Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1nr0KpnFP7
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8sswvRMnqT
Just three songs.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwfHTtnBdLi
One about missing someone I never had.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVjXiGcJi33
One about learning how to breathe again.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxmGcBaQMi8
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.”165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNUA0NIyITm
And it did.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9TCgk5X9UE
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNRqteFqevb
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMtN2sAJXRV
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMiUXnQpQnC
He’d heard me long before he met me.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCY7a7GEupF
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1vhrOC9WeV
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6K404l1tMS
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGwucvf8oNF
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTSLwpeJrHu
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—165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8ChCvp35MJ
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡG8eX4Y1YTs
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.165Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ67FTAFEYYZ
But soon.
