Adrian

The library smells like old paper and dust the kind of quiet that settles into your chest and slows everything down whether you want it to or not.

I stay there longer than I need to.

Nonfiction section. Scriptwriting. Structure. Control.

Things that make sense.

My backpack hangs off one shoulder, digging in just enough to be annoying. I don’t fix it. My pen taps once against the page before I tuck it behind my ear. My notebook is already open, half-filled with messy notes I’ll probably rewrite later just to feel like I have control over something.

“Adrian?”

I look up too fast.

Mia.

Bright. Effortless. Like she belongs anywhere she stands.

“Oh—hey,” I say, closing my notebook a second too quickly.

“I didn’t expect to see you here,” she says, stepping closer, her voice softer than I’ve heard it before.

“Yeah… I could say the same.”

My hands disappear into my pockets before I think about it.

A few days ago, she asked for my number.

I hesitated.

Not because of her.

Because of him.

I push that thought down immediately.

We start talking.

She asks questions real ones. About writing, about what I like, what I want to write. She leans in slightly when I answer, like it matters. Like I matter.

It’s easy.

Too easy.

I laugh. She smiles like she’s collecting those moments.

I tell myself that’s normal.

By the time the conversation winds down, there’s something settled between us something quiet, but intentional.

“So…” she says, rocking back slightly on her heels, “we should hang out.”

There’s a beat.

Just long enough to think.

Not long enough to be honest.

“Yeah,” I say. “I’d like that.”

Her smile widens not surprised. Just… satisfied.

Like she expected that answer.

The drama room is louder.

Messier.

Easier to hide in.

“Adrian!” Ethan calls, waving his script like it’s a victory flag. “Tell me this is actually good now.”

I adjust my glasses, taking it from him. “It was always good. It just needed… less of you.”

He grins. “That’s offensive.”

“It’s accurate.”

He leans closer anyway, dropping his voice. “Jay’s filming my audition tomorrow.”

Across the room, Jay doesn’t look up just lifts a hand in acknowledgment, camera already in position like it’s part of him.

“I cannot mess this up,” Ethan adds.

“You will,” Lia says from nearby, not even looking at him. “But it’ll be entertaining.”

Emma laughs under her breath.

It feels normal.

Predictable.

Safe.

And then

The air shifts.

I don’t need to look to know he’s there.

Blake.

It’s stupid how immediate it is. How my body reacts before my brain catches up—like something in me is wired to him whether I like it or not.

I glance toward the doorway.

He’s leaning there, arms crossed, jaw tight not hiding that he’s watching.

Not hiding anything, actually.

Mia notices the shift before I say anything. Her smile flickers just slightly but it’s enough.

“I’m gonna go talk to Lia,” she says.

Polite. Casual.

Not unaware.

She walks past Blake without looking at him.

He watches her go.

Then he looks at me.

And steps inside.

“Adrian.”

My name sounds different in his mouth right now. Heavier.

“Were you… with Mia?”

There’s something under the question.

Not curiosity.

Something sharper.

“Yeah,” I say.

His jaw tightens.

“Adrian…”

“What?” I snap, quicker than I mean to.

There’s a pause.

A real one.

Then

“I love you.”

Everything in me goes still.

Not slow.

Not shocked.

Just… stopped.

“Blake…” I exhale, shaking my head slightly. “We have girlfriends.”

“I’m single,” he says immediately.

And he’s closer now.

I didn’t see him move.

My chest tightens.

“I’ve been in love with you for six years,” he says, quieter now but steadier. “I didn’t know how to say it without”

He cuts himself off.

For a split second, it looks like he might not do it.

Like he might walk away.

He doesn’t.

His hand brushes my sleeve first barely there. A test.

A chance to stop him.

I don’t.

That’s the problem.

Then he kisses me.

And everything fractures.

My brain blanks.

My body doesn’t.

My heart slams so hard it feels like it might give me away completely.

It’s wrong.

It’s not wrong.

It’s

A sound cuts through it.

