Juliette:
I spent the entire day replaying the scene in the gym over and over again. Every class blurred into a haze of muddled thoughts and fluttering nerves. I couldn’t stop thinking about Maddox’s body pressed against mine, the way his breath had grazed my ear, the protective way he’d held me.
The memory made my cheeks heat, but something deeper—something complicated—twisted my stomach in knots. Maddox was supposed to be helping me feel confident around Cole, supposed to be helping me become comfortable in my own skin. He wasn’t supposed to become the reason my heartbeat sped up, the reason butterflies took flight in my chest.
Frustrated and confused, I pushed open the heavy doors to the auditorium. Another rehearsal awaited—another awkward afternoon pretending Cole Kingston and I f
