The silence in the house was deafening.
For the first time in weeks, it wasn't filled with the heavy stench of cigarettes, the clink of empty bottles, or the low, drunken muttering from the living room. Just the quiet hum of the fridge and the occasional creak of the old wooden floorboards under Miles's socks.
His father was gone. Rehab. They'd taken him that morning.
No fighting. No screaming. No teary goodbye.
Just Theo gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned white while Miles sat in the back seat and watched their dad stare blankly out the window like he'd already left.
Miles wasn't sure how to feel. Relieved? Guilty? Maybe both. He just knew that when they got home, the house still smelled like ashtrays and rot, and something in him snapped.
"I can't live like this anymore," he muttered, tossing his backpack on the couch.
Theo, already pulling on old cleaning gloves, gave a humorless laugh. "Good. Then let's fix it."
It started in the living room. Beer cans shoved behind the couch. Burn marks on the coffee table. Broken picture frames. They worked in silence, dumping everything into trash bags. The floor was sticky, like soda and regret had soaked into the tiles.
Theo was quieter than usual. Focused. Determined. Miles figured this was how his older brother coped - by doing. By fixing. He'd always been the glue between them, patching things up when their dad broke apart.
"Hey," Miles said, wiping sweat off his brow as they pulled the stained rug out the front door. "Do you think he'll actually get better?"
Theo didn't look at him, just adjusted his grip on the rug.
"I don't know," he said. "But I know we deserve better. And if he doesn't want to change, then screw him."
They dumped the rug by the curb and stood outside, breathing in the fresh air like it was medicine.
Miles looked around the quiet neighborhood. So normal. Kids playing soccer two houses down. Someone mowing their lawn. Families. Clean porches. People that didn't have to hold their breath walking into their own homes.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. A message from Jared, a guy in his science class. They weren't best friends or anything, but they talked sometimes - especially about video games and random memes. The message read:
"Yo. You and Leia good?"
Miles blinked. His fingers hovered over the keyboard. After a second, he just typed:
"What do you mean?"
Jared's reply came quick.
"You didn't hear? Damn. I thought she told you. Everyone saw you with that new girl the other day. She looked upset af."
Miles stared at the screen.
What girl?
Then it hit him.
That afternoon last week. The girl from his photography elective - Clara or Chloe or something - had tripped, and he helped her up. She'd laughed and hugged him quickly, thanking him before walking off. It was barely anything. A second. Two, max.
But... Leia had seen?
His chest tightened.
Jared sent another message:
"She sat behind me in English after that. Eyes all red. I'm pretty sure she cried, dude. You might wanna talk to her."
Miles didn't answer. His hands were trembling.
He dropped the phone and cursed under his breath. "Are you kidding me?"
Theo raised an eyebrow. "What?"
Miles shook his head, pacing across the lawn. "Leia. She saw me with someone else and now thinks I'm... I don't even know what she thinks."
Theo leaned against the porch railing, arms crossed. "Okay. Slow down. Start from the beginning."
So he did. The short version. The hallway. The girl. The hug. Leia disappearing the next day. All the awkward silences and missed glances since.
Theo let out a whistle. "Damn. That's rough. But like... it's kind of sweet."
Miles looked up, confused. "Sweet?"
"You care this much," Theo said. "And clearly, so does she. Which means you should stop moping around like a lost puppy and talk to her."
"I've tried!" Miles ran his hands through his hair. "She won't answer me. Won't even look at me half the time. You didn't see how cold she was. Like I didn't exist."
Theo picked up a mop and handed it to him. "Then make her see you again. Do something. Don't just wait around. Girls like Leia don't come around twice."
Miles didn't reply. But he knew Theo was right.
He went back inside and started scrubbing like his life depended on it.
Because maybe - just maybe - if he could clean the mess around him, he'd figure out how to clean up the mess between him and Leia too.
---
Leia lay sprawled across the carpeted floor of Ashley's room, her legs tangled in a fuzzy throw blanket while Mia scrolled through her phone beside her. The room smelled faintly of strawberry body spray and vanilla candles, with posters of indie bands and movie quotes plastered across the pastel-colored walls. The usual Friday night routine - sleepovers, snack binges, and unsolicited life advice - but tonight, Leia's mind was elsewhere.
"You okay, babe?" Ashley asked, blowing a bubble with her gum before it popped loudly. "You've been real spaced out. And I swear if you say it's because of a test, I'll throw my slipper at you."
Leia offered a half-hearted smile and sat up, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I'm fine. Just tired. School's been draining."
"School, or a certain Miles Smith?" Mia raised an eyebrow without even looking up from her screen.
Leia's throat tightened, but she didn't respond right away. The ache in her chest hadn't gone away since the day she saw him with that other girl. She kept replaying it in her head - the way the girl smiled up at him, the way he leaned in. Even if it was innocent, even if it meant nothing... it *felt* like betrayal. It felt like confirmation that she was just another chapter to him, while he'd always be the whole damn book to her.
Ashley exchanged a quick glance with Mia, then flopped down beside Leia, leaning her head against her shoulder. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," she said softly. "But we're here, okay?"
Leia nodded slowly, appreciating their quiet comfort, even if she wasn't ready to spill everything. It wasn't that she didn't trust them - Ashley and Mia had been by her side since primary school - but she wasn't sure she could say it out loud without crying. And she hated crying in front of people.
"Anyway," Mia said, eager to shift the mood, "Have you guys heard about Kyle's party next Friday?"
Ashley immediately perked up. "Wait - Kyle Jacobs? Like, popular-rich-dad-huge-backyard Kyle?"
"The one and only. His parents are out of town for the weekend. He's throwing a huge end-of-term thing - all grades invited. It's gonna be insane."
Leia blinked. "Didn't he almost burn his house down the last time he threw a party?"
"Exactly why everyone's going," Mia laughed, tossing her phone onto the bed. "I already asked my older sister to drop us off. We're definitely going."
Ashley's eyes lit up. "Leia, you're coming, right? We *need* you there. It'll be our first high school party together!"
"I don't know..." Leia hesitated, chewing her bottom lip. "I've never really been to anything like that."
"That's exactly why you *should* go," Ashley said, sitting up straighter. "Think of it as a fresh start. New energy. New memories. And maybe... some new people to flirt with?" She wiggled her eyebrows dramatically, making Leia laugh despite herself.
"Come on," Mia added. "You've been stuck in your head for weeks. This'll be fun - music, dancing, maybe some light underage chaos. I promise we'll stick together the whole time."
Leia let out a breath, considering it. Maybe it was what she needed. Not to forget Miles, exactly - she wasn't sure that was even possible - but to remind herself that the world kept turning, even when hearts broke. Maybe a little chaos was good. Maybe being around people who didn't expect her to be okay all the time would help her actually feel okay, for once.
"Fine," she said at last, smiling a little more genuinely now. "I'll go."
Ashley and Mia squealed in unison, pulling her into a sudden hug that Leia couldn't help but return. It was silly, really - a party shouldn't mean that much - but for Leia, it felt like a milestone. A tiny rebellion against the girl who always played it safe.
Maybe it wouldn't fix anything. Maybe Miles would still be burned into her every thought. But maybe, just maybe, Friday night could be the first night she felt like herself again.