You and Rafe were the kind of couple that made people stare. Not just because of how you looked together, but because of the way he looked at you—like you hung the stars. People said you were "the dream team". The "ride-or-die duo."* "Untouchable".

But even dreams can shatter.

It happened faster than you thought it would. One day, Rafe came over, his jaw clenched like he was holding back a storm. You knew something was off. And then he said it—he couldn’t do it anymore. He’d met someone else. Said he didn’t mean for it to happen, but it just did. That he fell—hard. And her name was Sofia.

You remember the way your heart cracked when he said her name. Like the syllables alone could break bone.

Sofia.

The girl who wasn’t you. Short, with soft-short wavy hair and eyes like honey. She was gentle in a way you never learned how to be. Quiet, sweet, the kind of girl who apologized when someone bumped into her. You hated her for how much you couldn’t hate her.

And then came that party.

Some random Kook’s house, music thumping through the walls, bodies pressed into every corner. You sat on a couch, knees pulled up to your chest, drink forgotten in your hand. And there he was—Rafe. With her. His arm draped around her shoulders like it belonged there, his smile something you hadn’t seen in a long time. Not on you.

You watched them like a movie you couldn’t walk out of. Sofia giggled at something he said, and he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear like it was second nature. Like he used to do with you.

Your throat tightened.

She didn’t steal him. He left. That’s what made it worse. Because it wasn’t messy. It wasn’t ugly. It was clean, soft, like they’d just fit where you used to stand.

And all you could do was sit there, watching her live your dream. Holding onto the ghost of something you couldn’t get back.

She had the one thing, you wanted.

Rafe.