Chapter 4 MISTAKES AND MISUNDERSTANDINGS

She was cold toward him the next morning. Not angry-just distant.

Liam noticed it the second he entered the lecture hall. She didn't glance at him. Didn't say hi. Didn't save him a seat. She sat two rows ahead, next to Maya, who sent him a quick glance that made his stomach knot.

He texted her during class.

Can we talk after?

No response.

He waited until the lecture ended, then caught up as she pushed her notebook into her bag.

"Ava-hey, wait."

She didn't stop walking. "I'm late for work."

"I didn't spread that rumor."

She paused, looked over her shoulder. "But you didn't deny it either."

"What was I supposed to say?"

"That it wasn't true. That I'm not some girl you're messing around with on the side."

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to."

The words hung between them, heavy and raw.

She turned again. "I don't do almosts, Liam. I don't do uncertain. If you don't want anything real, say that. But don't stand there acting confused when people draw conclusions you were too comfortable letting them make."

Liam watched her walk away again.

And this time, he didn't stop her.

The thing about silence was it got louder the longer it lasted.

He thought about messaging her again. Thought about showing up at her work. Thought about the rooftop.

But he didn't.

Because maybe she was right.

He was confused. Torn between trying to fix things at home and trying to keep this feeling between them alive-this almost-love that felt realer than anything else.

But he was losing her. He could feel it.

And the worst part?

He didn't know how to stop it.

That Evening, Maya visited Ava.

Maya sprawled across Ava's bed, scrolling through her phone while Ava sat at her desk, pretending to focus on homework.

"So he hasn't called"

"Nope."

"And you haven't messaged either?"

"I said what I needed to say."

"Yeah, but..." Maya paused. "Don't you think maybe he's just scared? Or overwhelmed? He has a lot going on."

Ava shook her head. "I'm not asking for everything. I'm just asking not to feel like an option."

Maya was quiet.

"I've been that girl before," Ava added. "The one who waits around for someone to make up their mind. I promised myself I'd never do that again."

"But what if this time it's different?"

Ava blinked hard, staring at the screen in front of her without seeing a thing.

"I wanted it to be different."

A few nights later, Liam let Tessa drag him to a house party.

He didn't want to be there. Didn't want the noise, the strobe lights, the shallow conversations. But he was tired of thinking about Ava. And at least this would numb him for a while.

Tessa handed him a drink. Too sweet. Too strong.

"You good?" she asked, leaning close.

He nodded. "Yeah. Fine."

"You don't look fine."

He laughed bitterly. "That obvious?"

Tessa smiled. "Want to talk about her?"

He shook his head.

She leaned closer. "Or we could talk about something else."

He didn't pull away fast enough.

When she kissed him, it was brief, blurry, and empty.

He didn't kiss back.

But someone took a photo.

And that photo made its way to Ava by the next morning.

She stared at her phone, unable to breathe.

The image was grainy, but unmistakable-Liam and Tessa, mouths too close. At a party she hadn't even known about. He hadn't mentioned it. Hadn't messaged her in days.

She dropped the phone like it burned her.

This was why she built walls.

This was why she didn't trust feelings.

The next day, Ava waited outside the campus library. Her heart was a hammer in her chest.

When she saw him coming up the path, headphones in, hoodie up, hands in pockets-she stepped in his way.

He stopped short, eyes widening slightly. "Ava-"

"You kissed her?"

His mouth opened, then closed. "It wasn't like that."

"Then explain it."

"She kissed me. I didn't-"

"But you didn't push her away either. And you let it happen."

"Ava, I was drunk, I wasn't thinking straight-"

"Exactly. You weren't thinking about me."

She hated the tears threatening behind her eyes. She didn't want to cry-not in front of him.

"I was falling for you," she whispered. "And maybe that was my mistake."

Liam stepped forward. "Don't say that."

"But it was, wasn't it?"

He swallowed hard. "You matter to me. More than I've been able to admit. But I've been... scared. Of screwing it up. Of losing you."

"You already did."

She turned and walked away-this time for real.

And Liam didn't chase her.

He watched her disappear around the corner, his chest hollow. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. He had all the words now, but they came too late.

She cried the second she got home. Quietly. Privately. She hated that loving someone made you this breakable. This fragile.

Maybe some love stories aren't meant to start with a mistake.

Or maybe they have to break before they become real.

By Monday, the photo had done its rounds. Ava could feel the whispers follow her from hallway to hallway-pity in some stares, smirking curiosity in others.

"Tessa really snatched him right from under her," someone muttered behind her in the café line.

"She should've known. Guys like Liam don't change."

Ava stared straight ahead, fists clenched, telling herself not to react. Not to give anyone the satisfaction of seeing her break.

But inside, she was crumbling.

Not because of Liam kissing someone else.

But because she had started to believe he never would

That same morning, Liam got another voicemail from his sister.

"Mom had another episode. She forgot who I was for a full two minutes, Liam. I need help. You can't keep hiding at school like this."

He sat on the stairs outside his dorm, phone clenched in his hand, breathing shallow.

He didn't know how to fix anything-not his mom, not Ava, not himself.

And now he might've destroyed the one thing that made everything feel worth staying for.

He typed a reply. Deleted it.

Then typed another.

I messed up. I've never felt more like a mess. But you're the only thing that makes me want to be better.

He didn't send it.

Because what if she was already done?

The night Liam kissed Tessa, Ava dreamt about her father.

The memory came uninvited:

She was seven. He promised he'd take her to the zoo. She waited on the steps all day.

He never showed up.

And her mother just said, "That's why we don't depend on people, Ava."

She had built herself on that lesson.

And Liam-Liam had made her start questioning it. Start hoping again.

That hurt more than the kiss ever could.

Three days later, they crossed paths unexpectedly. Campus bookstore. A quiet aisle. Her hand reached for a book at the same time as his.

Fingers brushed.

They both froze.

His voice cracked like he hadn't used it in days.

She stared at him. He looked tired. Genuinely sorry.

She could almost see the apology forming in his eyes.

But she wasn't ready to hear it.

She turned, book in hand. "You don't get to pretend this didn't happen."

"I'm not pretending."

"Then own it."

"I do. Every day since."

Their eyes locked.

A pause too long.

And then she left.

Again.

"He looked... different," Ava admitted.

"Different how?"

"Like he hadn't slept. Like he finally understood what he lost."

Maya sipped her drink. "So what are you going to do?"

Ava shook her head. "Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"I've always been the one who tries to fix things. Always the first to bend. To forgive. To swallow my pride."

She took a deep breath. "Not this time."

Ava closed her bedroom door that night, shutting the world out.

Liam left his open-hoping, maybe, she'd walk back through it one day.

But neither knocked. Not yet.