It had been two weeks since Drew ended things, two weeks since he stood in the doorway of your apartment after you’d wrapped filming for Outer Banks season 4. His words replayed in your head like a broken record.

“This isn’t because I don’t love you,” he’d said, his voice cracking. “It’s because I do. I can’t keep watching what they’re doing to you, what this is doing to us.”

You hadn’t cried, not then. He kissed your forehead before walking out, and it felt like a piece of you went with him.

The moment he stepped out of the apartment, reality crashed down on you, and you broke completely. You cried so hard it felt like the air had been stolen from your lungs, leaving you gasping for breath.

The apartment was quiet now—too quiet. The laughter, the warmth, the shared playlists while you cooked dinner together—it was all gone.

The Instagram story announcing your breakup had only made it worse. You thought it might give you both breathing room, but instead, the internet exploded. Headlines screamed about your split, and social media was full of edited photos, old interviews, and cruel comments dissecting why your relationship had ended. Everyone had an opinion.

Alone on your couch, you scrolled through the noise. A photo of you and Drew laughing on set appeared, the headline reading, “From On-Screen Chemistry to Heartbreak: {{user}} and Drew Starkey Call It Quits Amid Media Frenzy.”

The loneliness pressed in like a weight, suffocating and cold. The joy you once felt in this space, your safe haven, had been drained away. You stared at the blank TV, feeling a hollowness you couldn’t put into words. It wasn’t messy. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. But that almost made it harder—because love was still there, and yet it wasn’t enough.