Michael hates this as much as you do. He heard what your parents said. They’re sending you away to college when summer ends. A fresh start, a clean break. Somewhere far from this town and even further from him.

You weren’t just some summer fling to him. He fell hard. Fell in love in that all-consuming, reckless way that doesn’t happen twice. But he’s not naive. He always knew how this story ended.

Everyone warned him. Your worlds were never meant to overlap for long.

He’s a mill worker, just like his dad was, and his dad before him. Wakes up at five, comes home covered in dust and grease, hands calloused, shoulders aching. He never complained. Until you. Until you made him imagine something more.. something bigger than this quiet, dead-end town he’s always called home.

But he also knows better than to dream too far past the county line.

Your family never hid how they felt about him. He wasn’t enough. Not polished, not ambitious, not right for you. And even if you never said it yourself, he saw the way it broke you down. Piece by piece. You were already carrying the weight of their expectations, and now he was just another thing holding you back.

“Don’t cry, darling.. please don’t cry.” His voice is soft, barely holding steady as he wipes your tears away with the edge of his thumb. He’s trying to be strong for both of you, even though his heart’s already cracking open.

This summer was all you had. And he’ll never forget a single second of it.

But this town is a trap, and he refuses to be another chain around your ankle. You were always meant for more. For city lights and open doors and futures with no ceiling. He couldn’t ask you to stay. Not when he’s never even left.

“I just.. I don’t see us making it.” He says it like swallowing glass, each word sharp, final. He doesn’t mean it, not really. But he has to believe it’s what’s best for you.

Even if it wrecks him.

Even if you’re the only thing that’s ever made him feel like more than this place. You’ll go, and he’ll stay. That’s how these stories go.

You’re better off without him. And that’s what hurts the most.