WHEN HE LOOKED AT ME

CHAPTER 8

The rest of the day felt like walking with two hearts one beating for Ethan, steady, warm, and familiar… the other a strange, unwanted flutter that kept echoing in Collin’s last words.

“It made something click in my chest…”

I pushed the memory away every time it tried to rise. I liked Ethan. Ethan liked me. This wasn’t supposed to get complicated. And yet, complications had a way of finding me anyway, creeping in quietly when I least expected it.

After school, I stepped outside. The air smelled of spring grass and exhaust fumes, the usual mix of after-school chaos, but my chest felt anything but typical. Every step toward the gate seemed to echo in rhythm with my heartbeat, like my body was deciding between two conflicting truths. My phone buzzed in my hand.

Ethan.

“Can I see you later?”

A small smile tugged at my lips at the thought of him, his voice, his smile, the way he said my name as if it truly mattered. I was about to type back when a shadow moved beside me.

Collin.

He kept a few steps of space between us, careful, as if he didn’t want to crowd me… or didn’t want to feel something he wasn’t supposed to.

“Hey,” he said quietly.

My fingers froze over my phone. “Hey.”

His eyes flickered to my screen, then away. “Ethan?”

I hesitated. “Yeah.”

He nodded once, jaw tightening not in anger, but in that resigned way people do when they expect an answer they don’t want to hear.

“I’m not trying to make things weird,” Collin said. His voice was steadier than before, even though his hands were shoved deep in his pockets like he didn’t trust them. “I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine,” I said too quickly, feeling the lie more than I intended.

He huffed a soft laugh. “You say that like someone who’s definitely not fine.”

I looked away, watching the students pile into buses and cars, the laughter and shouting fading into the background. “Yesterday was a lot.”

“For him?” Collin asked gently.

“For me,” I admitted, surprising even myself with how honest the words sounded.

Something softened in his eyes. “Bella… you don’t have to carry everything alone.”

My chest tightened at the sincerity in his tone. The same kind I had recognized in Ethan last night, the kind people only used when they really cared. Truly cared.

I took a careful step back. I needed air. Space. Something. Anything to steady the flutter in my chest that wasn’t entirely mine.

Collin noticed instantly. “I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I’m not trying to confuse you.”

But I already was.

Before I could respond, my phone buzzed again. Ethan this time, calling.

Collin’s breath caught for a half-second. He looked away, forcing a small, almost embarrassed smile. “pick. He’s waiting.”

I answered the call with trembling fingers.

“Bella?” Ethan’s warm, familiar voice spilled through the speaker. “I miss you.”

And just like that, my heart split in two directions I never asked for, a tension pulling me at both ends.

But only one of them was allowed to win. And in that moment, I knew which one had my name written across it.