chapter 3:*"PRESSURE "*
304 Words
*The Email*
Atlanta’s deadline was in 48 hours. _Confirm your seat. Send deposit._
She had the money saved. She had the portfolio. She didn’t have peace.
Every time she opened the reply box, Elias was in the room. Not physically. But in her head.
_I don’t sleep when you’re not next to me._
_What if you meet someone there?_
*Layla’s Push*
“Read it out loud,” Layla said, shoving Maya’s laptop toward her at the diner after shift.
Maya read: _We’d love to have you, Ms. Adele. Your work is raw. It’s real._
“Raw and real,” Layla repeated. “That’s you, Maya. Not his.”
“He’s not the problem,” Maya said fast. Too fast.
“Then why are your hands shaking?”
Maya didn’t answer.
*Elias’s Crack*
He picked her up after. No music in the car. Just his knuckles white on the wheel.
“You didn’t reply yet,” he said. Not a question.
“I’m thinking,” she said.
“About leaving me?” His voice broke.
She looked at him. Really looked. Dark circles. Jaw clenched. The boy who fixed her sink, who stayed when her dad didn’t.
“I’m scared too,” she said. It was the first time she’d said it.
He pulled over. Empty street. Rain starting.
He didn’t yell. He didn’t grab her phone. He just rested his forehead on the steering wheel.
“If you go,” he whispered, “I don’t know who I am without you. You’re the gold in me, Maya. Without you, I’m just… cracked.”
She reached for him. Her hand hovered.
Love said: _Stay. Fix him._
The part of her that was still Maya said: _What about you?_
She pulled her hand back. “I need two days.”
He nodded. Once. Like it hurt.
- Writer
