I’d spent most of this week alone.
Sometimes Alex would join, sit across from me with his laptop, barely speaking. We didn’t need to. His quiet company was enough. It made the silence less unbearable.
But today…Aly came.
She found me between shelves, half-hidden behind my psychology notes.
“Hey,” she said softly.
I looked up, startled. She looked nervous; Aly never looked nervous.
“Can I sit?” she asked, already pulling out the chair before I could answer.
I nodded.
She sat, elbows on the table, chin resting in her palms. “You’ve been avoiding us.”
“I just needed space,” I murmured.
“I know,” she said quickly, eyes flicking down. “And we deserved that. I just…I don’t want us to ruin what we have. The four of us.”
My chest tightened. I hadn’t meant to push them away; I loved them. They were my home before Joshua ever was.
I reached out slowly, touching her wrist. “You didn’t ruin anything, Aly. I just—I needed time. But I still love you all. That hasn’t changed.”
Her lips parted in relief, eyes softening. “You promise?”
“I promise.”
Something in her posture eased, and she gave me that small, lopsided Aly smile, the kind that always made things feel normal again.
Then she sighed and leaned forward, voice lower.
“Chase him.”
I blinked. “What?”
She smirked faintly. “Joshua. Chase him.”
My heart stuttered.
“I mean it,” she said. “If you want him, go get him. Be shameless. Love isn’t always quiet, Rora. Sometimes you have to make noise for it.”
I stared at her, at this confident, fiery girl who never sugar-coated anything, and all I could think was that Alex said the same thing.
Alex, calm and logical, had told me to chase.
Now Aly, bold and untamed, was saying it too.
They didn’t even talk to each other, not nicely at least, but somehow they said the same thing.
“Be shameless,” Aly repeated, smiling wider now. “Don’t wait for him to fix it. Show him you still want him. Guys like him? They need to see it. Feel it. And I swear to God, Aurora, he’ll never push you away if you do.”
I looked down at my trembling hands, her words echoing Alex’s perfectly.If it’s still silent by next week, chase him.
I looked up at her and smiled, small but real. “Thank you, Aly.”
I will.
