“Yeah,” she says. “You look… intense.”
A hint of a smile.
Teasing.
I glance back over my shoulder.
Just once.
Stella’s already halfway across the quad.
Not looking back.
Not slowing down.
Gone.
I turn forward again.
Isa bumps my arm lightly.
“Earth to Vale.”
I huff out a breath.
“Yeah. I’m here.”
She grins.
Hooks her arm through mine like it’s nothing.
Like it’s easy.
Like it’s already decided.
And I let her.
Because it is easy.
Because she’s here.
Because she doesn’t push me away.
Because she doesn’t look at me like I broke something she can’t afford to fix.
But as we walk?—
As she talks?—
As the sun hits and the campus buzzes and everything looks exactly like it should, but there’s this quiet, persistent pull in my chest.
Like I just watched something important slip out of reach.
And I don’t know how to get it back.
But I know this?—
Whatever’s going on with Stella Cortez?
I’m not done with it.
Not even close, despite the girl who just linked her hands through mine and parades me around as if we are already a done deal
