I reached class with seconds to spare, sliding into my seat just as the lecturer walked in, his shoes echoing against the tiled floor. My chest was still warm, like something soft had been stitched into it overnight. I sat there, pen poised above my notebook, trying to focus while my thoughts kept drifting back to the feel of Jaxson’s arm around me, the steady rise and fall of his chest beneath my cheek.
For once, my mind wasn’t racing ahead to worst-case scenarios. It wasn’t replaying old mistakes on a cruel loop. It was… quiet.
The lecturer’s voice droned on about theories and frameworks, but I wrote anyway. Every now and then, I caught myself smiling at nothing. At everything.
When the lecture finally ended and chairs scraped back, I packed my bag and stepped outside into the open ai
