Always you

CHAPTER 8 : WORDS

(Daxon’s POV)

The alarm went off at 6:30, but I was already awake. I’d spent most of the night staring at the ceiling, lost in my own head. The sky outside was still grey — that early kind of morning where everything feels slow and uncertain.

For a moment, I thought about skipping school. Pretending I was sick, or tired, or anything that would give me an excuse to not see her again so soon. But I knew I’d just end up thinking about her anyway.

Avoidance never worked. Not with Tamsyn.

I showered, got dressed, and grabbed my car keys. The mirror caught my reflection on the way out — tired eyes, messy hair, the same sharp jawline everyone said made me look “effortlessly confident.” If only they knew how much effort it took to pretend.

When I pulled into Ridgeview’s lot, Ryder and Kai were already there, tossing a football back and forth like it was any other morning. Nolan leaned against Kai’s car, scrolling through his phone. They looked normal.

I didn’t.

“Morning, lover boy,” Ryder called as I got out of my car. “You look like hell. Dreaming about someone?”

“Shut up,” I said, but my voice lacked bite.

Kai grinned. “He definitely was. Look at him — that’s the face of a man haunted by his own romantic mistakes.”

They laughed. I forced a smirk, but the truth behind their teasing hit a little too close.

We walked toward the main building together. The chatter of students grew louder — lockers slamming, footsteps echoing, snippets of gossip floating through the air. Ridgeview was loud and alive, and yet my mind stayed quiet, tuned to one frequency.

Her.

And then she appeared.

Tamsyn walked across the courtyard with Ashley by her side, sunlight catching in her hair like it had been placed there on purpose. She wasn’t smiling — not really — but there was something composed about her, the kind of confidence you couldn’t fake.

Her uniform was perfect, her bag slung casually over one shoulder, her gaze fixed straight ahead as if she didn’t notice the whispers she drew.

But she did. I could tell. Tamsyn always noticed everything.

For a second, the world around me blurred. All the noise faded — Ryder’s jokes, Kai’s laughter, even Lexi’s high-pitched greeting from somewhere behind me. It was just her.

The girl I let go.

The girl I couldn’t stop wanting back.

She glanced my way once. A small, fleeting moment — but enough to make my chest tighten. There was recognition in her eyes, but also distance. Like she was acknowledging me only because she had to, not because she wanted to.

Ashley said something that made her laugh softly, and I caught it — that sound that used to be mine.

God, I’d missed that.

“Man, you’re staring again,” Nolan muttered, elbowing me. “Subtlety isn’t your thing anymore?”

I tore my gaze away, muttering something about being distracted. But it was too late — Kai and Ryder had already noticed.

“Still hung up on her?” Ryder asked under his breath, surprisingly serious.

I exhaled slowly. “It’s not like that.”

He raised a brow. “Then what’s it like?”

I didn’t answer, because I didn’t know. All I knew was that she was here again, walking the same halls, breathing the same air — and every part of me wanted to say something, to fix everything, even if I didn’t know how.

---

By midday, I’d lost count of how many times I’d seen her — in the hallway, the cafeteria, the library. Always surrounded by people, always untouchable.

Every time our paths crossed, she’d look away first.

Every time, it hurt a little more than it should.

Lexi, of course, didn’t make things easier.

“Daxon,” she said as we were leaving the cafeteria, her tone sugar-coated but sharp underneath. “You’ve been quiet lately. Missing something?”

She followed my gaze before I could stop her. Her smirk deepened.

“Ah. Her.”

“Drop it, Lexi,” I muttered.

“Why? Because it’s true?” She tilted her head, crossing her arms. “You think she’s the same person you left? She’s not. And you’re fooling yourself if you think she still—”

“I said drop it.”

Something in my tone must’ve hit harder than I meant, because she blinked, taken aback. Then, with a flick of her hair, she turned and walked off, her heels clicking sharply against the floor.

I didn’t chase after her. I couldn’t.

Not when the thought of Tamsyn’s cold, polite nod earlier still burned in my chest.

---

Classes ended, and by the time I reached the parking lot, the sky had begun to turn orange — that late-afternoon glow that always made everything feel softer.

Tamsyn was there again.

Standing beside her car, talking to Ashley. Her expression was calm, but her fingers fidgeted slightly as she listened. I noticed things like that — little details no one else caught.

It made me want to walk up, to ask her how she’d been, to apologise for every wrong thing I’d said a year ago.

But I didn’t move.

I just stood there, watching from a distance, like some part of me believed I didn’t deserve to get closer yet.

When she finally got into her car and drove off, I exhaled a breath I didn’t realise I’d been holding.

Kai appeared beside me, following my gaze. “You know,” he said quietly, “if you keep watching her like that, people are gonna notice.”

“Let them,” I muttered.

He smiled faintly. “You’re still in love with her.”

I didn’t answer. But he knew. They all did.

As I got into my car, the memory of her glance replayed again — fleeting, cautious, but real.

It wasn’t much. But it was enough to keep me holding on.

---

That night, I lay awake again, listening to the quiet hum of the city.

One year.

One year since everything fell apart.

And still, she had the power to make my world stop.

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