Chapter 56
337 Words
I shouldn’t have cared.
She made her choice. Smiling beside Noah like the world made sense. Like I hadn’t once stood in front of her and told her she meant something to me.
But I watched it happen anyway—watched him kneel like some fairytale i***t, watched her blush and say yes like she hadn’t just broken something in me weeks ago.
So when Amelia asked her question—loud, confident, expectant—I didn’t even hesitate.
“Yeah,” I said.
The word was dry in my mouth.
She beamed like she’d won.
But I wasn’t looking at her. I was looking at *Alice*.
She didn’t turn right away. But her smile faltered—just for a second.
That second stayed with me.
Later that day, I found myself staring out the window in our empty classroom, everyone else long gone. I’d said yes to a prom date I didn’t want, to keep up a mask I was tired of wearing.
“Trying to look mysterious?” Henry’s voice snapped me back.
I didn’t answer.
He sat on the desk beside mine. “You alright, man?”
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Amelia’s excited. Already planning outfits.”
I gave a forced smirk. “Let her plan.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You sure this is what you want? Thought you were over all that fake stuff.”
“Does it matter?” I muttered.
Henry leaned forward. “It matters if you’re lying to yourself. You used to hate people pretending around you. Now you’re doing it.”
I didn’t respond.
Because he was right.
Alice had made her choice, but that didn’t erase what I felt. It didn’t stop me from replaying her laugh, the way her eyes crinkled when she was being sarcastic, the way she said my name when she was annoyed.
I missed that.
I missed her.
And pretending to be fine with Amelia on prom night wasn’t going to fix that.
It might just make it worse.
- Writer
