Chapter 11: Cracks in the Calm
371 Words
For a little while, things felt okay again.
Luca was softer with me—more present, more patient. We spent afternoons tucked away in quiet cafés, nights on rooftops whispering dreams we’d never told anyone else. The storm between us had passed.
Or so I thought.
One Friday evening, I waited outside the art building where Luca said he’d meet me after his shift at the garage. The sun had dipped low, painting the sky in gold and pink, but he was late.
Fifteen minutes.
Then thirty.
No text.
I tried calling. No answer.
Something in my chest tightened. Maybe he just got caught up. Maybe the signal was bad. Maybe—maybe.
I decided to walk to the garage.
As I neared the entrance, I heard voices. One of them was Luca’s. The other was unmistakably a girl’s—low, sultry, familiar.
I stayed in the shadow of the alley.
“I don’t get it,” the girl said. “You used to come running when I called. What’s so special about her?”
“Drop it, Aly,” Luca said. His voice was cold.
So was mine, when I stepped into the light.
“Don’t bother,” I said.
Luca turned sharply. “Emma—”
“I guess she’s not as ghosted as you made her sound.”
Aly smirked, amused, as if this was a show she’d seen a hundred times.
“Nothing’s going on,” Luca said quickly, stepping toward me. “I didn’t know she was coming.”
But I was already backing away. “And yet you didn’t pick up your phone.”
“Because I didn’t want to make it worse,” he said. “I wanted to get rid of her first. I didn’t want her drama touching you.”
“But it already has,” I whispered. “Because you didn’t tell me the truth. Again.”
“I didn’t lie—”
“But you didn’t trust me either,” I cut in. “That’s almost worse.”
He looked stricken, the words knocking the breath out of him. But I didn’t stay to hear what he’d say next.
I turned and walked away.
And this time, he didn’t follow.
- Writer
