Almost but not forever

Chapter 26 A New Girl Appears

The next few months passed quickly. University became busier and Lily slowly settled into her new routine. She attended lectures, completed assignments and spent time with a few friends she had made. Life was moving forward, but her feelings for Ethan remained exactly the same. No matter how much time passed, he was still the first person she wanted to talk to at the end of the day.

One Friday evening, Ethan called while she was studying. As usual, the conversation started with jokes and complaints about university life. Ethan spent several minutes talking about a lecturer he couldn’t stand and Lily laughed so hard she almost forgot about her assignment. Then, in the middle of a story, he mentioned a name she had never heard before.

“Anyway, Chloe nearly got us kicked out of the library.”

Lily frowned slightly. “Who is Chloe?”

Ethan laughed. “I don’t think I’ve mentioned her before. She’s a friend from one of my classes.”

That should have been the end of it. Ethan had friends. There was nothing unusual about that. But as the conversation continued, Lily noticed he mentioned Chloe again. Then again. By the time the call ended, she knew Chloe was funny, outgoing and somehow always involved in Ethan’s stories.

At first Lily ignored it. She told herself she was overthinking. Chloe was just a friend. There was no reason to care. But over the following weeks, Chloe’s name kept appearing. Whenever Ethan talked about university, Chloe seemed to be there. If he mentioned a group project, Chloe was part of it. If he talked about a café, Chloe had gone with him. If he talked about a funny moment with friends, Chloe was usually involved somehow.

One Saturday afternoon, Lily was on a video call with Sophie when she finally brought it up.

“You look annoyed,” Sophie said.

“I’m not annoyed.”

“You definitely are.”

Lily sighed and told her about Chloe. Sophie listened for a while before smiling.

“You’re jealous.”

“I’m not.”

“Lily, you’ve been in love with Ethan for years.”

Lily rolled her eyes but couldn’t argue. Maybe she was jealous. Not because Chloe had done anything wrong. In fact, from everything Ethan said, she sounded nice. That was what bothered Lily the most. It would have been easier if Chloe had been rude or annoying. Instead, she sounded like someone Ethan genuinely enjoyed being around.

A week later, Ethan called again. He sounded unusually excited. “A few of us are going on a weekend trip.”

“That sounds fun.”

“It should be.”

For the next few minutes he talked about the plans before casually adding, “Chloe is coming too.”

Lily felt something twist inside her chest. She forced herself to stay calm.

“Nice.”

The conversation continued, but she found it harder to focus. Every time Ethan laughed while talking about the trip, she imagined him making new memories with people she had never met. People who got to see him every day while she was hundreds of miles away.

That night, before going to bed, Lily opened social media. A new photo had been posted. It was a group picture from Ethan’s university. Several students were standing together smiling at the camera. Ethan was there. And standing right beside him was Chloe.

Lily stared at the picture longer than she meant to.

Nothing about it looked romantic. They weren’t holding hands. They weren’t standing unusually close. They simply looked comfortable around each other. But somehow that was enough to make her uneasy.

She put her phone down and tried to sleep, but her mind kept returning to the image. For the first time since Ethan moved away, she felt a fear she couldn’t ignore. Someone new had entered Ethan’s life. Maybe Chloe was just a friend. Maybe Lily was worrying for nothing.

Or maybe this was the beginning of something she wasn’t ready for.