He still called me that.
But it didn’t feel the same. Not when his touch felt like sandpaper and his gaze slid off mine like it hurt to look too long.
Tristan noticed.
Shani definitely noticed.
“Is everything okay with you and the Prince of Oakwood?” she asked as we changed after practice, her voice careful but curious.
“Yeah,” I lied, my voice too fast. Too high. “Totally.”
But it wasn’t.
It was unraveling.
I could feel it in the pit of my stomach, in the way my fingers trembled before every text I sent. The fear of no reply. Or worse—just one word:cool, yeah, sure.
Leo used to flood my inbox. Now I’d be lucky to get a dry “kk.”
And the worst part?
He hadn’t even broken up with me.
He was just fading out.
Like I was an old playlist he used to love, but now skips without thinking.
And I didn’t know whether to hold on tighter… or let him go before it got worse.
But something told me…
The worst was already on its way.
It was supposed to be just another Tuesday.
Another ordinary Royal Oaks afternoon where the breeze smelled like cut grass and entitlement, where the marble halls echoed with whispers and Gucci soles.
But nothing about today felt ordinary.
Because Leo asked to talk. Alone.
No flirting. No wink. Just a clipped “We need to talk” outside the library after last period.
I followed him anyway. Like a fool. Like someone who still thought the ache in her chest might be fixed by one more kiss.
He led me behind the quad fountain—the same place he kissed me that first week of school. The same place I fell. Hard.
I folded my arms. “What’s going on with you?”
He didn’t answer right away. Just stared at the grass, jaw clenched like he was bracing for something. His hands were in his pockets, not reaching for me. Not even trying.
Then he said it.
Flat. Cold. Practiced.
“I think we should end this.”
The words knocked the breath from my lungs.
