Chapter One - The Couch at 3AM

CHAPTER ONE

The Couch at 3AM

IT WASN’T SUPPOSED to be anything.

Zack was talking to some girl.
I was there because that’s what we did. Float through scenes, follow threads, and let the night unravel.
Then she showed up.
She wasn’t even supposed to be there.

I remember the exact moment it shifted.
Not with a kiss, not even a touch, just a look.
We sat on the couch and started talking.
No weird tension. No games. Just that sudden, eerie comfort, like we’d done this before in another life.
Or like our nervous systems recognized something before we did.

We stayed up until three. Maybe four. Maybe five.
Time didn’t really exist in that room.
Just the rhythm of shared words and unspoken safety.

That was the first night.

She came over the next night, too.
And then the next.
And then the next.