Aiden was pulling away.
Not in the obvious ways—he still passed me in the hallway, still sat at the dinner table when I stayed over, still existed like he always had. But it was in the details, the ones I couldn’t unsee once I noticed.
The rooftop door stayed closed more often. His chair across the living room was empty on nights when it used to feel like he lived there. Even his silence, which once felt charged and heavy, was just… absent now.
And it shouldn’t have mattered. It shouldn’t have mattered to me.
I told myself that every night.
But it did.
I caught myself listening for his footsteps when I climbed the stairs. I found myself searching the halls when classes let out, my chest tightening when I didn’t see him leaning against a wall like he used to.
I didn’t ask Liam where
