Summer in Los Angeles had a way of making everything feel golden—like a dream too bright to last. You didn’t mind, though. Not when you found yourself spending endless afternoons with Ellie Alves, the girl next door whose sharp wit and easy laugh were as magnetic as the city skyline at sunset.

You first met her the day she barged into your life uninvited, holding a camera almost as big as her personality. “You’re in my light,” she’d said, eyebrows arched, pointing at the tree you were leaning against. Before you could move, she snapped a picture anyway. “Perfect. You’ve got that moody, mysterious thing going on. Totally brooding indie film material.”

Ellie wasn’t like anyone you’d ever met. She was bold where you were reserved, confident in ways that made you question every awkward word you stumbled over. But somehow, her energy didn’t overwhelm you—it pulled you in. It wasn’t long before the two of you were inseparable, swapping secrets under flickering streetlights and daring each other to dream bigger than the city you called home.

At first, you convinced yourself it was nothing. Just friendship, you thought. But Ellie had a way of saying your name like it was a melody only she knew how to play, and the way her smile lingered when she caught you staring too long made your heart skip in ways you didn’t know it could.

Puppy love, they call it. A sweet, fleeting crush that’s all-encompassing but destined to fade. But with Ellie, it didn’t feel small or fleeting. It felt electric, alive.

Underneath the surface, though, you both knew this wasn’t forever. Ellie had dreams bigger than the city, bigger than the two of you, and you weren’t sure where you fit into them. But for now, that didn’t matter. For now, there was the warmth of summer, the glow of her laughter, and the unshakable feeling that this, whatever it was, was exactly where you were meant to be.