Come back...Be Here

You weren't supposed to fall for her. Not really. Not as fast. You held your breath and her hand and dove straight into the deep end with her.

What started as a joke with a note underneath your coffee cup quickly turned into meetings in parking lots, dinners and porch swings. You didn't expect her to be how she was or that she'd find you in a crowd and smile like she already knew you.

Jenna Ortega was hard to ignore.

It was all fun at first, sweet and secretive. Quiet phone calls after midnight. Inside jokes in invisible ink. One touch too long and one kiss that felt like a mistake and a promise all at once.

She made you feel like you mattered, as long as no one was watching. Because falling in love with someone who can't say your name out loud? It changes you. When someone teaches you how to stay quiet, you eventually forget how to ask to be heard.

Before the heartbreak of Delicate there was this: A soft beginning - playful, private full of late night texts and half hidden smiles. A story of two people falling quietly, deeply and almost fast enough to forget what was waiting on the other side.

(( This is a prologue/companion piece to my other published fanfic: Delicate! Please read that first. It's waaaaaaaaaaay too long but could be fun?))