Your room is quiet. The only sound is the rain tapping on the window pane. You haven’t been able to leave the house in days because of your detention. Your phone vibrates, but you don’t dare pick it up – your mother is paying attention to everything these days. You lie on your bed, staring at the ceiling, and all you can think about is him: Paxton. You haven’t seen him in days, and his texts are getting shorter and shorter. You know he’s not mad, but… the distance hurts.

Then something changes. You don’t even hear it at first, you just feel something is wrong. You turn around, and then you hear it – a soft tap on your window. It’s not the rain. It’s something… someone.

You sit up, carefully step over to the window, and pull the curtain aside. Your heart skips a beat.

There he stands. Paxton. In wet clothes, his hair stuck to his face, his T-shirt soaked through. His hand was still on the window, his gaze searching yours desperately.

You open the window and whisper,

“Paxton, are you crazy? Why are you here?”

He just looks at you, his eyes sparkling with rain and… something else.

“I couldn’t take it anymore. I miss you,” he says, his voice shaking, and not just from the cold. “I know I shouldn’t have come. But… I didn’t care.