POV: Ava Mitchell
After the meeting at Riley's house, things started to feel… complicated.
Liam and I were talking again, laughing, joking, and slipping back into the comfortable rhythm we once had. But there was an underlying tension. A question I never dared ask.
What were we?
That night, we had stayed up late, talking about everything and nothing. He shared stories of his childhood, and I told him about my memories with my late brother. He laughed at my embarrassing moments and listened when I talked about how my grief had been eating me up. He seemed genuinely interested, and for a moment, it felt like nothing had changed.
But deep down, I couldn't shake the feeling that something had shifted. He wasn't the same Liam I had once hoped would see me the way I saw him. He wasn't the boy from that wedding night anymore.
A couple of days later, Liam sent me a text that changed everything.
"Can we talk?"
My heart skipped a beat. I immediately assumed the worst. Maybe he was going to tell me that he wasn't interested anymore. Maybe he was finally going to cut things off completely.
But I agreed.
"Sure. What's up?"
I had no idea how much that simple text would sting.
He was upfront, as always. He never sugar-coated anything. The words came quickly, like they had been lingering in his mind for a while.
"I just want to be honest with you," Liam texted. "I've been talking to someone for a while now. She's my girlfriend. I think you should know."
For a moment, I didn't know what to feel. My mind raced, but the words wouldn't make sense. Girlfriend?
I waited a few minutes, trying to gather my thoughts. Then I typed back.
"So, what does that mean for us?"
The response came almost instantly.
"It means we're just friends, Ava. I'm sorry if I made you feel otherwise. You're like a sister to me now."
The words hit harder than I anticipated. Sister.
How many times had I dreamed of him calling me something else? How many nights had I stayed up thinking about a future we could have shared, imagining how he would look at me with more than just friendship in his eyes?
But in the end, it was just a crush that never grew into anything more.
I sat there in silence, staring at my phone. The air in my room felt thick, suffocating. I didn't want to cry, but it hurt too much. I wanted to scream, to ask him why it couldn't be me.
But deep down, I knew the answer. I wasn't what he needed. He wasn't looking at me like that. And no amount of wishing could change that.
The next few weeks were a blur of conflicting emotions. I tried to keep my distance, to move on, but every text, every interaction with Liam felt like an echo of what could have been. I started to focus on school again, pretending like I was okay. But every time I saw a message from him, my heart would skip a beat, and I would open it with hope, only for that hope to shatter once more.
We still talked. It wasn't the same anymore, but I didn't know how to stop. There was a part of me that still wanted to be close to him, even if it meant accepting the role of the "sister" he saw me as.
And then came the day when he called me.
It was random. Just like the old days. But this time, something was different.
"Hey, Ava," he said, his voice soft and warm, "I just wanted to check in. You good?"
The simple question sent a wave of emotion over me. I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to tell him the truth—how badly it hurt to see him so happy with someone else.
"I'm good," I lied. "Just been keeping busy with school and stuff."
He didn't press further. He never did. He never pushed me to share things I wasn't ready to say. It was one of the things I appreciated most about him.
But I also realized something in that moment—how much I had changed. How much the past few months had reshaped me.
I wasn't the same girl who had first fallen for him. I had learned so much from the pain. From losing my brother. From letting go of my hope for something that was never going to happen.
And I didn't know if I could go back to being the person I was before.
The call ended with the usual awkwardness.
"I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Yeah, sure."
And we hung up.
That night, I sat on my bed and stared at the ceiling.
I had to let go.
The next morning, I deleted all our conversations.
I couldn't keep holding on to a past that didn't belong to me anymore.
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