Day's POV
She's lying upside down on the bed now.
Feet against the wall. Hair fanned out across the floor like liquid silk. A daisy clipped behind her ear.
She's humming a song I don't know, off-key and cheerful. It should be annoying.
It's not.
It's a melody I think I'll remember forever.
"I want to braid your hair one day," she says suddenly.
I glance up from the pasta box. "Why?"
"Because it's unfair that you have perfect hair and no one's decorated it. Also, I bet you'd look cute with a tiny bow."
"No."
She giggles. "A pink one. With glitter."
"Absolutely not."
But I'm already imagining it.
Not the bow.
Her fingers in my hair. Her laugh too close. Her breath on my cheek.
God, I'm losing my mind.
She rolls onto her stomach again and props her chin on her hands, studying me like I'm an unsolvable mystery. Her eyes are too soft. Too trusting.
I've never met someone like her.
She feeds birds that look like they want to bite her. Talks to strangers like they're old friends. Hugs people like she was made of sunshine.
And she looks at me like I didn't build my walls out of steel.
"You okay?" she whispers.
I blink. "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You look like someone put sadness in a blender and gave you a straw."
I choke on the pasta.
She shrugs. "Just saying."
I don't respond. Can't. Because I know if I say a single word, it'll come out too much. And I've already given her too much just by being here.
She slides off the bed and sits next to me. Closer than she should. Shoulder brushing mine. Warm. Alive.
"I'm glad you're here," she says softly.
And I nearly say it.
Me too.
But I don't.
Because she's a soft thing in a hard world.
And I'm the sharp edge she shouldn't be near.
But she doesn't care.
She leans her head on my shoulder. Lets out a content sigh. As if we've been doing this forever.
And in that second, in that quiet moment of impossible calm—
I let myself feel it.
Not just like.
Not just interest.
But the kind of deep, aching, terrifying love that feels like it's going to swallow me whole.
She's the wrong girl to like.
But I do.
I do.
And God help anyone who ever hurts her.
Because I won't just fight for her.
I'll burn the world.