It had been three weeks since he made the promise. And suddenly it felt like that promise was nothing but just an escape from the questions that were left unasked and unanswered.
Three weeks of cold silences and short replies. Three weeks of watching the space between them stretch wider and wider until Leia wasn't sure there was anything left to reach for. Miles didn't sit with her at lunch anymore. He didn't wait by her locker. The only time he looked at her in class was by accident - and even then, he looked away so fast it made her stomach twist.
At first, Leia tried to be patient. She told herself he was going through something, that maybe things were bad at home again. She knew better than anyone what it felt like to fall apart in silence. But this wasn't just silence. This was avoidance. Deliberate and cutting.
She stared down at her phone for the tenth time that day. The last text she sent him was two nights ago. "Are you okay?"
No reply.
Not even a read receipt.
She shoved her phone into her jacket pocket, frustration bubbling beneath her ribs. School had just let out, and the hallway was flooded with students. People brushed past her, laughing and joking and living their normal lives. She wasn't paying attention to any of them. Her eyes were fixed on one person - Miles.
He stood by the lockers with a group of guys from his math class, smiling at something one of them said. It wasn't his usual smile - the genuine, soft one that made Leia's heart ache. This was sharp. Performed. Like he was forcing it to stay in place.
But it still cut her, deep and fast.
Without thinking, she pushed through the crowd and walked straight up to him, grabbing the edge of his sleeve.
"We need to talk," she said, her voice firmer than it felt.
Miles blinked, his smile faltering. "What?"
"You heard me. Now."
His friends gave each other knowing looks and melted into the crowd. Miles let out a sigh and followed her down the empty hallway near the gym, where no one ever really hung out after school. His footsteps were slow behind her. Heavy.
She turned on him the second they were alone.
"Alright," she said, folding her arms tightly. "What's going on?"
Miles leaned against the wall, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his grey hoodie. He looked at the floor, then at her, then back at the floor.
"I don't know what you mean."
"Don't play dumb, Miles. You've been acting weird for weeks. Barely talking to me. Ignoring my texts. Not sitting with me. What did I do?"
"You didn't do anything."
"Then why are you treating me like I'm a stranger?"
"I'm not-"
"Yes, you are!" she snapped, louder than she meant to. Her voice echoed down the hall. She sucked in a breath, trying to steady herself. "I've been trying to give you space, to be patient, to not push you. But this-this is different. You're not just quiet. You're gone."
Miles shifted uncomfortably, still not meeting her eyes.
"I've just been busy," he muttered.
Leia let out a bitter laugh. "Busy? That's the excuse? You've been 'busy' for three weeks?"
"Why are you making this such a big deal?"
"Because you are a big deal!" she yelled, her voice cracking. "Because you're my best friend and I miss you, and I don't understand what I did to make you push me away."
He finally looked at her. Really looked at her. And something inside him snapped - not in anger, but in exhaustion. The kind that comes from carrying too much for too long.
"You want to know what's wrong?" he said, voice low. "Everything, Leia. Everything is wrong. My mom's still lying, my dad's still drunk, Theo's talking about moving out, and I'm stuck in the middle of all of it. I can't breathe most days. And every time I see you, I have to pretend like I'm okay because I don't want to ruin you too."
Leia blinked, stunned. "You wouldn't ruin me."
"You don't know that."
"I do," she whispered. "You never have."
He looked away again. "Maybe I will."
She stepped closer, eyes stinging. "Why won't you let me in, Miles? I've let you in. I've told you things I've never told anyone. I trusted you."
"And I didn't ask you to!" he burst out, louder than before. "I didn't ask you to care this much, Leia. I didn't ask you to make me your problem."
Her face crumpled. "You're not a problem. You're my person."
He laughed bitterly, shaking his head. "Well, maybe I don't want to be."
Silence hit like a slap. Leia took a small step back, like the words physically struck her. Her throat burned. She blinked furiously to keep the tears from falling.
"You don't mean that," she whispered.
He shrugged. "Maybe I do."
