-Zade Collins:
I swear my teeth were about to break from how hard I was grinding them. I couldn't stop watching Blake, not even when I told myself to look away. He came down those stairs like the world had decided to paint him in colors I'd never seen before—soft sweater hanging loose against him, that tiny teddy bear keychain swaying at his side, his hair combed, glasses sitting neatly on his nose. He didn't look like the boy who had collapsed in my arms days ago, broken and fragile. No—he looked alive. He looked like light. Sunlight, spring, blue sky, summer and everything beautiful.
But it wasn't me he ran to.
No, it was Larkin. Always goddamn Larkin. His arms stretched wide, his grin easy and free, and Blake just slipped into his embrace like that's where he belonged. Like I wasn't even standing there, waiting, hoping—pathetically—with my arms half-lifted for him.
