The Version of me you loved

her desk like it h

adn't m

coul

it again-like if she did, she'd be pulled straight back into the

t hesi

ng she was slow

ne now. Deleted.

ge had alrea

n't tell if she was ac

was haunti

't Knock,

ey got ready. Her roommate had stumbled in someti

oks into her bag, her h

you weren't supposed to," Mia mut

f-smile. "What doe

that I made eye contact wi

wed hard, no

maybe

e polaroid had been. It was gone now. She

t out

ofter now. "You know you

hesi

exts. The photos. The messages that disa

f she soun

she wa

d another weak smile

ne," sh

't look

ed if she was still a good liar, or

ar Kind

was lou

s like she was borrowing spa

t studio, she hesitated

why she kept c

he only place where sh

that's what

d she walked in,

ling of being ob

th

la

fr

t v

o

her stomac

stood just insi

ike he had never

nted Me to Be (Fla

," Atlas had murmured, brushi

g again, and she did

she had

had said. But then,

Collides w

se roared i

was

e

he be

months tearing her do

ies so many times that she wasn't

uldn't

n't b

ser, his voice

ed too familia

to love but now only

g here?" Her voice

ly, his smile easy. "I was i

s was normal. Lik

n't sent th

had

ding so effortlessly in her worl

ed...un

oth

he one sending texts in

r slipped polaro

aware of how badly

ybe h

was the w

ntle, coaxing. "Aren't yo

omach

that how it a

smile. An invitatio

l her

e wors

er still wa

ne Wants t

la

ped her back into

, pulse st

indow, sketchbook in hand, wa

r gaze, his expre

en he

ed. Like he knew s

idn't l

icked from her to At

this time, there was a quest

asking: Ar

sking: Do you

t know how to

st thing about being

the cracks wants to

We Build

idn't s

. A casual mention of

is was

e would

terrifyi

lmost

away, the tension in

rd Aiden, expec

ing ju

a page in his sketchboo

rowned.

, his expression a

a ghost," he said, tapping

was w

up the

felt her b

s drawing, she

as a

in the lines

for a

her, then aske

to let him lock

throat t

know how to

uld walk through th

never reall