LOGINToo QuietPOV: TheoI barely remembered the walk home after leaving the storage room with Benito. My feet moved on autopilot through the familiar streets while my mind stayed stuck on my conversation with Noah. The afternoon sun felt too bright against my eyes, and the normal noise of the neighborhood sounded distant, like it was happening somewhere far away. I pushed open the front door of our house and let it close behind me with a soft click that seemed louder than it should have been.The house was empty. Mom was still at work and wouldn’t be back for hours. I dropped my bag by the door and walked straight to my room without turning on any lights. The quiet pressed in around me the second I sat down on the edge of my bed. For the first time in months, I wasn’t angry. That realization hit me harder than anything else. The constant burn I had carried in my chest since that night with Noah was just… gone. In its place was this heavy, confusing fog I didn’t know how to shake off.I la
BenitoI had only meant to give them ten minutes. Fifteen at most. Just enough time for them to talk, yell, or finally get whatever had been stuck between them for weeks out into the open. I never planned to leave them in there this long. Twenty-five minutes later, they were still locked inside the storage room. I leaned against the wall outside, arms crossed over my chest, scrolling through my phone without really seeing the screen. The hallway lights buzzed faintly above me. Every few minutes, students walked past. Some gave me curious looks. Others didn’t pay me any attention. One guy slowed down, noticed the closed door, and raised an eyebrow. “You lock someone in there?” he asked with a smirk. I forced a grin. “Relationship counselling.” The student laughed loudly and kept walking, shaking his head like it was the best joke he’d heard all day. I didn’t laugh with him. My smile faded the second he turned the corner. This wasn’t funny. Not even close. Those two had been c
Theo The room felt even smaller now, like the walls were slowly closing in with every second that passed. I hadn’t moved an inch since Noah finished talking. My back stayed pressed against the cold shelves, arms folded tight across my chest as if they could somehow keep all the messy feelings from spilling out. My heart kept beating too loud in the heavy quiet, and I could hear my own breathing. I kept replaying that night in my head, over and over, like a video I couldn’t pause. Not just the kiss—that part still burned like fire in my chest. But the rest of it. The parts I had pushed away because the hurt felt easier to hold onto than the truth. The heavy sound of the hockey bag hitting the floor. Noah standing up so fast from the couch. The way his face changed the moment he saw me standing there in the doorway. It wasn’t guilt like I had told myself. It was panic. Real, wide-eyed panic. And then his voice calling my name, loud and desperate, as I turned around and ran. I had hear
Theo The room felt smaller with every second that passed without either of us speaking. I stayed close to the door, one hand still gripping the handle. I almost hoped pulling it again would make it open. It didn’t. Benito had really locked us in. That idiot. I let out a slow breath and finally turned around. Noah hadn’t moved. He stood near the shelves with both hands deep in the pockets of his hoodie. He looked almost as uncomfortable as I felt. For once, neither of us had anywhere to run. “Theo.” His voice was quiet. Not exactly nervous. Just careful. I looked at him but didn’t say anything. “I know you don’t want to talk to me.” “You got that right.” “I know.” He nodded once, like he had expected it. “But please… don’t leave the second that door opens.” I folded my arms across my chest. “I’m listening.” “I mean it.” “So do I.” “No.” He shook his head. “I mean… actually listen. Then if you still want nothing to do with me, I’ll leave you alone.” Somet
TheoBy Wednesday morning, I had reached a very simple conclusion.Benito was a menace.I'd arrived on campus expecting a normal day. Coffee. Literature lecture. Lunch with Melody if she wasn't hiding in the music building again. Hockey practice later. The usual.Instead, Benito had somehow convinced half the English department that I was the right person to help organize a charity book drive."I don't even like people," I muttered as we carried another box of novels into the department lounge.Benito snorted."You like people.""I tolerate about four.""You've got me.""Unfortunately.""You've got Melody.""I do.""Nikolai.""Barely."He gasped dramatically."That's rude.""It's honest."He laughed, dropping his box onto one of the tables.The lounge was usually empty during morning lectures, which was exactly why Professor Ellis had let us use it to sort donations before the event next week. Books covered almost every flat surface. Mystery novels sat beside biographies. Romance book
NoahThere was only so much self-pity a person could survive before it became embarrassing.I figured I'd reached that point sometime around Thursday.Practice had ended almost twenty minutes ago, but I was still sitting in the locker room with one skate on and the other lying somewhere under the bench because I couldn't be bothered to look for it. The room had mostly emptied out by then. A couple of first-years were arguing over whose turn it was to carry equipment back to storage, somebody had music playing from a speaker that sounded like it had survived two wars, and Jeremy walked past me, took one look at my face, and kept walking.Probably the right decision."You alive?"I looked up.Nikolai stood in the doorway with two sports drinks in his hands."Barely.""I've seen corpses with more enthusiasm.""Thanks."He tossed one of the bottles at me.I caught it without thinking."You've been staring at the same locker for five minutes.""I wasn't.""You were."I twisted the cap open
Melody~By the third week of pretending I was fine, I was ready to admit I was terrible at it.Not out loud, of course. Out loud I was doing great. I went to class. Answered questions, held conversations. I even laughed a few times when people expected me to. From the outside, I probably looked com
Noah~I didn’t realize how much of my day revolved around Theo until he wasn’t there anymore.The stupid thing was that I thought I’d gotten used to it. The first few days after he left were rough, sure. But I told myself that was normal. We lived together. We saw each other every day. Anybody woul
A deep groan clawed its way out of my chest as my phone kept vibrating against my nightstand like it had a personal vendetta against me.For a split second, I considered letting it die.It didn’t.I snatched it up without checking the caller ID. “What?!” I barked, voice thick with sleep and last ni
Theodore POVYou probably think it can’t get any worse than hooking up with a random guy after a win and then seeing him the next morning as the newest member of your hockey team.Try going home that same day and finding out your mom got a ‘fiance’ over the weekend.Try watching that same guy—same







