🌙 The Space Between Stars

 

Alex and Brent

"I thought about you last night."

It wasn’t the first time Alex had said something like that. But the way he said it last night—his voice quiet, almost like a confession—stayed with me. He didn't look at me when he said it, his eyes still focused on the sketchbook in front of him, his hand moving across the pages. But I felt it. Like a wave crashing against my chest.

We were sitting in the library at 3 AM—again. Studying for our final psych exams. Or, well, pretending to. I don’t think either of us had looked at a textbook in over an hour.

I smiled, nervously. "Yeah? What about?"

Alex never told me the whole story of his life, but I knew enough. He was the quiet kind—the kind of person who always kept things close to his chest. But in the spaces between our words, in the late-night conversations, I got glimpses of who he was. Sometimes he seemed like he was just as broken as I was, and other times, like he had everything figured out.

It was confusing.

And every time he looked at me—really looked at me—I could feel that confusing, twisting feeling in my gut.

"About you." He finally glanced at me, his expression unreadable, and then quickly looked away. "No big deal. Forget it."

But I couldn’t. I couldn’t forget any of it. The way his words hung in the air like something unfinished. The way I kept thinking about him even when I tried not to.

We were best friends—or, at least, that’s what I kept telling myself. We met at the beginning of the semester, two strangers in the chaos of university life. And somehow, through group projects, study sessions, and random nights spent in this library, we became... this. Whatever this was.

But even now, I still didn’t know how we got here.

“I can’t,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "What do you mean?"

Alex sighed, shutting his sketchbook and finally meeting my gaze. His dark eyes were tired but intense. "I mean... it’s hard to explain."

I could see it now, the way his jaw tightened like he was fighting something. He wasn’t just tired. He was struggling—with something deeper than exams or projects.

“Alex,” I said softly, reaching out to place a hand on his wrist. “You know you can talk to me, right? About anything.”

He paused for a long moment, and I thought he was going to brush me off, like he always did when I tried to push too much.

But then—he didn't. He didn’t pull away.

Instead, he stared at my hand on his wrist for a few seconds. Then, with a shaky breath, he said, “I think about what happens after. After we graduate. After everything changes. You know... like when we’re not here anymore.”

I blinked, taken aback. That was not what I was expecting. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know how to explain it,” he said, eyes drifting down to his hands. “You’re one of the only people I’ve connected with here. But I keep thinking—what if it’s just another one of those things, you know? Like one of those friendships that fade when the semester’s over?”

I swallowed hard. “You think that’s going to happen with us?”

He didn't answer at first. Just sat there, fidgeting with the edge of the table like it was the most important thing in the world. His silence told me more than anything he could’ve said out loud.

“I don’t want it to,” I said, almost before I could stop myself. My heart was racing, and I was suddenly aware of how close we were—how close he was.

Alex turned his gaze back to me, and this time, it felt different. His eyes weren’t guarded anymore. They were open. Vulnerable.

I could feel my breath catch in my throat as I realized that everything I had been denying for months was finally coming to the surface. I had feelings for him—feelings that went beyond friendship. Feelings I wasn’t sure I was ready to confront.

“Then don’t let it,” Alex said quietly, like it was the simplest thing in the world. “Don’t let it fade.”

His words were like a dare. And for the first time in my life, I wondered if maybe the only thing standing in the way of what I wanted was me.

But I couldn’t say it—not yet. Not when I was still figuring out who I even was, not when everything I felt seemed to swirl in chaotic circles inside of me.

And so I stayed quiet.

—

We didn’t talk much after that night. Finals came, and the space between us widened—not physically, but emotionally. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to be around him. It was because I needed to figure out what I was feeling.

But the universe has a funny way of pulling people back together.

One night, I found myself sitting in the same spot in the library, my head spinning from the endless readings. My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a message from Alex.

“Can we talk?”

I stared at the message for a moment. The tension between us had been building for days now, and the last thing I wanted was to make things more complicated.

But this time, I didn’t hesitate.

I looked up, and there he was—standing just a few feet away. He hadn’t said anything, just stood there, waiting for me to make the first move.

It hit me then—how stupid I was for holding back. How stupid I was for not taking the chance when it was right in front of me.

“Alex,” I said, standing up to face him. “I don’t want this to fade. Not because of me.”

And when he smiled at me, finally, a soft smile that reached his eyes, I knew then that I wasn’t the only one struggling to find the right words.

The space between us wasn’t so big anymore.

---

✨ Author's Note:

Some things don’t need to be rushed. Sometimes, the hardest part is just being honest with yourself. You don’t have to have everything figured out right away. Love isn’t a destination. It’s a series of moments—tiny revelations that change everything. 💭💫

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What do you think? Would you like to know what happens next? Or explore what happens when Alex and Brent decide to confront everything they’ve been avoiding? 💌