WHEN HE LOOKED AT ME

CHAPTER 4

My heart thudded so loudly I could hear it over the quiet hum of my room, like the sound was trapped between my ribs and the walls. Each beat felt like it had its own rhythm, demanding to be noticed, reminding me I was alive, and painfully aware.

“Can I call you?”

His message stared back at me like a dare one of those choices you know will change something, even if you’re not sure what. I’d imagined talking to Ethan more times than I cared to count, usually in daydreams where I wasn’t overthinking every breath or worrying about how my voice sounded.

But this wasn’t a daydream.

This was real.

His voice. My voice.

No hiding behind typed words or carefully chosen emojis that made everything feel safe and distant.

My thumb hovered over the screen, trembling, almost as if it could snap the moment in half.

"Okay."

I hit send before fear could dig its claws into me.

Almost immediately, my phone buzzed.

Ethan was calling.

I swallowed hard, my stomach fluttering like a trapped bird, wiped my sweaty palm on my blanket, and pressed accept.

“Bella?”

His voice was low ,warm in a way I’d never heard before, soft in a way that didn’t match the confident guy everyone saw in the hallways. This Ethan sounded human, real, almost fragile. It caught me off guard, like I’d been expecting someone else entirely.

“Yeah,” I whispered back.

For a moment, neither of us spoke. I could hear his breathing, steady but nervous, like mine. It made something in my chest shift, a quiet ache forming there, a mixture of comfort and panic, like I suddenly understood he wasn’t as untouchable as people believed.

“I’m glad you answered,” he said finally. “I thought you might ignore me.”

I frowned slightly. “Why would I ignore you?”

“I don’t know,” he said with a small laugh that didn’t quite sound like laughter. “You’re hard to read. You always look like you’re lost in your own world.”

I smiled without thinking, even though he couldn’t see it. “Maybe I am.”

Another pause heavy, fragile, full of unspoken words.

Then his voice dipped lower, careful and almost hesitant. “Today… in the hall… did you look at me? Or am I crazy?”

Heat rushed to my cheeks so fast it almost burned. My fingers pressed lightly against my face, trying to steady myself, trying to act calm when inside I was spinning.

“I did,” I admitted quietly.

He exhaled ,a long, relieved breath, like he’d been holding it all day. “Good. Because I couldn’t stop looking at you.”

The words didn’t hit me all at once. They slipped in quietly, settling deep inside the parts of me I usually kept hidden. I didn’t know how to respond not without sounding breathless or foolish so I stayed silent, letting the moment stretch between us.

Before I could find words, a sudden knock echoed on his end ,sharp, impatient, like someone was banging on his door.

“Bella, I gotta go,” he said quickly, voice tightening. “But… can we talk again tonight?”

The question lingered, warm and hopeful. My chest fluttered like a trapped bird again, but this time it felt exciting instead of frightening.

And for the first time in a long time, my answer felt easy.