I'll be the sun.
You'll be the moon.
Just let your light come shining through, and when night comes, just like the moon.
I'll shine my light right back at you.
As the sun gradually begins to set, nightfall arrives. Contagious laughter that once was...
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"I got lost in him, and it was the kind of lost that's exactly like being found." — Claire LaZebnik
The days leading up to the weekend had been excruciatingly uneventful. I checked my phone more times than I cared to admit, each time with a glimmer of hope that maybe—just maybe—there would be a message from Chase waiting for me. But each time, there was nothing.
At first, I tried to tell myself to be patient. Maybe he was busy. Maybe he had things going on that had nothing to do with me. But by day three, that patience had worn thin. Frustration seeped in, then followed, predictably, by the onset of my worst enemy—my insecurities.
Maybe if I were more outgoing? What if I were more beautiful? If I worked out more, maybe the baby fat would disappear?
The thoughts kept parading in one after the other. They pitched tents in my mind and made themselves comfortable, like unwanted guests that had no plans of leaving. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get rid of them.
I shook my head, trying to snap out of it. This was ridiculous. I was not going to let these thoughts control me. I forced myself to look away from my phone, determined to distract myself. And so, like a self-soothing reflex, I grabbed my jacket and decided to go get coffee. Maybe a muffin, too—if I couldn't have Chase, I could at least have carbs.
The small café near my office was my usual go-to. I loved it because it had a quiet, cozy atmosphere. Normally, I would grab my coffee, settle into a corner, and bury myself in a book. But today? Today felt different. The usual routine of browsing through pages of a novel felt like an impossible task. Something about this morning just wasn't sitting right.
Standing in line, waiting for my turn, I noticed things I don't usually pay attention to. The usual noise of people tapping away on their phones was absent. Instead, all I saw were couples—couples everywhere.
Couples sitting at the tables, laughing, leaning in close, their eyes locked in a quiet, intimate connection. It was almost like they existed in their own little world, completely oblivious to the hustle and bustle around them. Their easy laughter and soft smiles made it seem like nothing else mattered. For a brief moment, I felt a pang of longing in my chest, a wish that I could be part of something like that.
Then I realized. I had had that.
Well, kind of.
Until Chase.
I felt my cheeks flush at the thought. No, that was crazy. I just met him, right? How could one ridiculously attractive man have the power to completely alter my perspective on life in under a week? My entire life had been spent thinking that love was something that happened only in books or movies. Now, here I was, lost in thoughts about a guy I barely knew.
Was this how it worked? Was this how it was supposed to feel?
I couldn't help but laugh at myself. My life was starting to sound like the plot of one of those teen romance novels I used to scoff at. The ones with the perfectly timed, over-the-top love scenes, where everything magically works out in the end. I was practically living a teen drama.
