(Steven POV)
The Drive Away
The moment the car door closed, the world went suspiciously quiet.
I stared straight ahead, hands gripping the steering wheel — not tightly, just… uncertainly — like if I loosened my hold, I might replay the last five minutes in my head and short-circuit entirely.
Because I definitely said something strange.
I definitely said something out of character.
And she definitely heard it.
"That did make me fall harder."
What possessed me?
I turned the corner slowly, the streetlights bleeding past the windshield, my thoughts far noisier than the city outside.
I wasn't supposed to be like that.
I wasn't supposed to be playful.
Or bold.
Or… soft.
And yet around Michelle, something kept slipping through the cracks of the carefully structured person I had built for years.
She didn't push.
She didn't demand.
She didn't expect.
She just… existed in my space — and something in me wanted to meet her there.
That was terrifying.