Sharp. Real.

I pull back like I’ve been burned.

Jay is standing there.

Camera raised.

Recording.

Behind him

Emma.

Lia.

Mia.

Mia’s expression isn’t just angry.

It’s personal.

Emma looks like she’s trying to piece something together in real time.

Lia just… looks like she’s been proven right about something she didn’t want to be right about.

Blake doesn’t move back right away.

His eyes stay on mine, searching like there’s still time to fix this if I just say the right thing.

“You Blake” I start.

“I can’t hide it anymore,” he says, voice low, urgent. “I love you. I always have.”

Mia steps forward immediately. “Are you serious right now?”

He doesn’t even look at her.

“Not you,” he says. “Him.”

That lands harder than anything else.

Six years.

Every look I ignored.

Every moment I didn’t question.

Every time this felt like something more and I

Did nothing.

“I…” My voice doesn’t cooperate.

Mia shakes her head once sharp, decisive and turns.

She doesn’t slam anything.

Doesn’t yell.

She just leaves.

And somehow that’s worse.

Something in my chest snaps into place.

“You ruined everything!” I shout.

Jay’s camera is still up.

Still recording.

I can feel it now like a spotlight I can’t step out of.

Blake flinches.

“Sunshine”

“Don’t,” I cut him off, stepping back. “Don’t say call me that.”

Like it means something.

“You don’t think,” I continue, words coming faster now, sharper. “You don’t think about anyone else, you just do whatever you want and expect everyone to deal with it after!”

His expression shifts.

Not defensive.

Not angry.

Just… hurt.

And that almost makes me stop.

Almost.

“You don’t get to just drop something like that on me,” I add, my voice cracking despite me. “Like it doesn’t change everything like it doesn’t”

I cut myself off.

Because I don’t even know how to finish that sentence.

He swallows. “I didn’t mean to”

“I don’t care what you meant!”

That one echoes.

Even when I hear it.

I turn and leave before I can take it back.

Mia is at the lockers.

Of course she is.

Like she needed something solid to hold onto.

“Adrian,” she says the second she sees me. Not loud. Not soft. Just sharp. “What was that?”

“I didn’t mean for that to happen,” I say, breathing unevenly.

She lets out a short laugh that isn’t amused at all.

“You didn’t mean for it to happen?” she repeats. “You didn’t even try to stop him.”

That hits.

“It wasn’t like that,” I say, but it already sounds weak.

“Then what was it like?”

I don’t answer fast enough.

That’s all she needs.

“Yeah,” she says, nodding once. “That’s what I thought.”

“Mia”

“Save it,” she cuts in. “You know exactly what you did.”

“I didn’t”

“You did,” she snaps. “And now everything’s a mess. Me, you, Blake everyone.”

She steps back.

Just slightly.

But it feels like a distance I can’t cross.

“Go fix your mess,” she says.

Then she turns and walks away.

And this time

I don’t follow.

When I turn back, Blake is still there.

Like he hasn’t moved.

Like he couldn’t.

“Adrian,” he says, quieter now. Careful. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“I know,” I say.

And I do.

That’s the worst part.

“But that doesn’t fix anything.”

He nods once, like he expected that.

Like he deserves it.

“You’re… stupid,” I mutter.

He flinches.

“Reckless. Annoying.”

Each word lands.

I see it.

I keep going anyway.

Because if I stop, I might say something worse.

Or something honest.

“I” he starts.

I walk away before he can finish.

Again.

“Adrian!”

Mia’s voice cuts across the hall.

I stop.

“You don’t get it,” she says, something breaking through the anger now. “You really don’t.”

I turn slightly.

“You’re just… selfish.”

That one doesn’t hit loud.

It sinks.

Slow.

Heavy.

And stay there.

The room. The hallway. Blake. Mia. The camera.

All of it blurs together into something too big to process.

Too messy to fix in one conversation.

And for the first time

It’s not just that everything’s falling apart.

It’s that I might be the reason it is.

And I don’t know how to undo that.