Almost.
1043 Words
The rumors exploded.
Again.
By Tuesday morning, half of Blackwater had somehow become convinced that Jace and I were secretly in love.
The other half thought we were dating.
Neither group possessed a functioning brain.
Unfortunately, they possessed social media.
Which was significantly more dangerous.
I sat in homeroom scrolling through a fresh wave of posts from the Blackwater Gossip Page.
JACE DONOVAN CARRIES NAOMI BLAKE OFF TRACK AFTER PRACTICE ACCIDENT.
Attached was a blurry photo.
Because apparently, privacy had died.
“Stop reading the comments.”
Kiara dropped into the seat beside me.
I sighed.
“They keep getting worse.”
“They always do.”
Fair.
I locked my phone.
Mostly because I valued my sanity.
The rest of the school day passed surprisingly quietly.
Almost suspiciously quietly.
By the time practice arrived, my ankle already felt better.
Coach still refused to let me run.
Naturally.
“You are resting.”
“I feel fine.”
“I don’t care.”
Reasonable and annoying.
So instead of training, I spent most of practice sitting on the bleachers while the team ran relay drills.
A fate worse than death.
At least in my opinion.
The sky darkened slowly overhead.
Clouds drifted across the evening horizon.
Athletes shouted across the field.
Coach yelled at everyone equally.
Balance was maintained.
Eventually, practice ended.
One by one, teammates headed toward the locker rooms.
The stadium emptied quickly.
Until only a few people remained, including me.
I sat on the lowest bleacher, absentmindedly stretching my ankle.
The quiet felt nice. It was necessary.
For the first time all day, nobody was talking about me.
Nobody was staring and nobody was posting.
Footsteps approached, and I didn’t bother looking up.
“You’re becoming predictable.”
Jace sat beside me the way he always did.
A dangerous habit.
“You’re one to talk.”
A small smile appeared.
Then faded.
The silence that followed felt easily comfortable.
Which somehow made it worse.
The stadium lights flickered on overhead.
Casting long shadows across the empty track.
Everything felt different when nobody else was around.
More honest, less complicated at least temporarily.
“How’s the ankle?”
I flexed it experimentally.
“Better.”
“Coach won’t let you run tomorrow.”
I groaned.
“I know.”
The corner of his mouth twitched.
“You look offended.”
“I am offended.”
“By healing?”
“By Coach.”
“Fair.”
I laughed softly.
The sound echoed faintly through the nearly empty stadium.
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then my phone buzzed.
Instantly, my mood vanished.
The reaction must have been obvious.
Because Jace noticed immediately.
His expression darkened slightly.
“Another message?”
I looked away which was basically an answer.
The truth was I hadn’t opened it yet.
I didn’t want to.
Didn’t have the energy or the courage.
The messages always managed to ruin everything every single time.
Jace watched me for a second then quietly held out his hand.
I blinked.
“What?”
“Phone.”
I stared.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s weird.”
His eyebrow lifted.
“You’re weird.”
“Good argument.”
“Thanks.”
Despite everything, a tiny smile appeared.
Then disappeared again. I looked down at the screen the notification still waited.
Unknown Number.
The familiar dread returned immediately.
Finally, I opened it.
A photo appeared, not from my old school this time.
Not from my past.
From Blackwater.
My stomach dropped.
The image had clearly been taken recently.
It showed me sitting in the bleachers after practice with Jace.
Exactly where we were now.
The caption beneath it was short.
Everyone leaves eventually. Including him.
Cold spread through my chest.
I stared at the screen.
Unable to move or breathe properly.
Because this wasn’t old anymore.
This wasn’t someone digging through the past.
Someone was watching me now, here at Blackwater.
Beside me, Jace went completely still.
“What is it?”
I handed him the phone without speaking.
His jaw tightened immediately.
The change in his expression frightened me.
Because I’d never seen him look angry like that before.
For several seconds, he stared at the photo.
Then toward the empty stadium.
Then back at the screen.
“They took this today.”
The obvious statement somehow made everything worse.
I nodded slowly. Fear settled heavily in my stomach.
The kind that made everything feel colder, smaller, and unsafe.
Silence stretched between us.
The sky above darkened further.
Wind moved gently through the stands, neither of us spoke.
Finally, Jace lowered the phone and looked at me directly.
The intensity of his gaze made my pulse stumble.
“They’re not going to scare you away.”
The certainty in his voice caught me off guard.
I laughed quietly.
Humorless.
“You sound pretty confident.”
“I am.”
Something shifted in the air between us.
My heartbeat accelerated.
Jace’s gaze never left mine, not even for a second.
The stadium suddenly felt too quiet empty and intimate.
I swallowed carefully.
The distance between us seemed much smaller than before.
For one terrifying moment, neither of us looked away.
Neither of us moved. The world narrowed, the track, the lights, the silence.
It was just him, nothing else existed.
Jace leaned forward slightly not enough to touch me.
Just enough to make my breath catch.
My pulse hammered.
His eyes flicked briefly toward my mouth.
Then back to my eyes.
The movement was small but impossible to miss.
Everything inside me froze because suddenly I knew.
I knew exactly what was about to happen.
And the terrifying part? I wanted it to happen so bad.
The space between us disappeared inch by inch.
Closer, closer, and closer.
Then—
“JACE!”
The shout echoed across the stadium.
We sprang apart instantly.
Reality crashed back very fast.
Mason stood near the entrance carrying a forgotten gym bag.
Completely oblivious.
My heart nearly exploded.
Jace looked equally stunned.
For a moment, neither of us spoke, neither knew what to say.
Because the truth hung heavily between us now.
Undeniable, dangerous, and impossible to ignore.
We hadn’t kissed.
Not quite.
But we had come close enough to change everything.
- Writer
