My whole body locked, breath snagging in my throat as the camera zoomed, making the image sharper, more undeniable. I looked at myself in that grainy recording, hair plastered to my forehead, arms working with a kind of focused anger I didn’t remember feeling.
I saw Liam beside me, giving everything he had, and the sight of it—the two of us like that—knocked every coherent thought out of my head.
When the clip ended, I handed the phone back. Our hands touched for a brief moment—the first time since Brackett Lake. The touch was short but warm.
We made eye contact and it was the first time I’d seen it in his eyes. Liam Moore was scared.
All I wanted to do was hold his hand, squeeze it, tell him it was going to be okay.
“Shit, Liam... where did this come from?”
“No idea.” His jaw tightened. “Some number I don’t recognize. Just said, ‘Thought you’d want to see this.’”
I looked down, my pulse thumping through my whole body. Everything was over. This was hard evidence. If this got out then my life would be over.
A gust of wind moved across the quad, rustling the branches overhead. For a moment neither of us spoke. We just stood there, both breathing too shallow.
I looked at him.
Even now, even with everything falling apart, I noticed the way his hoodie stretched across his shoulders. The stubble along his jaw. The way he smelled—cheap soap mixed with the familiar and intoxicating smell that was Liam.
“Someone was watching. I don’t know if they sent it to anyone else. I don’t know if it’s out there. I don’t—”
He stopped himself. He voice softened into a tone I’d never heard before. “I just... I didn’t know who else to tell.”
My chest shifted from feeling dread to connection. The fact that he’d come to me. That he’d chosen me before Hale, before his teammates, before anyone else.
“That morning… we weren’t supposed to be out there.”
“I know.”
“And if Riverside finds out—”
“I’ll lose my scholarship.”
“And if Kingswell finds out—”
“Your dad will kill you.”
I winced. “Yeah.”
He huffed out a breath that might’ve been a laugh if it weren’t laced with panic. “So we’re screwed.”
“We’re... not,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure I believed it. “Not unless it spreads.”
He nodded, staring at the pavement for a second before looking back up at me. His green eyes looking directly at me. I felt him. All of him in a way I hadn’t in years.
That moment was like a return to something we both wanted to be. Then I remembered I was the one who ended it.
God. Why did I do that?
I shook the thought off before I started spiraling.
“Thanks for showing me... you didn’t have to,” I said.
“Yeah, I did. We're in this together.” he said.
Together.With that word the space between us felt different. It wasn't two rivals, it was us standing shoulder to shoulder against a mess we created together.
