignored.
By the third vibration, something cold slid down my spine.
I checked the screen.
Selene: Didn't expect to see you here
My breath caught.
Liam noticed immediately. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah," I lied, slipping the phone back into my pocket. "Just… someone from my past."
He studied me for a second longer than necessary. "If you ever want to talk, I'm around."
I nodded, grateful—and terrified—by how safe that sounded.
After we parted ways, I sat alone beneath a tree, staring at my phone like it might bite.
Another message appeared.
Selene: We should talk. It's time you hear the truth.
Truth.
The word burned.
Noah's face flashed in my mind. The way he'd looked at me in the hallway. Like regret lived somewhere behind his eyes—but not deep enough to change him.
I typed back before I could overthink it.
Me: There's nothing left to say.
Three dots appeared instantly.
Then vanished.
Then:
Selene: You think that night was the whole story. It wasn't.
My chest tightened.
What night?
I locked the phone and pressed my palms into my eyes.
I had promised myself this year would be different. Clean. Untouched by old wounds.
But already, the past was pulling at me—from different directions.
Noah, with his apologies and unfinished sentences.
Selene, with her secrets and audacity.
And Liam… standing quietly in the present, offering something I wasn't sure I deserved.
I exhaled slowly.
Some lines are easy to draw.
The hard part is realizing how many you already crossed—
without ever meaning to.