securing 7

Caoimhe Kavanagh, has never minded the chaos, she embraced it. With a sketchbook in her bag, Taylor Swift in her ears, and Aiden Gibson at her side, they'd been best friends for as long as she could remember. From skipping class to swapping playlists and hiding on rooftops, Aiden has always been the one person who makes the chaos feel less loud.

But lately, things feel... different. And when Aiden's ex-girlfriend-the girl he'd dramatically once sworn he'd never stop loving-returns, everything starts to shift.

One dramatic plea and a fake relationship later, Caoimhe finds herself playing pretend with the boy she's spent her whole life trying not to fall for. She's always known how to keep things light. But this? This feels like heartbreak in slow motion. And everyone knows it-apart from her.

Aiden Gibson has never taken much seriously-not school, not rugby, and definitely not his reputation. But Caoimhe has always been different. She's his calm in the storm, his partner in crime, the girl who he hums Paper Rings under her breath for and somehow makes everything feel a little less impossible. He told himself it was all just for show. That he could fake a relationship with her and walk away untouched. But the longer they pretend, the harder it gets to ignore the truth he's been avoiding for years.

Because sometimes the real thing sneaks up on you-disguised as a joke, wrapped in friendship and unavoidable.