“There she is,” Kieran said when we reached him. He flashed that effortless, gorgeous smile, and his voice stirred something in me that had no business stirring.. “The college graduate. How does it feel?”
“Terrifying,” I admitted, because honesty was always easier with Kieran than with anyone else. “Like I’m supposed to be an adult now, but it still feels like I’m playing dress-up.”
His mouth curved into that half-smile that had undone me for years. “You’ll figure it out. You always do.”
The way he said it, like he actually believed in me, made something flutter low in my stomach. But this was dangerous territory. Off-limits territory.
Kieran Cross was my brother’s best friend since they were both seventeen and living in the same group home. He ate at our table more nights than I could count, fell asleep on our couch, and helped me with calculus homework when Jude worked late. Now Jude and Kieran were building something together, a tech startup that was finally starting to take off.
He’d always been family. Except family didn’t make you feel like your skin was too tight and your heart was trying to escape through your throat.
“We should celebrate,” Jude said, loosening his tie. He wore his only good suit that night. The navy one with the small stain on the sleeve he thought no one noticed.
“The startup’s finally profitable, Willa just graduated, and I’m thinking about—” He paused, glancing at Kieran. “Well,we’ll talk about my news later. Tonight’s about you. Kieran, you coming with us?”
“Of course.” Kieran smiled at me. I smiled back, warmth spreading through my chest.
We ended up at a small Italian place just off campus, the kind with low lighting and mismatched chairs that felt more intimate than celebratory. Jude insisted on paying, despite my protests, sliding his card across the table like this was something he’d been looking forward to for years.
“To Willa,” he said, lifting his glass. “For surviving everything that tried to take her out before she ever got here.”
Kieran raised his glass too, his expression soft, his eyes on me with admiration.
“To Willa,” he echoed. “For finishing what she started.”
I laughed, a little embarrassed, a little overwhelmed.
“You made it sound so dramatic.”
“It was,” Jude said simply. “You don’t get to downplay this.”
Dinner unfolded easily after that. Jude talked about the startup, about meetings that ran too long and clients who expected miracles. Then he mentioned, almost in passing, how he’d been thinking more and more about joining the military. I wasn’t surprised. That desire to protect—so instinctive, so steady—had always run deep in him.
Kieran listened more than he spoke, nodding at the right moments, occasionally offering a dry comment that made Jude snort into his drink. It felt normal in the best way—familiar, safe, like a version of family I never stopped needing.
Every so often, I caught Kieran watching me when he thought I wasn’t looking. Not staring, but attentive, something like he was taking inventory of who I’d become. When our eyes met, he’d look away first, jaw tightening, as if reminding himself of rules he’d written long before tonight.
When dessert arrived, Jude excused himself to take a call outside, leaving Kieran and me alone at the table. The space between us felt louder without Jude there, charged in a way I couldn’t quite name.
“You should be proud of yourself,” Kieran said quietly. “College isn’t easy. Not with everything you’ve carried.”
“Neither was growing up,” I said. “But we did that too.”
Something flickered across his face—pride, regret, maybe both. He smiled faintly, like he was remembering something only he and I knew. “Yeah,” he said. “We did.”
Jude returned sooner than expected, cheerful but a little distracted by some news, and insisted we head home. I got to my feet, but part of me still wanted to stay, like the conversation between us wasn’t finished yet.
The night air hit us as we stepped outside, cooler now, calmer, the campus lights glowing like small constellations around us.
“Hey, man, why don’t you come by our place for a bit?” Jude said, glancing between us.
Kieran hesitated, his dark eyes finding mine across the space between us. There was something in his expression that made my breath catch, something that looked almost like longing before he blinked it away.
“Actually, I think I’m going to head home,” he said, but his gaze didn’t leave my face.
That should have been the end of it. That should have been where we all went our separate ways, like we did a thousand times before. But something shifted in the air between us that night, something electric and dangerous that made me feel reckless.
“I’ll walk with you,” I heard myself say. “I need to clear my head before tomorrow.”
