All Chapters of Crossing the line : Chapter 51 - Chapter 56

Ava’s POVThe morning I left campus felt strange — like standing between two worlds.Boxes lined the dorm hallway, echoes of other goodbyes mixing with laughter and the slam of doors. My room looked smaller now, the walls bare except for a single photo taped above the desk — me and Ethan after the final game, his arm around me, both of us smiling like we’d already figured everything out.We hadn’t.But maybe that was the point.Lila sat cross-legged on my bed, pretending to fold laundry but mostly watching me pace. “You know,” she said, “for someone who swore she wasn’t sentimental, you’ve been staring at that photo for ten minutes.”“I’m just—thinking,” I said.“Thinking,” she repeated, rolling her eyes. “That’s code for spiraling.”I sighed and sank beside her. “It’s weird. Everything’s ending at once—school, this place, the paper… and I still don’t know what happens next.”“You got the job offer, Ava. That’s what happens next. You go to Charlotte, become the hotshot journalist you

Ethan’s POVThe first thing I noticed when I woke up that morning wasn’t the ache in my knee — it was the silence. No rehab alarms. No trainers shouting. Just quiet.Six months ago, I would’ve called it peace. Now it just felt… empty.My phone buzzed beside the bed — notifications stacked like clutter. Mentions, tags, headlines. Everyone had something to say about the comeback.Ethan Cole Returns Stronger Than Ever.Redemption Story of the Season.Second Chances and Charlotte’s Golden Boy.All noise. All surface.The truth was simpler: I was still learning to trust my leg, my body, my instincts — and myself.I’d signed with the Charlotte Monarchs three months ago. Same city, different jersey, same pressure. A local paper had called it “a symbolic homecoming” — a line that made me laugh when I first read it. Because home? That word hadn’t felt solid in a long time.My old coach had moved on, but I still worked out with Marcus and Jordan in the off-season. Tyler came down on weekends

Ava’s POVThe message came just after sunset.Ethan: Meet me at the Southridge Gym. 8 p.m. You’ll understand when you get here.I almost ignored it.Almost.But by seven-thirty, I was already driving, headlights slicing through the quiet stretch of highway that connected Charlotte to the smaller districts. The night felt heavier than usual, like it knew I was heading somewhere I shouldn’t.Southridge wasn’t far — forty minutes from the city, tucked between worn-out warehouses and fading streetlights. The gym was old, local, the kind of place you’d miss if you weren’t looking.When I pulled up, I saw his car out front — same black SUV, same clean lines. He was leaning against the hood, hands in his jacket pockets, eyes on the pavement like he was waiting for a sign.When he looked up, it hit me all over again — how familiar it felt to be seen by him.“You came,” he said quietly.“You asked.”He smiled faintly. “I wasn’t sure you would.”“Neither was I.”He pushed open the door, motioni