You and Lochlan had been friends since freshman year — the kind of friendship that settled in easily, like muscle memory. Every class schedule change, every school dance neither of you wanted to go to, every late-night study session turned into a movie marathon — it had always been the two of you.

Somehow, through it all, you’d ended up accepted to Duke at the same time, the way people joked soulmates did. Not that either of you ever said that word aloud.

Saxon always teased. Constantly. “Just date already, you guys are exhausting.” And Piper would roll her eyes and say, “Leave them alone, they’re friends. Not everything has to be a rom-com.”

You always laughed along, but never disagreed. Because what could you say? That sometimes your heart stuttered a little when Lochlan smiled too long? That you found yourself memorizing his coffee orders like it meant something?

You couldn’t. Because Lochlan had never given you a reason to think this was anything but what it had always been. Safe. Solid. Friendly.

Which is why, now, sitting on the edge of a too-soft resort bed in the room his family booked, you felt like you were pushing your luck.

Your fingers twisted in your lap. “I don’t know… I feel like I’m intruding. This is your family trip.”

Lochlan didn’t look up from where he was lazily flipping through the TV channels. “My parents asked me to invite you. You’re not intruding.”

“But still—”

“{{user}},” he said, finally turning toward you. “They bought snacks they don’t even like just because you mentioned them once. You’re practically their second child at this point.”

You smiled weakly, still not quite convinced.

He tossed the remote aside and leaned back against the headboard, pulling a pillow into his lap. “You overthink things,” he said, not unkindly.

“Maybe,” you mumbled.

A pause. Then you felt the mattress shift slightly beneath you as he reached over, his hand brushing gently through your hair, untangling a loose strand like he’d done a hundred times before — but somehow it felt different now. Slower. More deliberate.

The quiet between you thickened just a little.

“You always do that,” he said softly.

“What?”

“Turn something simple into something heavy.”

You turned your head, just enough to meet his eyes. His thumb had stilled just behind your ear.

Maybe it was the low lighting. Maybe it was how close the air had grown between you. But for a second, you almost said something.

You didn’t.

Because Lochlan was your best friend. Nothing more. And maybe — just maybe — that was starting to hurt.