Lines Crossed
1428 Words
Jade’s palm still tingled from the slap.
Her heart pounded as she stomped away from André, her sandals sinking into the sand with every step. The audacity! The nerve! Of all the things he could have done, why did he have to kiss her? And worse—why did her body react to it?
What is wrong with me? she thought, fists clenched at her sides. Her feet moved faster as she tried to outrun the emotions chasing her.
“Jade, wait—”
“No,” she snapped, spinning around to glare at him. “Take me home. Now.”
André raised his hands in mock surrender, though something flickered in his eyes—something she refused to acknowledge. He didn’t argue. He just turned and led her back to the car in silence.
The tension in the car was suffocating.
Jade sat in the backseat because she didn’t want to be near him—or she might be tempted to slap him again. Being close to him felt dangerous. She crossed her arms tightly, her muscles aching from the tension, and stared out the window. André, for once, didn’t tease her. He didn’t say a word as he drove, his fingers drumming lightly against the steering wheel—a stark contrast to the storm raging inside her.
The silence stretched. The city lights blurred outside, flickering against the windshield, but Jade didn’t really see them. She was too caught up in the battle between her rage and the undeniable, frustrating pull André had on her.
And then, as if the universe had decided to make this moment even worse, a familiar song played on the radio.
Her breath hitched.
Of course. This song.
”’Cause tonight will be the night that I will fall for you over again…”
The melody echoed through the car, haunting her with memories of high school—the first and only time they had danced together at a school event. The awkwardness of it. The warmth of André’s hand resting on hers. The sudden shift in the air between them, the closeness that had felt right but so wrong at the same time.
That night, Jade thought, that night was when everything went wrong.
She wanted to reach for the radio and turn it off, to block out the past that had resurfaced in the form of this song. But she couldn’t. If she did, it would feel like admitting the song still meant something to her.
And she wasn’t going to do that.
André finally spoke, breaking the silence. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean—”
“Just take me home,” she snapped, cutting him off before he could finish.
She clenched her jaw, refusing to listen to him. There’s no point in hearing him out. I know what he’s going to say.
He didn’t push. The soft, constant drumming of his fingers against the wheel was the only sound that filled the air, creating an uncomfortable rhythm in the otherwise heavy silence. But at every stoplight, Jade could feel his gaze lingering on her, almost as if he was still waiting for her to respond.
But Jade didn’t look at him. She kept her eyes trained outside, watching the world blur past. The city streets, already lined with Christmas lights, flickered softly against the evening sky. The decorations looked beautiful in the dark, as if the lights were trying to mask the coldness in the air.
A group of kids ran along the sidewalk, pointing excitedly at a giant Santa display outside a mall. It should have been heartwarming, that sight of Christmas cheer and youthful excitement. But for some reason, it only reminded Jade of how distant she felt from it all.
She used to love this season—the warmth, the decorations, the food stalls selling bibingka and puto bumbong. But tonight, she felt none of it.
Only confusion. And something she didn’t want to name.
She didn’t know how long they had been driving before they finally reached her apartment. When the car slowed to a stop, Jade barely looked at André as she yanked the door open and slammed it shut behind her. She expected him to leave immediately, but she heard his car idle for a moment before it finally pulled away.
The moment she was alone, she exhaled sharply, as though a weight had been lifted. But it was replaced almost instantly by a gnawing feeling in her stomach. She didn’t want to feel this way. She didn’t want to care. But everything that had happened in the last few hours—the kiss, the anger, the confusion—kept replaying in her mind.
Throwing herself onto her bed, she stared at the ceiling, her mind whirring with a thousand thoughts. The way André had looked at her before he kissed her. The hesitation. The confusion in his eyes, which mirrored her own.
The worst part?
She didn’t just feel anger. She felt something else—something dangerous, something she had buried a long time ago.
And it terrified her.
Had her feelings for André never truly gone away? Had they only been hidden, buried under layers of hurt and resentment? And now that they were resurfacing, she didn’t know how to deal with them.
No. I won’t fall into that trap again. Not with him.
She wasn’t sure how long she stayed like that, staring at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts. The Christmas lights outside her window blinked lazily, a constant reminder of the season. But even their twinkling didn’t bring the comfort they usually did.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from her mom, wishing her a good night and asking when she’d be back in the province for Christmas.
Jade sighed. She should respond. But what would she say?
Before she could decide, her phone rang.
“Ma,” she answered after a pause, pressing the phone to her ear.
“Anak, I thought you were sleeping. Why didn’t you reply?” her mother’s voice was warm but laced with concern.
Jade closed her eyes, rubbing her forehead. “I just got home. I was… busy.”
Her mother hummed in disapproval. “You work too much. You should come home early this year. You always say you’ll visit for Christmas, but last year you barely stayed for a week.”
Jade exhaled. “Ma…”
“I already told your tita that you’d be here,” her mom continued. “And your cousins are excited to see you.”
Guilt gnawed at Jade. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go home. But being back in her hometown always brought back too many memories.
“I’ll think about it,” she said.
“You always say that.” Her mom sighed. “Is everything okay, anak? You sound tired.”
Jade hesitated. If she told her mother the truth—that the boy who had once broken her heart was back in her life, stirring up emotions she wasn’t ready to face—what would she say?
“I’m fine, Ma,” she lied.
Her mother didn’t push. “Alright, I won’t force you. Just remember, Christmas isn’t the same without you here.”
A lump formed in Jade’s throat. “I know.”
“Okay. Get some rest, anak. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
As soon as the call ended, Jade let out a long breath and dropped her phone onto the bed.
She wasn’t sure how long she stayed like that, staring at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts.
Meanwhile, André sat alone in his car, parked in his driveway. The engine was off, but he still sat there, slouched in the driver’s seat, staring blankly at the steering wheel.
He had expected her to push him away. To slap him—again. But there had been a moment, just a fraction of a second before the slap, when he thought—maybe—she didn’t completely hate him.
That hesitation, that brief flicker of uncertainty in her eyes—it made his chest tighten.
André wasn’t sure what it meant, but he was sure of one thing: he wasn’t done with her.
He couldn’t be.
But he knew one thing for sure—he couldn’t push her. He had to let her come to him.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
He wanted to tell her everything. To finally explain what had happened that night years ago.
But he felt like a coward.
And he couldn’t.
- Writer
