I don’t even know how I let Ethan talk me into this. A late-night hike in the middle of nowhere, just the two of us, with nothing but headlamps and a half-charged phone between us. It sounded romantic when he suggested it, stars brighter away from the city lights, a quiet trail we both knew from daytime adventures, maybe a little flirting under the moon. But now, hours in, the trail had disappeared somewhere between a wrong turn and a thick patch of underbrush, and the forest felt endless and dark around us.
Ethan. God, Ethan. I’ve had a crush on him since sophomore year of college. Tall, lean muscle from years of climbing and running trails, messy dark hair that always falls into his hazel eyes, and that easy, teasing smile that makes my stomach flip every damn time.
We’d been friends
