Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJKGleZBpt9
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoAC1wZrzwQ
Just three songs.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEXY0l8Ufjt
One about missing someone I never had.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb5OMaUwBxJ
One about learning how to breathe again.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMi2D3VUfzE
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.”172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1f2U3WsbC4
And it did.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzzX4ORwKS2
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ5YE543ssp
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1b8HxJ8VJ0
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9ZJmVvXOiC
He’d heard me long before he met me.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGaFIHL1qx3
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdXbC5iMaS9
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNOmZQYrwQ7
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXhORZBKl50
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡf1Pk5iiW2k
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—172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZO58TtKaS
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDH0rXVtSQn
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.172Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJvcfFqtBMn
But soon.
and then Add to home screen.