“It’s honest,” he replied.

The school Halloween party. Liam asked me to dance. LIAM. The wizard! We danced to a slow song, and he smelled like cedar and coffee. He said, “I’m sorry I was weird about Sophia. She’s just… loud. You’re the one who actually sees things.”

She laughed at something her friend said, flipped her hair, and Liam stopped listening to me . Mid-sentence. His eyes followed her like she was the North Star.

“No,” I said. “It’s the Caleb thing. I’m sorry I wasn’t honest sooner.”

Maybe the unwritten chapters are the best ones.

But I saw it, Diary. The physics of attraction. And I wasn’t the mass in his orbit.

Liam and I are “a thing” now. He holds my hand. He calls me “Mar” for short. He’s perfect on paper. But last night, we were watching a movie at his house, and he started talking about how he wants to move to New York and become an editor. It was exciting.

He walked out into the downpour, his hair getting instantly soaked, and I felt something. A tiny, warm click in my chest.