Heliophilia

I scoff and bring the filter of the cigarette back up to my lips. But before I can inhale any smoke his hand comes up to mine. His fingers brush against my own and takes a hold of it. My motion stills, my heart reluctantly skips a beat, shock embodying my essence. Sharing the same bench is already out of the ordinary, meaning this is excruciatingly odd.

His movements are slow and somehow deliberate yet filled with uncertainty.

Ashton plucks the burning stick from my sparkly glossed lips and brings them to his own. Strangely enough, whatever is occurring right now is mimicking the feeling of taking a drag within my chest.

Butterflies are never something that I've experienced, and I'll be damned if Ashton is the one to ignite them in me. I'd be betraying everything we've sworn to for the past three years, that being true and deep disdain towards the other.

Without realizing it, we both look at each other in the eyes with an unfamiliar intensity. The entirety of events in this very moment are completely uncharted waters. Zero words need to be exchanged to know this is not our normal bickering interaction.

Yet simultaneously, I don't dare to wonder who has the nerve to admit it.

--

It's the summer going into Adelina Lennons last year of college and she will be spending it abroad in the Mediterranean with her Interior Architecture classmates. The only problem is that her sworn enemy, Ashton Lovette will also be going.

But maybe she's the one who's fidgeting with his existence as well. After swearing up and down over the past six semesters that they'd both rather run full speed into a cage of lions than be around the other, the universe keeps finding ways to make sure they bump into each other more times than you can count.

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Contains: mental health struggles / substance use / vulgar language / sexual content

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Started: March 2026 - Ongoing