"No, you don't." Her voice broke completely this time. "You don't get to say things like that just to push me away. That's not fair."
Miles clenched his jaw, his eyes glossy but guarded. "None of this is fair, Leia. You think I like being this messed up? I hate it. I hate me. So maybe staying away is better for both of us."
She swallowed hard. "Don't you dare speak for me."
He didn't respond.
She stared at him, waiting - hoping - for something. An apology. A crack in the wall he'd built. Anything. But all she got was silence.
"Fine," she said finally, her voice flat. "If you want to be alone so badly, I'll make it easy for you."
She turned and walked away, fast, before the tears could fall in front of him. She heard him call her name once, soft and hesitant, but she didn't look back.
Because she couldn't.
If she did, she knew she'd run straight into his arms - and right now, that would hurt more than walking away.
---
The wind felt colder now.
Miles shoved his hands deeper into his pockets as he walked, his footsteps crunching against the scattered gravel of the side street that led to his neighborhood. The sun had already started to dip beneath the horizon, bleeding soft gold and orange across the sky - but he didn't see any of it. His eyes were locked on the pavement. His mind was somewhere else entirely.
He could still hear her voice. The tremble in it. The crack when she said "You're not a problem. You're my person."
He'd said maybe I don't want to be.
God, what the hell was wrong with him?
The memory of her face when he said it - that hurt, shocked expression like he'd pulled the ground out from under her - it haunted him. He hadn't meant it. Not really. He was just... overwhelmed. Angry. Not at her. Never at her. But she'd pushed, and he'd snapped, and now-
Now she was gone.
Not physically. She was probably still at school, maybe hiding in one of the bathrooms like she did when she didn't want anyone to see her cry. Or maybe she'd already gone home, pulled the hoodie over her head and curled up in bed with that notebook she always pretended not to care about. Maybe she was writing about how much she hated him.
He deserved it.
He kicked a loose stone on the sidewalk and watched it skid down the road. Each step home felt heavier than the last. Every streetlight that flickered on above him just seemed to spotlight how much he'd screwed everything up.
The truth was, Leia had always been his lifeline. His constant. The one person who saw him when everything else felt like static. And today, he pushed her away. Not just with silence, but with words that dug deep. Words he couldn't take back.
"I didn't ask you to care this much, Leia."
"Maybe staying away is better for both of us."
He stopped walking.
He stood in the middle of the quiet sidewalk, the chill of the evening settling into his skin, and felt the full weight of what he'd done.
He had hurt her.
He didn't just shut down - he used her own care against her. Like her love, her worry, her presence was a burden.
Miles didn't cry easily. He never had. But right then, with the sun fading and the silence louder than ever, his throat burned, and his eyes stung. He didn't let the tears fall - not yet. But they sat heavy, right behind the wall he'd spent years building.
He'd been trying to protect her. That's what he told himself. That he was poison, and if he got too close, he'd ruin her too. She had a broken home already - she didn't need to carry his mess too. She didn't need to feel responsible for someone else drowning when she barely kept herself afloat.
But now he saw it clearly: he hadn't protected her. He'd wounded her.
And what if this time... she didn't come back?
They fought before, sure. Little arguments. Dumb bickering. But this-this was different. This wasn't a misunderstanding or a bad day. This was intentional. Final. And Leia wasn't the kind of girl who let people say things like that twice.
He started walking again, slower now, dragging his feet across the pavement. His house was just a few blocks away. Not that he was in a rush to get there. What was he walking home to, anyway? A quiet, empty house. A dad passed out on the couch. A mom who wouldn't be home for hours and would pretend not to smell the beer. Nothing waited for him there.
Nothing... except guilt.
He wished he could go back - just a few minutes. Bite his tongue. Tell her the truth instead of hiding behind anger.
"I'm scared, Leia."
That's what he should've said.
"I feel like everything's falling apart and I don't know how to hold it together."
"I need you."
But he hadn't.
Now, all he could do was walk. Alone. And hope that somehow, someday, she might forgive him - even if he couldn't forgive himself.