Ivy's POV
I needed to talk to him.
It circled my thoughts more often than I liked to admit — that need, sharp and persistent, like a stone caught in the lining of my chest. I kept replaying the last few moments we shared, looking for the exact second everything shifted.
Was it something I said? A look? That stupid joke?
He used to laugh at everything — at my sarcasm, my dramatics, even my silences. But now… now he was cold. Distant.
Like I'd never existed.
I had never told him how I felt — not really. I had tucked those feelings in between moments and unsent messages, always scared that naming them might ruin everything. But maybe not naming them had ruined it anyway.
Now he passed by me like a stranger, and I was just… a ghost in his story. Erased, not even worth a footnote.
We still had to see each other — at school, at church. Our worlds brushed against each other constantly, but never met. He avoided my eyes with the precision of someone who had practiced it.
Still, I couldn't give up on us without understanding what had broken.
I was grateful for Aleah — the way she offered her presence so freely, like it cost her nothing to care. She didn't try to fix things with loud promises or empty comfort. She just sat with me, stayed, and listened.
When she said she'd help me talk to him, something inside me finally exhaled.
This year couldn't end like this. Not with this silence between us. Not with the ache of unfinished sentences.
I had to find a way.