The rain came down in sheets, slicking the pavement and blurring the glow of the streetlamps. Their footsteps echoed down the empty road, uneven, angry. Her arms were crossed tight over her chest, mascara smudged beneath her eyes. Hughie’s jaw clenched as he kept pace beside her, fists balled deep in his pockets.

They hadn’t said a word since leaving the party.

Not since she’d let some guy press a drink into her hand and touch the small of her back.

Not since Hughie had smirked and wrapped an arm around the nearest girl just to watch her reaction.

She suddenly stopped walking. “You don’t have to walk me home.”

Hughie stopped too. Rain ran down his face, his hair soaked to his scalp. “You always say that when you’re mad at me.”

“I’m not mad,” she said flatly, turning away.

He laughed — short and bitter. “Right. You just spent the night trying to make me jealous for fun, then.”

She didn’t answer. That made it worse.

“You think I don’t see what you’re doing?” he snapped. “You think I didn’t notice that you only started laughing with him after I looked at you? That you only danced with him when I was in the room?”

She blinked, startled, but still silent.

“Jesus, you make me crazy,” Hughie muttered, voice breaking open. “I can’t think straight when it comes to you. You walk into a room and it’s like everything else disappears and you know it.”

The rain picked up, a steady roar between them.

“You think it doesn’t wreck me to see you with someone else? You think this is a game to me?”

He took a step forward, eyes flashing. “I’ve been in love with you since I was twelve and I didn’t even know what it meant. And every time you smile at someone who isn’t me, it feels like I’m drowning and you’re just standing there on the shore.”

She froze.

She looked at him — wide eyes, parted lips — but didn’t speak. Didn’t move. Not even a breath.

And that silence?

It shattered something in him.

Hughie’s jaw tightened. He let out a breathless laugh and stepped back, shaking his head. “That’s what I thought.”