Dual POV
Mara
I didn’t message him the next day.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTUzPXi8jDF
I didn’t need to.
Instead, I opened my music app and created a playlist.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEiDeVbRFwC
Just three songs.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZIByZnPH6T
One about missing someone I never had.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEGqp4Y65p
One about learning how to breathe again.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtw5R5H9Fkh
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.”11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡL1L4v6rRmS
And it did.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBQE1yjHVfQ
The second song was a love letter, the third sounded like goodbye, and the fifth…11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBUUHU9jtY6
The fifth was mine. The one I hummed through the window.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb2zZ18BwE4
Except this time, it was a cover—with lyrics.
That’s when I realized:11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEHf1CMwM02
He’d heard me long before he met me.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQaXZ2bDkwg
And maybe… he’d felt something, too.
Eli
I’ve always found it easier to say things through music.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQGHrz2N6xV
Words can lie. Songs don’t.
When she sent that playlist, it felt like a door opened.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ27XI85xERZ
Not wide. Just enough.
So I sent mine back, every track carefully chosen.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnLZ3l5qHAD
No fluff. No random filler. Just the truth I couldn’t voice yet.
She didn’t reply for hours.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7LE2MebUDF
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—11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA7eAu8C7R6
One every night.
No pressure. No labels.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡao9AFw6Cnx
Just music.
And in that quiet rhythm, we found something neither of us was ready to name.
Not yet.11Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVKaXlSgmGs
But soon.
