Chapter 5 – The Kiss
The rain wouldn’t stop.
It pattered against the windows of Luca’s studio like a song
without rhythm. Elena sat on the floor beside him, barefoot, nursing a
half-glass of red wine. They were listening to an old jazz record, something
smoky and slow.
Luca looked over at her. “All the time.”
She watched the wine swirl in her glass. “I was supposed to
go to Vienna once. For a scholarship. I backed out at the last second. Said it
was because of my mom. But it wasn’t.”
“Why then?”
“Because I was scared that if I left, I’d become someone I
didn’t recognize.”
Luca studied her like he was painting her again. “Maybe
that’s the only way to find out who you really are.”
She didn’t answer. The music hummed around them, lazy and
seductive. His fingers found hers—casually, like it wasn’t breaking every rule
she kept for herself.
Their kiss was inevitable.
It tasted like paint and promises. His hand brushed her
cheek, her neck. But something inside her rebelled—too soon, too much, too
fragile. She pulled back.
“I can’t,” she whispered.
“Okay,” he said gently, as if he’d known all along.
Outside, the storm whispered secrets to the sea.
Chapter 6 – Splinters
Arden watched the sunrise from the bench near Solstice Lane,
where they used to meet after school. A notebook rested on his lap, the spine
cracked, the pages full of fictional ghosts.
He had rewritten the ending five times.
That night, he stood outside Elena’s childhood home with a
note in his hand and fear in his throat. He rang the bell. She opened the door
in a sweater far too big for her, hair tousled, eyes tired.
“I need to say something,” he said.
She didn’t stop him.
“I’ve loved you since we were sixteen. Maybe longer. I tried
to let it go. But it keeps bleeding into everything I write. You’re the
sentence I never finish.”
Elena closed her eyes, and for a moment, he thought she
might say she felt the same. But when she opened them, they were full of
something he couldn’t name.
“I don’t know what I want,” she said softly. “With you, I
feel… safe. But I also feel like I’m hiding.”
He nodded, swallowing the sting.
“I’m sorry, Arden.”
“Don’t be. I just needed you to know.”
He left the note on the porch step and walked away before
she could change her mind—or worse, pity him.
continue...........
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