He Loved Me. (Am I Too Late?)

This is a story about a boy I loved and the many ways I failed to tell him.

We grew up in the same town. We learned how to be brave together, or at least how to pretend. Everyone thought we were inseparable, and they were right - just not in the way people usually mean. He knew me better than anyone. He always noticed when I was scared before I admitted it. I used to think that made me strong.

I was wrong.

This book follows two boys from childhood into the years where distance starts to feel permanent. It's about friendship that is mistaken for something safer, about love that waits too long to be named, and about the moments that pass quietly while you're convinced you'll have time later.

I changed names. I rearranged events. I told myself that made it fiction. But the truth is, I wrote this because I didn't know how to live with what I never said.

If this story hurts, it's because it's meant to.