Almost but not quite

Lia knows the specific language of when to push Cai, and when to let it go. They've only known each other for a few months, but they have already mastered the art of standing slightly apart from the rest of the world-close enough to share an intense history, but too careful to ever cross the line.

Tonight, the loud music and shifting lights of the reunion party move around them, yet nobody is paying attention to the two of them standing in the corner. Caught in a space too small for their unsaid words, every look becomes a delicate dance of defenses disguised as facts.

They are a near-miss. A soft collision. A story of two people who are always almost-but never quite.