I woke up the next morning with the strange sensation that something fundamental had shifted while I slept, like the world had been quietly rearranged and I was only just noticing the difference. My unicorn pajamas were soft against my skin and the morning light was streaming through the windows, painting everything in shades of gold and amber. The city glittered below me, unchanged and eternal, but I felt different. Lighter somehow, as if a weight I had been carrying for so long I'd forgotten it existed had finally been lifted.
Lucas's confession echoed in my mind like a song I couldn't stop hearing. I love you. I've loved you for years. I love every version of you. The words had settled into my chest overnight and taken root there, sending tiny tendrils through all the empty spaces I hadn't known needed filling.
