No Turning Back Now, Liam

pillows. I burrowed my face into one, a quiet smile on my lips. He was in the shower, the sound of the water a steady rhythm in the background of his spacious, min

body. We had been like this for years, ever since college. Best friends who fell into something more,

his hips. Water dripped from his dark hair onto his broad shoulders. He was handsome, with a charisma

tone casual as he rummaged through

ed him to come over, to give me a kiss, to start the morning the way we alw

meone," he said, h

e, but I pushed it down. He was a busy man

scrolling, a small smile playing on his lips. "

rs, but I remembered it. The girl he' d crushed on all th

voice small. "T

on his phone. "Yeah, it is. I'm thinking of taking her to that

a date with another woman. A cold knot formed in my stomach. I sat up fu

to keep my voice steady. "

n his eyes. It was a look I was starting to see more

y. "We've never talked about this. I just... I th

o comfort me. He sat on the edge, his distance feeling like a canyon betw

to the intimacy that still hung in the air. "Friends don't sp

cold pragmatism that I knew he used in his business dealing

his voice flat. "It's convenient. You know my

rtner. He was describing an appliance. The love I had nurtured for years sh

convenience for you?" I whispered

ne. "I never said I loved you. I never called you my girlfriend. You assume

g around me. I felt a burning shame. I looked down at my neck in the dim light and saw a fain

tasting like poison. "It's

back, and for a fleeting moment, I saw a sliver of somet

ice softer now, which somehow hurt more

choed in the silent room. I was alone in his bed, in his apartment, a place I ha

easy fool. I thought I was his partner, but I was just a placeholder. A "frie

e glass. The weather matched the storm inside me. I had to get out. Not just out

to Europe I could find. It was for the end of the month. It was a start.

ed into the phone. "And then... I

picture of us from high school graduation, young and smiling. I had given it to him. Without a second thought, I picked it up, walked into the ki