Noah's POV
Later that day, Adrian left to help Mr. Lopez with the busted water pipes. He kissed Olivia goodbye the way he always did — soft, just on the mouth — and it felt like someone lit a small fire under my ribs.
I love my brother. But I would have preferred it if Olivia and I were alone.
When Adrian closed the door, something in me loosened. I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.
Olivia was in the small herb garden in the backyard. She had her sleeves rolled up and her fingers in the soil, like she was talking to the plants. It looked peaceful. I found a pair of old gloves on the shed and joined her, pretending I knew what I was doing.
"Don't laugh if I mess up your rosemary," I said, handing her the gloves.
She smiled without looking up. "I won't. Just don't drown it with soil."
We worked side by side. We dug, patted, and planted in small, quiet motions. Every once in a while, our shoulders bumped, and neither of us moved away. It felt easy and strange at the same time.
After a while, the holes we dug started to look silly. I joked that I was planting a secret tunnel for tiny gnomes. Olivia threw one back, saying maybe the gnomes need to find a new engineer. We laughed like lunatics at our own jokes, loud and free.
When the sun began to set, we carried a kettle and two cups out to the patio. The air was cool and smelled like cut grass.
The sky turned orange and pink. We sat and watched, steam rising from the cups.
She set her cup down and looked at me. "About this morning," she began, holding her mug as it steadied her. "Are you okay? You seemed... off."
I looked at my hands for a moment. The wooden table was warm from the sun. "I'm not okay," I said finally. My voice was low but steady. "I felt jealous. Of Adrian."
Olivia blinked. She sat up straight as if someone had told her a new fact about the world.
"I didn't want to make things weird. I didn't want to start a fight. I just... kept it in."
She breathed out slowly.
There was a long pause. She was gripping the handle so hard her knuckles were white.
I waited for her answer, for something — anything — that would make the tightness in my chest go away.
But Olivia didn't speak. She looked lost, staring at the sky as if she could find the right words in the clouds.
The tea cooled between us. The air got softer. I felt a small gravity pull — warm and strange — toward her. I reached out and brushed a strand of hair from her cheek.
Olivia's POV
His hand was warm, even in the cool air. The touch surprised me — not because he reached, but because I let him. It felt natural, like something I had always known how to do.
Slowly, his hand moved onto mine and held it as it belonged there. I didn't pull my hand away either.
My heart began to race so fast I thought it might jump out of my chest. I knew he could feel it against his palm. The world around us narrowed to the sound of our breath and the faint clink of the kettle.
In that quiet, a sudden realization hit me hard: my heart beats more when I'm with Noah than when I'm with Adrian.
The truth surprised and scared me. I loved Adrian in a steady way — warm, safe, familiar. But with Noah, it felt like something new and raw, pulling at the edges of me.
"Noah," I whispered, though I wasn't sure why I was saying his name. He looked at me with honest eyes.
I wanted to say all of it — that I was scared, that I didn't want to hurt either of them, that the pull I felt made me dizzy.
Instead, I squeezed his hand back.
He smiled, tired and soft.
We stayed like that, holding hands, watching the sun sink. The sky darkened, and the stars began to show. The garden smelled like earth and thyme and something that felt like the start of a confession.
I pulled my hand away first and set the cup down.
As we stood to go back inside, a small fear sat in my chest. If this was a beginning, it came with choices that would hurt someone. My heart felt heavy and bright at the same time.
Noah reached out and brushed my arm before I stepped into the house. "Thanks for listening," he said, quietly.
I nodded and walked in. Behind me, the garden stayed gentle and quiet.