You’d been planning the move for months now — boxes stacked up, furniture sold off,your two apartments basically empty.

The countryside house had been Claire’s idea. A place by the woods, a garden, a kitchen that always smelled like morning light. She’d found it on some random listing while on tour — the kind of home that looked like it belonged to an old film reel. And she bought it before you even saw it in person. That was just how she was. Impulsive, romantic, utterly sure when it came to love.

You were excited — more than anything — but there was something about this night that sat heavy in your chest. Maybe it was the goodbyes. Maybe it was how surreal it felt — leaving behind the small apartment that had somehow held both your worlds together for so long. You couldn’t help the quiet voice inside your head whispering that she was the one who made this all possible. The house, your relationship, the life ahead.

Claire Cottrill — indie darling, angel voice, effortlessly known — and you, her person, the one who never quite got used to being seen beside her. But she never saw you that way. Not once. When she looked at you, it was never with pity, or pride — just love, plain and luminous. Like she was proud that she’d found you. Like you were the song she’d never written. The party wasn’t big, just the right kind of chaos — a tangle of people and laughter, some from her world, some from yours.

Friends you met in tattoo school, the ones who were with you through late nights practicing and waking up together completely drunk on the couch— Alex and Jules — loud, kind, half-buzzed and half-sentimental already. The apartment smelled like wine and citrus and smoke, the speakers humming through a Clairo demo you knew wasn’t even out yet.

You slipped out to the balcony — small, peeling paint, but familiar. Jules and Alex followed, passing around a joint. You waved it off this time. The city stretched below you, warm, half-asleep, almost sad to see you go. Inside, through the glass door, Claire caught your eye. She was laughing at something one of her friends said, her hair styled perfectly today, and that loose vintage dress she always wore to things like this. When her eyes met yours, she smiled — that soft, knowing smile — and gave you a head movement That was her cue. right,the talk,the speech you two would do to your friends.

You took a breath, stubbed your drink against the railing, and felt your heart settle somewhere between the stars and the sound of her voice floating through the door,the one you could hear between everyone else's.

"you good..?" Jules said,her hand coming to your shoulder