The morning after my date with Aaron, sunlight poured through my window like warm honey. I blinked against it, heart still fluttering with memories from last night—the candlelit restaurant, the way he'd laughed when I snorted at a joke, the gentle way his fingers had brushed mine in the theater. And the necklace.
I reached up and touched the little gold pendant with an engraved L. It still felt unreal.
But then my eyes drifted across the room. Kane's door was shut. Tight. And I remembered the look on his face when I came home. The kiss he forced. The hurt in his voice.
Something had changed.
I padded to the kitchen to find him already there, hunched over a bowl of cereal. His reddish hair was tousled, his expression unreadable.
"Morning," I said, softly.
He didn't look up. "Yeah."
I waited for more, but it didn't come. So I filled a mug with coffee and sat across from him.
"We need to talk."
He finally looked up, and for a second, I saw the pain in his eyes. But then he shrugged it away like a coat he didn't want to wear.
"I kissed you. You pushed me away. Got it."
"Kane—"
"Don't worry. I get it. You like Vander."
I flinched at the way he said Aaron's name. Like it was an insult.
"I didn't plan for any of this," I whispered.
"Doesn't matter," he said, standing. "It happened. Just… don't lead me on, okay?"
And then he left.
Later at school, Aaron found me under the courtyard tree, my headphones in but nothing playing.
"Hey," he said.
I looked up, and smiled without thinking. He always did that to me.
"Hey."
He sat beside me, careful not to invade my space. "Rough morning?"
I nodded. "Kane and I… things are tense."
Aaron hesitated. "Is it because of last night?"
I bit my lip. "Partly. We've kissed. Twice. But it never felt like... the right thing. Not like last night."
His expression softened. "I hope I'm not making it hard for you, Lily."
"You're not. You're... just something else that I can't explain."
He looked at me for a moment, then gently took my hand. "Then let's take it slow. No pressure. Just us."
And that was the moment I knew—I wanted us to happen.