His confidence was maddening and strangely comforting at the same time, but it didn’t erase the doubt gnawing at the edges of my mind. The rumors, the fight with Logan, Vanessa’s games—it was all spiraling out of control, and I didn’t know how to stop it.
“I lost my scholarship.” I don’t know why I said that to him. I guess I felt like I had nothing left to lose. “I’m trying to find a job, but no one’s hiring.”
Caleb frowned, leaning back a little. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I don’t need your help,” I said, my tone sharper than I intended. “I need to do this myself. But everything seems to fall apart. And now with all these rumors it only got worse.” I cover my face with my hands again.
But Caleb removed them. “Emma, come on,” he said, looking into my eyes. I felt the familiar jolt spreading down my body. “You’re clearly struggling. Let me help.”
“I don’t want your help, Caleb. I don’t need another person making me feel like I can’t handle my own life.”
His expression hardened. “Fine,” he said, standing up. “But you’re making this harder than it has to be.”
I watched him walk off, guilt gnawing at me. But I couldn’t let him swoop in and save me. This was all my mess to fix.
***
Logan wasn’t staying quiet about the rumors. I caught him glaring at Caleb in the hallways, his fists clenched like he was one wrong move away from starting another fight. When we passed each other between classes, his eyes would linger on me, filled with frustration and something I couldn’t quite name.
The school parking lot was nearly deserted. My footsteps echoed faintly as I walked toward my car. I just wanted to get home, to escape the tangled mess of emotions I’d been drowning in all day.
But then his voice stopped me.
“Emma.”
I turned to see Logan standing a few feet away. His posture was rigid, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. There was something in his eyes—an intensity that stopped me cold, that made my stomach twist painfully.
“Not now, Logan” I said, my voice betraying the exhaustion I felt. I didn’t have the energy for another confrontation, not today.
“I’m done waiting. I can’t keep watching you tear yourself apart, pretending you’re okay with Caleb, with all of this.” He stepped closer and closer with each word and all I could do was just stand there as if rooted to the ground. “You’re not happy, Emma. Not with Caleb, not with the mess Vanessa’s made, not with any of it. You’re running from what we have, from us, and it’s killing me.”
I swallowed hard, my throat tightening as his words cracked the armor I’d so carefully built. “Because it’s not that simple,” I whispered, my voice trembling.
“It is.” He was already too close. “We can have something real, Emma. Something that’s ours. We can be through everything together. But you have to stop running.”
My chest felt like it was caught in a vice, each breath harder to take than the last. I looked away, blinking back the tears that threatened to spill. But suddenly he cupped my face in his warm hands, his voice dropping to a whisper that carried more weight than any shout ever could.
“Emma, choose me,” he said suddenly. “Please.”