SEEN, NOTICED LOVED

Chapter 10-THE KISS WE DIDN'T TALK ABOUT

It wasn’t the silence that lingered after he left. It was the taste. Soft. Hesitant. Brief. But real.

It happened when he was about to go, after they’d sat on the couch, said everything without saying much. She had looked at him, eyes glassy but clear, and he’d reached for her hand without thinking. She didn’t pull away.

“Don’t disappear again,” he’d said, his voice barely more than a breath.

“Don’t make me want to."

And just like that, something in the air tilted. His hand moved to her cheek. Hers rested on his wrist. And in the quietest second , not urgent, not loud, not desperate , he leaned in and kissed her.

Just once.

And then once more, because once hadn’t been enough. They didn’t talk about it. They didn’t know how.

Now, it was Monday again.

Tara was back in school. And Tyler ? He was different. More careful. Present. Watching her like the kiss was a secret only they knew, and maybe it was.

She’d catch him looking at her sometimes , like he wanted to say something, but couldn’t figure out where to start. At the almond tree, they sat beside each other again. The silence was there, yes , but not the heavy kind. More like a blanket. She opened her sketchbook this time. Drew him with a bandage on his heart and a pencil in his hand. He peeked over her shoulder.

“Is that supposed to be me?”

She didn’t answer, just smiled. Then he said it. The first thing about that day since it happened.

“I’ve never kissed anyone before.”

She paused mid-shade. Then looked up. “Me neither.” Silence.

Then she asked “Do you regret it?”

He turned his head slowly. Looked her straight in the eye. “Only that I didn’t do it sooner.”

She didn’t know what to say to that. Her heart did something strange , like a laugh and a cry mixed into one heartbeat. She turned to him, the light flickering through the branches making her eyes brighter than usual.

“Was it just comfort? Or something else?”

He didn’t hesitate. “It was you.”

They sat with that. Not the kind of silence that swallows you whole , but the kind that says , I feel it too. For the rest of the afternoon, they stayed under the almond tree. Tara doodled on his palm with her pen soft lines, playful circles, hearts she pretended not to mean. He laughed when she drew eyelashes on his knuckles. And when their hands brushed again, neither of them moved away.

Later that night, Tara lay in bed staring at the ceiling.

Her body still ached with exhaustion from the days before , but her heart felt… lighter.

She didn’t need answers. Not yet.

Just this ,

That he came when it mattered.

That he stayed.

That he kissed her like she wasn’t a maybe.