I need to kill it, because this… whatever this is… can’t be. Not even in my own head.
I can’t do that to him.
He would never forgive me.
I push the thought aside.
Pathetic.
What have I become? It was a one night stand. Just sex. The man asked for nothing more, and I am certain he wants nothing more from me. Even if he kept insisting I was his…
God. Really?
Am I truly so starved for the smallest flicker of love that I can turn nothing into some grand romance?
I need to get a grip.
And keep those fantasies where they belong, in the books I read.
Because in this world,my world, such things don’t exist.
And with the signature you put on that paper, you made certain of it.
Happily ever after doesn’t exist for me.
He is probably not even here, and I am spiralling for no reason.
We will never cross paths again, just as I knew from the beginning.
I will get over it eventually. That night will remain only in my dreams, where it belongs.
But at least he gave me one gift.
He showed me, if only for a little while, that such things are real.
That a person can really feel that way. That passion exists. That you can genuinely connect with someone and lose yourself in them. That perhaps, somewhere along the way, even love is possible.
Justnotfor me.
Chapter3
Piper
After the assembly, I head straight to my first class of the semester.
The morning has barely begun, and already I want it to be over so I can change into my skating clothes and disappear to the rink.
Ice skating is what I live for.
It has been that way for as long as I can remember. The ice is the only place where I can breathe properly, where everything feels right.
I climb the staircase and walk through the corridor before stepping into the classroom.
Most of the seats are already taken.
I pause when I realise my usual place at the back has been occupied, along with nearly every seat around it, as if it was done on purpose to make sure I wouldn’t sit there.
I exhale heavily as I look at the only seats left available.
