Chapter 3- Close from afar
237 Words
It had been three weeks now. Every day, like clockwork, Luca would hear from Élise. And if she didn’t text by evening, he’d start checking his phone more than usual.
He’d tell himself to stop. That this wasn’t real. That she was in Canada. That he was just a broke writer in Milan trying to hustle up gigs and keep his dreams alive.
But the way she laughed on voice notes.
The way she always noticed things no one else did—like how his texts got shorter when he was stressed or how he always said “hmm” before writing something personal.
She felt close.
One night, while power was out and the heat pressed like a heavy blanket, Élise sent a voice note.
“I wish I could send you some snow. Just a tiny bit. Or maybe fly over there and sit on your rooftop. You said you write better up there, right?”
Luca chuckled quietly in the dark.
He replied, voice low, trying not to wake his brother:
“If you showed up here, I’d forget how hot it is. That’s how much space you take in my mind these days.”
There was a pause. Then she wrote back:
“That scares me a little.”
He stared at the message.
Typed.
Typed again.
“Me too.”
Silence.
Then:
“But maybe it’s the good kind of scary.”
- Writer
