Chapter 13

Alexander Carter

When I got home, the house was too quiet. Normally, I didn’t mind the silence—it was better than the arguments that sometimes filled these walls—but today, it felt... off. Like the quiet wasn’t just in the house but in me.

I dropped my keys on the counter and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, the coolness grounding me for a moment. Leaning against the counter, I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding.

The café kept replaying in my head—her laugh, her shy smile, the way she looked at me like I was more than just the version of myself everyone else seemed to see.

Julie Vaz.

I don’t know when it happened, but something had shifted between us. A month ago, I barely knew her. Sure, I’d seen her in class, noticed her quiet presence in the back, but I never really saw her. Now, I couldn’t stop seeing her.

She wasn’t like anyone else. She didn’t try to impress me or act like I was some untouchable golden boy. She just... was. And for some reason, that made me want to tell her things I hadn’t told anyone else.

Like about Yale.

I hadn’t meant to bring it up with her, but it came out so easily when we were texting. She didn’t judge me or try to fix it—she just listened. That was something I wasn’t used to. Most people either told me what they thought I wanted to hear or brushed it off like it wasn’t a big deal.

Julie, though... she cared.

I ran a hand through my hair, pushing off the counter to head to my room. Tossing my hoodie onto the chair in the corner, I flopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.

It was ridiculous, how much I thought about her. The way she fiddled with her sleeves when she was nervous, how her voice softened when she talked about something she loved, the way her eyes lit up when she smiled—like she didn’t even realize how captivating she was.

I’d always been careful about letting people in, keeping things light and easy. Relationships came with expectations, and expectations meant pressure. I already had enough of that from my parents, from school, from everyone who saw me as this picture-perfect guy who never screwed up.

But Julie didn’t expect anything from me. She didn’t look at me like I had all the answers. She looked at me like I was just... me.

I didn’t know where this thing between us was heading, but I knew one thing for sure: Julie Vaz wasn’t just another person passing through my life. She was something else.

Something that scared me because it felt real.

And for the first time in a long time, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do about it.