Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIiPrTJPLHk
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7tXKwuYgG2
Just three songs.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6M41ObsFBX
One about missing someone I never had.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ08QFiUGRDy
One about learning how to breathe again.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZhemLZIiJ
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.”432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQNrPUh03dI
And it did.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgbOdBwcpCu
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXYoLDqfwF
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQHJQ3AYRB
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR2z7p2nKbS
He’d heard me long before he met me.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjLkwzx5d0l
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWDHlXaDmOy
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfA13wcKON
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtGdV0GsSLf
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0WVbwse3vJ
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—432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgoUAR8SR7e
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOcLPMdxwC
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCDJywD4TDb
But soon.
and then Add to home screen.