"Daniel."
Her voice sounded different when there was uncertainty in it.
I turned slowly.
Isabella stood a few steps away, her arms crossed lightly over herself. Not defensive. Not closed off.
Just unsure.
She wasn't used to being unsure with me.
Her eyes flickered briefly in the direction Chloe had walked, then back to mine.
"Who was that?" she asked.
The question was casual.
Too casual.
But I knew her.
I knew every version of her voice.
This wasn't curiosity.
This was something else.
"Her name's Chloe," I said.
Isabella nodded slowly, like she was memorizing it.
Chloe.
She repeated it silently.
"Oh," she said.
Just oh.
But her fingers tightened slightly around her cup.
A small crack in her calm.
I had never seen that before.
"She seems nice."
Nice.
Such a small word for someone who had already shifted something inside me.
"Yeah," I said simply.
Isabella waited.
Like she expected more.
I didn't give it to her.
She wasn't used to that either.
There used to be no silence between us.
Now, it stretched.
Awkward.
Unfamiliar.
Threatening.
"You left pretty fast earlier," she said.
Her voice was softer now.
Careful.
Like she was stepping around something fragile.
"I had things to do," I replied.
Another truth she wasn't used to hearing.
Her eyebrows pulled together slightly.
"What things?"
I almost smiled.
She didn't realize what she was asking.
She wasn't asking about my schedule.
She was asking why I hadn't stayed.
Why I hadn't stayed for her.
"Just things," I said.
She stared at me.
Searching.
For the boy who used to tell her everything.
The boy who used to belong to her.
He was still there.
But he wasn't as easy to reach anymore.
"Oh," she said again.
That word again.
Small.
Powerless.
She shifted closer.
Close enough that our shoulders almost touched.
"This doesn't change anything, you know."
I looked at her.
"What doesn't?"
She hesitated.
"Adrian."
His name sounded fragile coming from her now.
Like she was testing it.
Testing me.
Testing us.
"We're still us," she added quickly.
Us.
That word used to mean everything.
Now it just felt complicated.
"Are we?" I asked quietly.
She froze.
Completely froze.
I had never questioned us before.
Not once.
Not in seven years.
Her lips parted slightly.
Like she didn't know how to answer.
Like the answer scared her.
"Of course we are," she said finally.
But her voice wasn't as certain as her words.
I nodded.
I didn't argue.
But I didn't reassure her either.
And somehow…
That was worse.
Later that night, the beach was quieter.
The bonfire was smaller.
Most people had already left.
It was just us.
It had always been just us.
Isabella sat beside me on the sand, her knees pulled to her chest.
The ocean stretched endlessly in front of us.
Dark.
Unknown.
"You've been quiet," she said.
I stared ahead.
"I'm just tired."
She turned toward me.
"You never get tired of me."
The words were soft.
Vulnerable.
Honest.
They slipped past my defenses before I could stop them.
She was right.
I never had.
Until now.
"I don't get tired of you," I said carefully.
I just get tired of hurting.
But I didn't say that part.
She relaxed slightly.
Like she had been holding her breath.
She leaned her head on my shoulder.
The same way she always did.
The same way that used to feel like everything.
Now it felt like memory.
Not reality.
"You'll always be my person," she whispered.
My chest tightened.
She believed that.
She truly believed that.
Because I had never given her a reason not to.
Across the beach, I saw a familiar figure walking along the shoreline.
Blonde hair moving in the wind.
Chloe.
She wasn't looking for anyone.
She wasn't waiting.
She was just… living.
Free.
Unaffected.
Unafraid.
And for the first time in my life…
I wondered what that felt like.
Isabella followed my gaze.
Her head lifted from my shoulder.
She saw Chloe.
I felt it instantly.
The shift.
Subtle.
Sharp.
Threatened.
"Do you like her?" Isabella asked.
The question was quiet.
But it carried weight.
I didn't answer immediately.
Because I didn't know the answer.
Not yet.
But I knew one thing.
Chloe didn't make me feel invisible.
"I just met her," I said.
Isabella nodded slowly.
But she didn't look convinced.
She wrapped her arms around herself.
Suddenly smaller.
Suddenly unsure.
It was new.
This version of her.
The version that wasn't certain of me.
She leaned against me again.
But this time…
It felt like she was holding on.
Not out of habit.
Out of fear.
And for the first time…
I wasn't sure if I wanted to be held anymore.