Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Collision : Kabanata 41 - Kabanata 50

Ariana's POVJace sat on the edge of my bed, still in the same clothes from the café, his jacket draped over my desk chair where he'd tossed it earlier. Becca had texted to say she was crashing at a friend's dorm tonight, leaving just the two of us and the quiet hum of my desk lamp casting soft light across the room.I'd changed out of the coffee-stained sweater into an old college hoodie, curled up on my side of the bed with my knees pulled toward my chest, still feeling the phantom warmth of the spilled coffee even though I'd washed it off completely."You've been quiet," Jace said, watching me carefully from where he sat. "More than usual.""Just thinking." I picked at a loose thread on my blanket, needing something to do with my hands. "About what Maya said."His jaw tightened slightly at the name, but he stayed quiet, giving me space to keep going instead of jumping in with reassurance right away."I never told you the whole thing," I said finally, my voice smaller than I meant i

Ariana's POVI sat cross-legged on my bed long after Jace left, my laptop open in front of me, the cursor blinking on an empty document I hadn't touched in twenty minutes. Becca's bed sat empty across the room, some late study session keeping her out, leaving me alone with the quiet and my own tangled thoughts.I closed the laptop and set it aside, pulling my knees up to my chest instead, replaying the way Jace's voice had sounded on that call; tight, controlled and careful. The kind of careful he only got around his father, like every word had to be measured before it left his mouth.“You're not a distraction.”He'd said it so fast and certain, like there was no version of reality where that could be true. My chest had gone warm hearing it, warmer than it probably should have for something that started as a business arrangement between two people who weren't supposed to feel anything real.I got up and moved to the window, staring out at the quiet campus below, string lights strung b

Jace's POVI knocked lightly on Ariana's door, my heart still heavy from the conversation with Mike. The guilt sat like a rock in my stomach, but I pushed it down. Not tonight. I just needed to see her.The door opened and there she was, wearing an oversized hoodie, hair a little messy like she'd been running her fingers through it. She looked tired, but her eyes softened the second she saw me."Hey," she said, stepping aside. "Come in."I walked in, closing the door behind me. The room was quiet, just the desk lamp casting soft light over her side of the room. Becca's bed sat empty, textbooks scattered across her desk from wherever she'd rushed off to."Becca out?" I asked, dropping my jacket over the back of her chair."Study group. She won't be back for a while." Ariana sat on the edge of her bed, pulling her knees up slightly. "You okay? Your text sounded kind of heavy."I sat down beside her, close enough that our shoulders almost touched. "Just my dad stuff still messing with my

Jace's POVAriana looked at me for a long moment at her dorm entrance, I noticed the air carried a particular cold that wasn't there this morning but brushed it off. My phone buzzed again in my pocket. Dad. Third call in twenty minutes."Can I just stay?" I asked before I could second-guess it. "We could hang out in your dorm. Watch you study, keep you company. I don't really want to go back to an empty room right now."Something softened in her expression. "Yeah. I'd like that."We headed back inside, and I ignored my phone buzzing again as we settled into her room, Becca thankfully still out somewhere. Ariana pulled out her laptop, propping herself against her headboard with her research project open, and I sat beside her, half watching her work, half just enjoying being near her after the tension of the walk over."You're staring," she said without looking up."I'm supervising.""That's not a real job.""It's my job." I nudged her shoulder. "Someone's got to make sure you're doing

Jace POVI sat across from Ariana in the narrow library aisle, the emergency lights casting soft shadows around us. Snow kept falling heavy outside the tall windows, making the whole world feel far away. Her question still hung in the quiet between us.“What does hockey actually mean to you?” she’d asked. Not the reporter version. Not the one I gave my dad. The real one.I took a slow breath, rubbing my hands together like that could help me find the words. “It’s… different things at different times.”She waited, patient, knees drawn up, watching me like nothing else in the world mattered right now. That look made it easier to keep going.“When I was a kid,” I said, voice low, “we used to play pond hockey back home. Just me, Mike, and a couple other guys from the neighborhood. No coaches. No scouts watching. No pressure. Just freezing our asses off, laughing when someone fell, racing each other to the puck. Those nights felt like freedom. Like the game belonged to us.”Ariana’s expres