Anthony pov
I hadn't meant to walk that far. The sky was still warming when I left the house, just a sliver of time before the weight of everything pressed back in again. I ended up by the dock. The place has its own rhythm. It's quiet enough to hear yourself think—but sometimes too quiet. Sometimes all I hear there is her voice. My mother's. Or the absence of it.
That's when I saw her.
I still didn't know her name .
She was already sitting on the edge, feet in the water, hair caught in the breeze light curls dangling like it was part of the tide. Her back was to me, and I thought for a moment maybe I'd imagined her. But no—she turned just slightly, just enough. I froze. Not because I was afraid, but because it felt… fragile. Like if I stepped wrong, the whole moment would break.
I watched her from a distance. Long enough to know she didn't want to be found. But I still stepped forward.
I mumbled I didn't mean to startle you and asked if she was ok
She was quite but said she was ok. I sat
Down just out of her reach and watched her through the water surface I noticed she was watching me too I found it amusing she was so beautiful her eyes were like prison and I there prisoner we made small talk until an angry un easy voice interrupted
I didn't know much about him, not really. Just the name, the noise, the reputation. But what I saw… it hit me deeper than I expected.
He was angry. Not passionate, not hurt. Angry. Like she owed him something. Like her quietness was a crime.
She tried to stay calm. I could see it in the way she held herself—shoulders tight, voice even. But she looked small. Smaller than she should ever have to be.
I stayed back until it felt wrong not to move. Not to do something.
She didn't look surprised. Maybe just tired.
He noticed me too, eventually. Asked who I was, but I didn't answer. What was the point?
I could see where it was going. He stepped toward her, too close, too sharp. That was enough.
I couldn't stand there and let him hurt her she suggested some space or even a break up he didn't take kindly to that I enforced her by telling him he should listen to her he didn't seem like the kind of guy that would go quietly .
She turned to me, eyes like glass. She stud between us Then she nodded— she told him to goo and he did
to my surprise she let out a breath from her perfectly curved lips
I offered her a bottle of water from my bag and my name I know she didn't know I offered her a ride home it was in my direction any way we may as well have been neighbors I asked around about her found out she lived In the property next to mine God sent I walked her to my car
No planning, no explanation. Just two people walking away from a storm that should've never touched her.
I opened the car door for her, and she didn't hesitate.
The drive was quiet.
But not the awkward kind.
I wanted to speak, to say something that would make her understand that she wasn't alone. That I'd seen enough to care, more than I probably should. But the words stayed jammed behind my ribs.
"You looked beautiful," I said finally. "At the dock."
She didn't answer right away. But she smiled, just a little. The kind of smile that tells you something inside her softened.
"You saw me?"
"I've seen you before," I said, slower now. "At the creek.
I told her about the apple tree and her little fall she lied about the view and not that she wanted the apples i thought how cute she was i wouldn't tell her about her hair tie—not yet. Her hair tie was still sitting on my dresser.
That would come later. When she was ready.
When we pulled up to her house, I wanted to stay. To make sure she got inside safe. To keep the moment going a little longer. But I didn't say anything.
"If you ever need to leave," I said, "even just for a little while… I'll drive."
She looked at me then. Really looked.
And I swear, in that moment, she truly saw me not just the boy she would occasionally glance at