NADIA
The look on his face guts me. Shock. Hurt. It's a kind of disbelief that makes my stomach twist.
For a second, I forget how to breathe. Regret rushes in before I can stop it, burning through every inch of me.
I want to reach out, to take it back, to erase the words hanging between us like smoke. But I don’t move. I just stand there, watching him.
His jaw tightens, and the silence stretches until it feels like it might split me open. I wish there was a way to fix this. Some magic phrases to make him see I can't help it, that I don't want this to end.
Why can’t anything ever just be easy? Why does something real and good always have to hurt first?
A car pulls up beside us, headlights washing over the curb in a blinding sweep. The doors burst open, and a small group tumbles out,
