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What I Didn't Know

Author: Chi writes
last update publish date: 2026-07-07 00:15:38

Jace's POV

I sat on the edge of my bed, phone in my hand but the screen dark, my mind still stuck on the way Ariana's voice had cracked when she snapped at me in the parking lot.

“I'm allowed to be tired, Jace.”

She hadn't meant it, I could tell that much just from her face right after she said it. But something had been off with her since we walked out of that restaurant, since before that even, and I couldn't shake the feeling I was missing something obvious.

Mike walked in without knocking,
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  • The Collision    Concrete Walls

    Ariana's POVThe words kept looping in my head, over and over, drowning out everything else in the café around me.“Zero risk of her actually catching feelings”I stared at Jace across the table, my hands still wrapped around a cup that had gone cold minutes ago, my whole body strangely still, like moving might make this real in a way I wasn't ready for. My ears were ringing faintly, a high thin sound underneath everything, like the café had gone underwater and I was the only one who hadn't noticed."Ariana." His voice came out strangled, panic bleeding through every syllable. "Let me explain.""Explain what." My own voice sounded distant to my ears, careful and controlled in a way that felt like the only thing keeping me from completely falling apart in the middle of a crowded café. "Explain that Ryan just confirmed what I heard, or explain why you never told me yourself?""It's not what it sounds like.""Then what is it, Jace?" I set my cup down, my hand trembling slightly despite m

  • The Collision    The Ease Of It

    Jace's POVThree weeks had passed since the night I told her I loved her, and somehow every day since had felt easier than the one before, like we'd finally found some rhythm that didn't require constant negotiation or careful footing.I sat across from Ariana at our usual café table, watching her scribble notes for an article while I finished off my coffee, the late morning sun cutting warm across the table between us. She glanced up, catching me staring, and a small smile pulled at her mouth."You're doing the staring thing again," she said, not looking up from her notebook."Can't help it." I reached across the table, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "You're distracting when you concentrate like that.""I'm trying to finish this piece before my deadline. Distracting me is counterproductive." But she leaned into the touch anyway, her pen pausing against the page."Counterproductive to the article. Extremely productive to my morning." I grinned, and she rolled her eyes, thoug

  • The Collision    Before I'm Ready

    Ariana’s POVWe barely made it through the door.Becca was still out, the room dark except for the desk lamp left on. Jace kicked the door shut behind us and his mouth was already on mine again, messy and urgent, like the argument from earlier had only made him need this more. My back hit the wall. His hands framed my face, thumbs brushing my cheeks, and I pulled him closer by the front of his shirt, kissing him back harder than I meant to.“I meant what I said,” he muttered against my lips, voice rough. “About wanting to let you in.”“Then stop talking and show me.”He made a low sound that went straight through me. His hands slid down my sides, certain now, and we stumbled toward the bed without breaking the kiss for more than a second at a time. When the backs of my knees hit the mattress we both went down, tangled, breathing hard.His mouth moved to my jaw, then lower. I arched without thinking, fingers already under his shirt, pushing it up. He sat back just long enough to yank i

  • The Collision    After The Fight

    Ariana's POVI found him sitting alone in the empty locker room hallway after practice, his gear bag slumped against the wall, his shoulder held stiff in a way that made my chest tighten with worry and frustration all at once."Jace." I crossed the hallway fast, my voice sharper than I meant it to come out. "What is going on with you."He looked up, something guarded immediately settling over his face. "Nothing. I told you, I'm fine.""You're not fine." My voice climbed, all the worry from his short, dismissive texts finally boiling over. "I watched you wince during that drill. Mike had to text me because you wouldn't answer him either. You lied about lunch. You've been lying all day.""I didn't lie." His jaw tightened. "I was just tired.""Don't do that." I stepped closer, refusing to let him deflect the way he always did when things got too close to something real. "Don't stand there and act like I don't know the difference between tired and whatever this actually is.""Ariana, drop

  • The Collision    Guilt

    Jace's POVI sat on the edge of my bed long after Ariana left, my shoulder still cold from the ice pack, my chest tight with something that had nothing to do with the injury at all.“I don't want anything back. I just want you okay.”Her words kept circling, quiet and steady, refusing to settle anywhere comfortable. Nobody had ever taken care of me like that before. Not Maya, who always seemed to keep some kind of tally underneath every kindness. Not my dad, who measured every ounce of attention against what I'd done to earn it. Ariana had just knelt there wrapping ice against my shoulder, asking nothing in return, wanting nothing except for me to actually be okay.That wasn't infatuation. That wasn't the easy, breathless kind of falling I'd felt during the kiss in the library, as real as that had been too. This was something steadier, something that had been building quietly underneath all of it, and sitting here now, alone in the dark, I finally let myself call it what it actually w

  • The Collision    What I Noticed

    Ariana's POVI found him sitting on the edge of his bed when I let myself into his room, his jaw tight, one hand pressed carefully against his shoulder in a way that made my stomach drop the second I saw it."Hey," I said, dropping my bag by the door. "You okay?""Fine." He straightened immediately, dropping his hand too fast, the movement itself giving away exactly how not fine he actually was. "Just tired from practice.""Jace." I crossed the room and sat down beside him, studying the careful way he was holding himself. "I've watched you do that same thing for weeks now. The shoulder thing. You always say it's nothing.""Because it is nothing." His voice had gone tight, defensive in a way that told me exactly how much effort he was putting into keeping this contained."It's not nothing." I kept my voice gentle but firm, refusing to let him deflect the way he usually managed to. "I saw you wince during that drill last week. I've seen you favor that side every single time we walk anyw

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