Noah
Thursday's dinner turned into something quieter than usual, both of us ending up back at Sophia's apartment afterward instead of lingering at the restaurant, curled together on her small couch with the lights dimmed low and a movie playing that neither of us actually paid attention to.
I couldn't stop thinking about Victoria's words from earlier in the week, the calculated warning wrapped around an uncomfortable truth I couldn't quite shake. Feelings are wonderful things right up until they cost you everything. Every moment I spent here, tangled together with Sophia in the quiet comfort of her apartment, felt like borrowed time, stolen from a truth that was going to demand payment eventually whether I was ready for it or not.
"You're quiet tonight," Sophia said, glancing up at me f
