“What did you want to talk about?” Her voice was soft, almost tentative.
She looked… unsure. Like she didn’t want to assume anything, didn’t want to push me into saying something I’d regret later.
Her eyes searched mine gently, carefully, as if the wrong word might shatter whatever fragile truth we were circling.
I took a shaky breath, forcing my voice steady. “I… I just wanted to talk. About us.”
“Us?”
“Yeah,” I said quickly. “Nico and I—we’re not… anything. He’s just my friend. And you… you’re not a distraction, Alex. Not ever.”
Her gaze held mine, gentle but insistent, like she was trying to see past all the layers I hadn’t said aloud. “Then just be honest with yourself.” she murmured.
I opened my mouth, but no words came. The silence between us was alive, pulsing. Alex’s face, her stupid, beautiful face, looked torn between relief and heartbreak.
Her voice was low, trembling, almost fragile. “I’ve been in love with you since… forever, Olivia.”
My pulse hammered in my ears, and for a second, I could barely breathe.
“I wasn’t always brave about it. Always keeping to myself, never saying the things I felt, because I knew… I knew it could never happen. You were so bright, so untouchable, and I… I was just me. Watching you from the sidelines.”
My throat went dry, and I could feel tears pricking at the edges of my eyes.
“I made you my motivation. Every time you ran onto a court, every time you chased your dreams… I carried it with me. You didn’t even know. You didn’t have to. It was enough just to watch, just to have you exist in my world.”
She paused, her eyes glistening, hand hovering as if she wanted to reach out but feared even that. “If whatever you’ve been trying to say… if you need to say it, say it right now.”
My mind spun, caught between the ache of my own feelings and the reality of her bravery. That crackedsomething in me. That was it, the only thing I’d been waiting for, the only thing I needed to risk everything now.
Before I knew it, I surged forward, grabbed her face with both hands, and kissed her.
Desperate, like every frustrated, overwhelmed thought had finally found its release.
She froze for half a second, then melted into me, her hands finding my waist, pulling me closer like she’d been waiting for this as long as I had.
The kiss gentled, slowed, turned into something aching instead of frantic. Her lips brushed mine again and again, like she was memorizing me. I let my hands slip to her jaw, softer now, thumbs grazing her skin.
Our lips parted, breath tangled, and before I could stop myself the words tumbled out.
“You drive me mad, Alex. Completely mad. You walk into a room and suddenly I can’t think straight. I hate how much space you take up in my head, how one look from you can undo me. And I’ve tried so hard to shut it off, to tell myself I don’t need this, don’t need you. But it never works. It’s always you.”
Her expression wavered. I pressed on, my voice breaking.
“I push you away because I’m terrified of what you do to me. Because when it’s you, it isn’t just a distraction. It’s everything. And I don’t know how to survive that and still hold myself together.”
For a moment she just stared at me, chest heaving. Then she whispered, rough and unguarded, “Careful, Smythe. I might think you actually like me.”
I gave a wet little laugh, half-tear, half-scoff. “Might?” I whispered back. “Alex, I wouldn’t be this much of a wreck if I didn’t.”
Her grin was crooked, a little shaky. “Good. Because otherwise, this would be incredibly embarrassing.”
I smacked her arm lightly, but couldn’t stop the smile breaking through. “Trust you to make a joke out of this.”
But then her face shifted, the humor thinning, eyes sharpening with something heavier. “What about him?” she asked quietly. “Nico.”
I swallowed, shaking my head. “He’s like a family to me. That’s it.”
And in my head, I added what I couldn’t say out loud, but that wasn’t my story to tell. Nico’s sexuality was his own. Some things stayed sacred.
