The first time Isabella Reyes broke my heart, she didn't even realize she did it.
We were sixteen.
She was sitting on the hood of my car, her bare legs swinging in the warm summer air, the ocean stretching endlessly behind her. The sky was painted in shades of orange and pink, the kind of sunset people traveled across the world to see.
But I wasn't looking at the sunset.
I was looking at her.
She was laughing.
Not the polite laugh she gave strangers. Not the quiet one she used at school.
It was her real laugh.
The one that made her eyes shine.
The one I would've done anything to protect.
"He likes me," she said suddenly, turning to face me.
I already knew who she meant.
Adrian Blake.
Everyone knew Adrian Blake.
Rich. Confident. Effortless.
Everything I wasn't.
"That's good," I said.
The words tasted like a lie.
She smiled, but it wasn't the same smile she gave me. This one was softer. Shyer.
"I think he's going to ask me out tonight."
Something inside my chest twisted.
I nodded anyway.
Because that's what I always did.
I stayed.
I supported her.
I pretended it didn't hurt.
"You'll still be there, right?" she asked.
Her voice was small now. Vulnerable.
She wasn't asking Adrian.
She was asking me.
Because I was the constant.
The one who never left.
"Yeah," I said.
I always said yes to her.
She leaned her head against my shoulder like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Like she belonged there.
Like she didn't know she was destroying me.
"You're the best, Daniel."
Not the one she loved.
Not the one she wanted.
Just the best.
Best friend.
Safe choice.
Second place.
I stared at the horizon and told myself it was enough.
Because having half of her was better than losing all of her.
I didn't know then that loving her would cost me everything.
Seven years later, nothing had changed.
And that was the problem.
The beach was louder now.
Music played from someone's speaker. People laughed. Waves crashed against the shore.
It was the same beach.
Same town.
Same summer.
Same girl.
Isabella stood a few feet away from me, her white dress moving gently in the wind. Her dark hair fell over her shoulders, catching the golden light.
She was beautiful.
She had always been beautiful.
And she still wasn't mine.
Adrian stood in front of her.
Close.
Too close.
I watched as he said something that made her laugh.
That laugh.
The same one.
The one that never belonged to me.
I should've looked away.
I didn't.
Because some part of me was still that sixteen-year-old boy sitting beside her, hoping—stupidly—that one day she'd look at me differently.
She didn't.
Adrian reached for her hand.
She let him.
My chest tightened.
I told myself it was nothing.
I told myself I was used to it.
I told myself lies.
Then he kissed her.
And she kissed him back.
The world didn't stop.
The waves didn't stop.
People didn't stop laughing.
Only me.
I stood there, frozen, watching the girl I loved choose someone else.
Again.
"Daniel."
Her voice pulled me back.
She was standing in front of me now.
Adrian was gone.
She smiled at me like nothing had happened.
Like she hadn't just shattered something inside me.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
She always asked me that.
She never knew she was the reason I wasn't.
I forced a smile.
"Yeah."
I had gotten good at pretending.
She studied my face, like she was trying to read something she had never noticed before.
Then she did what she always did.
She stepped closer.
Close enough that I could smell her perfume.
Close enough that I remembered every summer we had spent together.
"I'm glad you're here," she said softly.
I didn't answer.
Because for the first time in seven years…
I wasn't sure if I wanted to be.