Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUb3JDrccvB
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyxNlJaKVvP
Just three songs.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvAx7EWx1K
One about missing someone I never had.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyAMAbMzfbM
One about learning how to breathe again.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlX28nZOfIM
And one—soft and wordless—that made me think of him sitting across from me in the rain.
I named it “For When You’re Not Sure.”
No text. No explanation. Just a link I dropped in his inbox that night.
Ten minutes later, a message appeared:
“That third track wrecked me. Here’s mine.”
His playlist was called “If I Said Too Much.”14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡffzg0h1ZIL
And it did.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpPIWsRUlyS
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm360d04J79
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzVlWTiFyEC
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHarvBN2ZRD
He’d heard me long before he met me.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDnWLrEhkqG
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡITgfLLJpfp
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp2sijx6fgw
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNOJBw6tRPt
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOTHqjciqs7
When she finally did, it was just:
“I don’t know what this is yet. But I want to find out.”
That was it.
And somehow, it was more honest than any three-page confession could’ve been.
So we kept exchanging playlists—14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMrXclOS9Ue
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwumSOA9MCU
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKwbeq0wVw
But soon.
