My head snapped up.
Joshua.
He was standing so close the winter air between us felt thinner, his eyes locked on mine, steady, unblinking.
“Look at me.”
His tone wasn’t cruel. It wasn’t even sharp. Just… steady. Firm. Like a command he didn’t need to raise his voice for.
And I did. I looked at him.
Because I didn’t know how not to.
His gaze was cold enough to make the wind feel warm. His jaw tightened, eyes flicking away once to where Miles was still talking to that girl and then back to me.
“Naive.”
One word.
Sharp.
Precise.
Like a knife meant for the softest part of me.
It wasn’t loud, it wasn’t cruel, not in tone. But the meaning? It sliced clean.
Because it was true. I was naive. Naive enough to believe Miles was different. Naive enough to think the smiles were special, that the attention was… real. I was stupid enough to fall for the same act he gave everyone else.
My throat tightened.
I looked down, notebook clutched to my chest like it could shield me. My hair fell forward, covering my face, and I stayed still, too embarrassed to move, too humiliated to breathe properly.
I could feel Joshua’s eyes still on me, heavy, unrelenting.
He didn’t say anything else. Didn’t need to.
The silence said enough;I told you so, without saying it.
The air between us ached, bitter and cold.
And I wished, more than anything, that the ground would just open up and swallow me whole.
My boots scraped against the pavement, the sound too loud in the frozen air. I kept my head down as I walked away from the humiliation, from the stupid feelings that were all in my head. I didn’t look back.
Not at Miles.
Not at the girl with him.
Not at Joshua, still standing where I left him.
The wind hit my face and stung my eyes, and I told myself it was the cold.
Just the cold.
—
Joshua
