Tell Me You're Not Leaving
The morning after the hotel felt like a dream.
But the next week? Reality came crashing back.
Keifer wasn't texting as fast.
Wasn't meeting her by the lockers.
Wasn't showing up outside her class like he always did.
And when he did?
He was smiling. But it didn't reach his eyes.
"Wanna walk me home?" Jay asked on Thursday.
Keifer scratched the back of his neck. "I, uh… have training."
"You always have training."
He paused. "Yeah. I guess I do."
Jay didn't say anything.
But her heart dropped.
The next day, she saw him talking to Ezra outside the gym.
She didn't mean to eavesdrop.
She just… froze when she heard her name.
Ezra: "You're pulling away. She notices, dude."
Keifer: "I know."
Ezra: "So why?"
A pause.
Then Keifer's voice — low, wrecked.
"Because it's too real now. Because if I screw this up, I lose her. And I'd rather hurt now than ruin everything later."
Jay didn't wait to hear the rest.
She didn't cry.
Not until she got home.
Not until she remembered how gently he kissed her in that hotel bed and whispered I've been yours since before I had the right to say it.
That night, Keifer showed up outside her house.
She opened the door, face blank.
He stared at her like he didn't know how to breathe.
"I heard what you said to Ezra."
His face fell.
She stepped back. "Come in."
They sat on the floor of her front porch — knees touching, moonlight spilling over both of them.
Jay spoke first.
"You're scared of ruining this."
Keifer nodded. "Yeah."
She looked down. "And what, pushing me away makes it safer?"
"I thought it would."
"You're an idiot."
"I know."
A beat.
Jay's voice broke. "You already have me, Keifer. You can't lose me by trying. You'll lose me by not trying."
He blinked. Slowly. Like it was just sinking in.
"I thought if I let myself get used to this," he whispered, "to you, to waking up next to you, to being happy — that something would take it away."
"Nothing's taking me away," she said. "Unless you do."
Then, quieter:
"But I need you to stop acting like you don't want this. Because I do. I want you. All of you. Even the scared, stupid parts."
He looked at her like she just handed him air when he'd been drowning.
Then whispered: "I don't deserve you."
"Good," Jay said, smiling through her tears. "I don't want someone who thinks they do."
Keifer kissed her.
No tension. No spice. Just need.
And for the first time in days, the silence between them didn't feel like distance.
It felt like peace.
End of Chapter