The next morning I woke up exhausted, not from lack of sleep, but from the weight of everything I’d been carrying. The dream, the kisses with Dirk, the charged game night confessions, the almost-moments with Dylan, the movie nights with the twins, Josh’s quiet stares that made my stomach flip— it all piled up until I couldn’t breathe under it anymore.
I’d spent years shrinking myself. After my ex, after every time someone made me feel small or wrong, I’d learned to tiptoe, to apologize for existing, to hide what I wanted. But this cabin, these men, this strange, beautiful mess of a holiday—it had cracked something open inside me. I was tired of being afraid. Tired of wondering, second-guessing, pretending I didn’t feel the pull.
So I decided: today I would be bold. Or at least try.
It w
