It almost felt like the beginnings of a truce.
Almost.
A wild fantasy flashed through my mind of us going back to my dorm to figure this out. Tracing the text, even though I didn’t know how to do that. But I could see it. Us working together to figure this out. We’d be unstoppable together.
If we could just be together.
And then my stupid mouth betrayed me.
“We should figure this out before the scrimmage tomorrow,” I said.
And just like that, the softness vanished. The warmth in his eyes disappeared. Liam’s entire posture changed. His shoulders tightened again. His mouth pressed into a thin line.
Why did I even say the word scrimmage?
“Right,” he said. “Tomorrow.”
I swallowed. “I didn’t mean—”
“It’s fine,” he cut in. “We’ll deal with the video at some point. We should both sleep. And... whatever happens in the morning...”
His voice was controlled. Flat. Not hostile, but closed off in that way that made it impossible to tell whether he was angry or scared.
I took half a step closer and put my hand on his shoulder. “Liam—”
He pulled away like my hand was toxic. “Alex. Don’t touch me.”
I stepped back.
What was I doing?
But it was impossible—I was like metal drawn to a magnet. I wanted to fix everything. I wanted to go back and never break it off with him. If I hadn’t done that... then none of this would—
“I gotta go,” he said.
“Okay.”
He turned as if to leave, then hesitated—a small pause, like a line of tension pulling taut between us. For a second I thought he might say something else, something real, something from the part of him that cared about me.
But he didn’t.
He pulled his hood up and walked away, shoulders tight, strides quickening as though distance was the only safety he knew how to reach for.
I stood there for a long time after he vanished behind a row of trees, the wind brushing against my skin, the night settlingaround me with the heavy certainty of everything that couldn’t be said.
Tomorrow, we’d be racing each other again.
But tonight, for a brief moment, we touched something from the past.
And I didn’t know which thing terrified me more.
Chapter 15: Liam
I woke to weak sunlight slicing across the ceiling. For once, Noah stirred at the same time I did. He rubbed his eyes and looked over at me.
When he noticed me looking back, his face softened. “Hey. You okay? I was... worried. You didn’t come in before I knocked out.”
Guilt crawled up my spine. “Yeah. Sorry. Last night was a lot.”
