"What?"
"I submitted the film."
My chest tightened. "You did?"
"Yesterday. Right before the mixer." He grinned—that real, open grin that I'd missed during the weeks we weren't speaking.
"Look at us making moves."
Something warm spread through my chest. The film—his Berlin summer, the abandoned spaces, the artists who existed louder because the world told them not to. He'd finished it. Put it out there. Done the thing I'd told him to do.
We'd both crossed a line this week. Different lines, but the same direction.
"So tomorrow," Ethan said, "you get in that boat. You row with your guy. And you let everyone see what you two can do together."
"Thank you," I said. Voice rough. "For this. For listening. For letting me talk about him. About guys. About all of it."
"Anytime." Ethan picked up his fork. "That's what we do."
We finished our pancakes. Drank more terrible coffee. And for the first time in my life, I got to justtalk—about the person I wanted, about being scared, about a future I was only beginning to imagine.
It felt like breathing after holding my breath for twenty years.
"Ready for tomorrow?" Ethan asked as we stood to leave.
I thought about it. The boat. Liam. My father in the stands. Everything that could go wrong.
"No," I said. "But I'm showing up anyway."
"That's all you can do."
We walked out into the October night. Cold and clear. Stars visible for once—the kind of sky that only happened when the temperature dropped enough to strip the haze away.
Tomorrow would be chaos.
But tonight I had someone who knew me—fully, honestly, without performance—and hadn't flinched.
And that changed everything.
Chapter 21: Liam
I sat in my car in the empty parking lot behind The Riverside Club.
Engine off. Keys in my lap. Hands shaking.
The building was dark except for a single light in a back office. Someone cleaning up. Counting cash. Normal Saturday night work for them.
Nothing about tonight was normal for me.
My phone sat on the passenger seat. Four texts to Emily. Two calls. All unanswered.
The screen lit up again. Noah asking where I was. If I was okay.
I couldn't go back to the dorm and lie in my bed staring at the ceiling for eight hours trying not to think about tomorrow.
The invitational. Ten AM. Me and Alex in a boat together.
After tonight. After Emily. After everything. I didn't have any options left.
