James wasn’t in love with you. That sounded cruel, but it was true.

You knew it in the way his eyes never stayed on yours, always darting away. It wasn’t introspection or shyness that kept him distant. It was Lily. And for as long as you could remember, Lily had been the center of James’s universe.

It was after six years of rejection that made James finally pull back.

Then one day, everything shifted. “Hey, do you want to go out sometime?” James had asked, out of nowhere, during breakfast