It didn’t come out the way she expected.No build-up. No rehearsed moment in her head. No perfect setting where everything lined up just right.It slipped out.Casual.Unplanned.And somehow, that made it feel more real than anything she could’ve prepared.They were in the middle of something ordinary.That’s what made it worse or better, depending on how she looked at it.Avery was talking, half-focused, explaining something that didn’t even matter anymore, her words running together the way they always did when she got comfortable.“And then I realized I actually like being there because”She stopped.Not dramatically.Just… stopped.Because her brain caught up with her mouth a second too late.Because she heard it.Felt it.And suddenly, everything in her chest tightened just enough to make her aware of it.Daniel noticed immediately.“Because?” he prompted.Avery blinked.Right.She had to finish the sentence.Or pretend she hadn’t almost said something else entirely.But now that
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