“ you did, ” he agrees quietly, like the words are less a response and more a recollection spoken aloud. gaze lingers on her profile, softened by the dim glow of the television and the remnants of wine-warm laughter, and for a fleeting second he sees her as she once was : incandescent ambition wrapped in pretty smiles and sharpened determination. nadia has always possessed a voracious appetite for life, for more, for bigger things beyond the confines of this town. she chased her aspirations with ferocity, teeth bared against anything that threatened to obstruct her path. truthfully, he understood it because he had once been cut from the same cloth. back then, they’d both been hurtling toward futures that felt celestial in scale, too enarmored with their respective dreams to let even love anchor them in place. motivation had come effortlessly back then, when he still believed the world was waiting for him with open arms instead of cruel finality. his thumb traces absently against the stem of his wine glass before he murmurs, “ i hope you got everything you wanted. ” because if she had, maybe losing her had at least meant something.
he watches the revelation settle behind her eyes, visible in the way her expression subtly shifts, rearranging years-old memories into an entirely different narrative. and despite himself, despite the vulnerability threatening to pry beneath the seams of his carefully maintained composure, a crooked grin tugs at his lips. the truth had been buried for so long he’d never anticipated it surfacing at all, but liquor had always possessed a penchant for loosening tongues and excavating old ghosts. “ yeah, well, ” he exhales a quiet laugh, dragging a hand over his jaw, “ turns out i wasn’t exactly playing it cool back then. ” truthfully, the poor girl he’d taken to prom never stood a chance. not when every glance in the room gravitated toward nadia, not when his chest had constricted the second she’d walked through those doors looking like she belonged in a life far grander than this town. his date had noticed too, calling him out on it near the end of the night with glossy eyes and wounded pride, asking if he was still in love with his ex-girlfriend. he handn’t lied — couldn’t. which was precisely how he’d ended up tangled with another girl at the after party instead, chasing distraction beneath dim lights and intoxication, trying to convince himself he was eager for the future ahead rather than mourning the person he was leaving behind. his brows lift at her confession, surprise flickering briefly before dissolving into a softer, liquor-laced grin. “ i wish you had, ” he admits and christ, the weight of it lingers a beat too long before her remark about asher finally pulls a chuckle from him.
his grin widens immediately, slow and incorrigible, like she’s just handed him ammunition he intends to misuse. “ ah, so you do remember it right. ” words come laced with amusement, eyes dragging over her face in unconcealed fondness. “ was beginning to think i imagined all those times you suddenly forgot the concept of personal space after two glasses of cabernet. ” he shifts closer as he speaks, subtle enough to masquerade as coincidence, though the press of his knee against hers feels far too intentional to be accidental. gaze flickers briefly to her mouth before returning to her eyes as he settles deeper into the couch beside her, arm stretching along the back cushion behind her head again, not quite touching and yet surrounding her all the same. he recalls the way wine always left her touchier, softer around the edges, all flushed cheeks and wandering hands that inevitably drew him closer until their mouths eventually collided somewhere between teasing remarks and lingering stares, sprawled across this very couch or entwined underneath tangled sheets. proximity alone is enough to resurrect the ache of wanting her too much all over again. “ can you blame me, though ? you were cute wine drunk. clingy, but cute. ”