" I don't even like you like that." Her face scrunched up in disgust watching water drip from curls in his hair. " 'Cause you love me. Just like I love you." He retorted with a grin, disregarding the deflecting she was doing. --- They were two sides of the same city-until one move split them down the middle. Elijah and London were inseparable once, bonded by childhood summers, beat-up bikes, and secrets too deep for anyone else to know. Unfortunately, when Elijah's mom packed up and moved her family across Onyx to a rival neighborhood, everything changed. She always thought when she spoke to him again he would've changed like her. She was witty, sarcastic, and had a low tolerance, but he was still the same calm , sweet, cute boy with a heart the size of the sun. Some things haven't changed. Some things never change. The pull between them, the memories that still burn etched marks in their brain, and the words they never said out loud. In a world where loyalty can be life or death, and love isn't always enough to cross old lines, Elijah and London find themselves circling each other again. --- STARTED; MAY 26th, 2025 PUBLISHED JUNE 6th, 2025 FINISHED; SEPTEMBER 27th 2025

"𝙄𝙣 𝙖 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙡𝙙 𝙛𝙪𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙤𝙨, 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙤𝙣𝙡𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙗𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙢𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙘𝙚."

" 𝑳𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒌 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝑰𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓? 𝑶𝒓 𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖? 𝑰 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒂𝒖𝒏𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 " 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒔 - 𝑲𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝑳𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒓, 𝑺𝒁𝑨 "𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔?" 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒅, 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒖𝒑 𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎. 𝑯𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅. "𝑯𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒆𝒂𝒉," .𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅, 𝒔𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒑 𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉, 𝒂𝒅𝒎𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒆. 𝑯𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔, 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒆𝒂𝒓, 𝒎𝒚 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒕 "𝑶𝒉 𝒆𝒎 𝒈𝒆𝒆, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒇 𝒘𝒆 𝒃𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒌 𝒖𝒑 𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒊 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 -" 𝑰 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝑯𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒓𝒂𝒛𝒚. 𝑯𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒃𝒃𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒕..