(Where friendship tilts, ever so slightly, toward attraction… and someone else begins to notice)
Kade
It started with a touch.
Not the kind that meant anything. Not technically.
Just… a brush of her fingers.
They were walking side by side down a hallway after seventh period. Not planned. Coincidental, probably. Their lockers happened to be close enough. No one else was around.
Her hand had grazed his arm.
And that was it.
He flinched like he'd been burned. Not out of fear—he wasn't scared of her—but because it was new. Unfamiliar. Uncontrolled. He hadn't prepared for it.
The contact lasted less than a second.
But his skin burned for minutes.
They'd been spending more time together.
Always in quiet corners. Always where eyes weren't.
Sometimes she'd sit across from him in the library and just… watch.
Sometimes she'd ask questions he didn't know how to answer.
"What do you dream about?"
"Were you ever in love before?"
"Do you think people can change?"
He never gave her simple answers. But she didn't ask for them.
It was strange. Easy. Hard. Safe. Terrifying.
They laughed more now.
She'd started bringing gum. Left a stick on his side of the table without asking.
He started bringing an extra pencil, knowing she always forgot hers.
They weren't dating. God no.
Kade didn't even think he could date.
But lately… something had shifted.
In the way she looked at him.
And the way his pulse responded.
Viera
It was in his laugh.
The moment she realized it had shifted.
He didn't laugh much. Usually just small smiles. Or a soundless chuckle. But today—God, today—she'd caught him off guard with a joke. Some dumb story about Logan getting caught sneaking into the girls' gym.
And Kade had laughed.
Actually laughed.
It was short. Low. Rough.
But real.
And it wrecked her.
She couldn't stop staring.
It was unfair—how attractive he was when his guard dropped. How human he became when he wasn't curled into his shell.
And that smile…
It was the kind you fall into.
She caught herself thinking about him.
Too much.
In class, when she should've been taking notes. At home, when her mother was talking about brand partnerships and dance routines. In the shower. Lying in bed. Wondering how his hands would feel if they weren't tucked into his sleeves all the time.
It made her angry.
Not because he did anything.
But because he didn't.
He didn't try. He didn't flirt. He didn't say she was pretty.
And somehow, that made her want him more.
Kade
It was after lunch when it happened.
She found him by the back gym doors, headphones in, book open, pretending the world didn't exist.
She didn't ask.
She just sat beside him, close—too close.
He glanced at her.
She smiled innocently. "What?"
"You're… in my space."
"Oh, sorry," she said. Didn't move.
He rolled his eyes. But he didn't shift away.
She pulled a small candy from her pocket. Unwrapped it.
Held it out.
He hesitated.
Then took it.
And when their fingers touched this time—
He didn't flinch.
They didn't speak for a while.
And yet, the silence between them was alive.
Electric.
Full of something unspoken.
Kade could feel her shoulder against his.
And though his body screamed at him to retreat, his mind didn't.
His heart didn't.
Instead, it whispered:
Stay.
Viera
He didn't pull away.
That was new.
She watched him out of the corner of her eye.
His hair had fallen into his face again. God, he was handsome. But not in the cheap, obvious way. Not like the jocks who spent more time in front of mirrors than anyone else.
Kade was beautiful in a forgotten storm kind of way.
Raw. Cold. Alive.
He smelled like old pages and cheap detergent.
She didn't know why that made her want to kiss him.
But it did.
She didn't.
Not yet.
Instead, she leaned against his arm.
And said nothing.
Let the moment breathe.
Let it fill the spaces between her ribs.
Let it mean something.
Kade
Something was happening.
He didn't understand it fully. Didn't have the words. But it was there.
In how she looked at him.
In how she kept finding excuses to be close.
In how her voice changed when she spoke to him—softer, slower, like she wanted to be understood, not just heard.
He wasn't used to that.
He didn't know what to do with it.
But he wanted more of it.
And that terrified him.
Because wanting anything meant risk.
And Kade had learned long ago that risk led to pain.
Still… when she laughed and her fingers brushed his knee in that fake-accidental way?
He didn't move.
And that was something.
Others Begin to Notice
It started with whispers.
"Why is she sitting with him?"
"Do they know each other?"
"Wait—did you see them after lunch?"
The hallway was a jungle of voices.
Maya was the first to ask directly.
"You've been disappearing a lot lately," she said, arms folded. "What's going on?"
Viera just smiled. "Studying."
Logan wasn't subtle.
He cornered Kade near the vending machine two days later.
Snorted. "Didn't know dead things could date."
Kade didn't answer. Just stared.
Logan shoved him.
Kade didn't flinch.
Didn't hit back, either.
But the next day?
Viera skipped lunch with her cheer team.
And sat beside Kade again.
No explanation.
No apology.
Just that look.
And the whisper of something beginning.
End of Chapter 5
Next: Chapter 6 – Breach