Chapter One – Distance Between Us
College had always been the dream. The next step. The fresh beginning. But no one had told Athena Jacobs just how lonely it would feel with Mason slowly becoming a stranger.
It wasn't that they had fallen out of love. No, she still loved him with every beat of her heart. But life—college, classes, football, obligations—had started to wedge its way between them.
Their small apartment, once filled with laughter and whispered confessions under cozy blankets, now echoed with silence most nights. Mason didn't get home until after ten, his body sore, his mind exhausted. Football had always been his passion, and now that he was on the college team, it demanded everything from him.
Athena, on the other hand, had buried herself in her studies. She had joined a few clubs to fill the void, and in one of her literature classes, she met Eli Walker—a tall, soft-spoken poetry major with a gentle sense of humor and an observant heart. He noticed the little things—like when she was distracted, when she skipped meals, when she smiled but didn't mean it.
Eli became her safe space.
They'd meet in the library, trading notes, sometimes sitting for hours without saying much. He never pried. He just was there—in a way that felt comforting.
Meanwhile, Mason had made his own connection on the field. Harper Lewis, a med student and the team's athletic trainer, had started talking to him after a sprained ankle early in the semester. She was confident, driven, and spoke her mind—a mix Mason found refreshing. She teased him about his clumsiness and often stayed behind after practice to wrap his ankle or make him laugh with one of her dry jokes.
It was harmless.
At first.
But nights grew colder, and the distance between Mason and Athena widened.
One night, Athena sat at the window of their apartment, a textbook in her lap but her eyes unfocused, staring into the dark. Mason hadn't texted. Again. And Eli's text from earlier still sat unopened on her phone.
> "You looked tired today. Don't forget to take care of yourself, Athena. I'm always here if you need someone to talk to."
She sighed.
They had once promised that nothing would come between them.
But now, tangled in deadlines, practice, and people who offered warmth in different ways… Athena couldn't help but wonder:
Were they still walking the same path?