Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTZsDeHgh0Q
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPi4xY0bdZI
Just three songs.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡveWfHGAc2u
One about missing someone I never had.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7AQ1cPzrM
One about learning how to breathe again.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡH1N4rLWpXC
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.”16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP2r1af7VNs
And it did.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKdiJoGVn0u
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFjLc2vfX1O
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd08Qy2Qlqe
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡueb6ZbvTqp
He’d heard me long before he met me.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYgif2pF9rU
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvaZSvZfHn
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ6IVSip5Wk
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgO5Dj2z80
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0VJjXYX6mg
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—16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1pmNTzVkoI
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIPJGdmSzk
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.16Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6DJOXNjYOO
But soon.
