couldn

was out cold, breathing softly from the other side of the room. But Brianna's m

to stay stron

hose words had

outside was cool, almost crisp, and the campus was mostly asleep. She walked with no

xpect to fin

ng, legs dangling over the edge l

lv

ard her footsteps. D

ng to be alone," he said, but the

aid. "I could

. Below them, the campus was a patchwork of glowing windows and empty stree

neither of the

d, "You coul

k her he

t sleep

y n

a while. Then,

s I don't want

rawness in his voice. This version of Malvin wasn't

that,"

s darker than the sky abo

blin

like that," s

tions I don't wan

Someone made me feel seen. And then left. Lik

ple can be selfish. Especi

scared?"

dn't

es

e between them - n

feel like covering her pain

ouching, not reaching - just exi

st them like the world

a long time, neither of th

tween them was

it was holding all the things they did

ncrete wall behind her, her breath

tell people that,

replied. "That's

e, but his posture had shifted - slightly hunched forward, like th

at if I kept everything buried, it

t?" she

. "It just ma

rder than s

but it was a silence full o

d, "What would you do

slightly. "Wha

e could hurt you or judge you or leav

tars, really lookin

d to, before I stopped believ

nod

ou

den doors and secret rooms and rooftop gardens. Places people co

m slowly, the corner of her m

ind of be

t something shifted

" he said. "You're just afraid of what

she didn'

g about the past or the hurt or the

e. On a rooftop. Wit

y saw

cked up. Sh

pulled off his hoodie

hesi

too

nst warm skin - and that tiny touch li

say anyt

n't ha

rrowed silence and a hoodie that smelled like

neither of t