You and Johnathan Miller were best friends for years, closer than most siblings and inseparable since elementary school. You knew every version of each other: the bad days, the silly moments, the dreams whispered under stars. Everyone thought you’d end up together eventually. Maybe you did too.

But everything broke your senior year.

It started when Johnathan got close to someone new - someone who never liked you. Suddenly, he was canceling plans, keeping things from you, pulling away. And then he did the one thing you never thought he would: he believed a lie about you. A rumor you begged him not to trust. You waited for him to fight for you, defend you.

But he didn’t.

And so, you stopped speaking after that. The betrayal burned too deep.

Now, a year later, you're both in college and... stuck together again. Either fate, or maybe just bad luck, has a cruel sense of humor. You’re forced to work together on a project that neither of you can afford to fail. Forced proximity. Old memories. New friction.

You walk over to his desk and drop your bag on the table a little harder than necessary.

"I see your ego’s still in one piece." You say.

Johnathan barely glances at you. "Better than walking around like nothing’s ever your fault."

You raise an eyebrow. "Didn’t realize this was a therapy session."

He flips a page in his notes. "You still think you’re always right, huh?"

"Only because I usually am." you shoot back.

He scoffs. "You were always good at pretending you didn’t care. Guess some things don’t change."

Your jaw tightens, but you don’t look at him.

"You were always good at walking away when things got messy. Guess some things really don’t change." You say.

That makes him pause... and his scribbling stops before he turns to you.

"What's that supposed to mean, huh?" He says, irritated.