Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXzTPybTKA1
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnHGzPITSy9
Just three songs.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQqGlDUwZt8
One about missing someone I never had.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmgPN38bHhp
One about learning how to breathe again.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlV2DJd262R
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.”431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6o48jLygei
And it did.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3UiPedqQi9
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzjlFSEVzDE
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm1IcxcJEww
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuvDfGGL2Eg
He’d heard me long before he met me.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZTyvL6pKCu
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe99vb7IdCw
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPEUMEmPA4Q
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh4DExOPPyA
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9zy1Pp9ySA
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—431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX47Lpth2j7
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7a65b2cKIS
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.431Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8wocZj5Yah
But soon.
and then Add to home screen.