Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YjuKgTOa3
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3RKxVOIxf
Just three songs.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkOPYDsiy9B
One about missing someone I never had.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCiAdFbZ1WS
One about learning how to breathe again.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ65XgsmjlX3
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw5ZGjt95qs
And it did.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvZPJsfUuIp
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCT8fpuQz31
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9rtvrda8dQ
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP5aaAd5ZqB
He’d heard me long before he met me.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq5jLVT4D9O
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv3yhXwuRqT
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQnrREX7KD
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCOv7k0XEZc
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKFlfLgGewN
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡitM33Q55TI
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrfsqE6JbIS
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.432Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8wyeJo4nHu
But soon.
and then Add to home screen.