All Chapters of The Collision : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Maya's POVI stared at the photo for longer than I wanted to admit, my thumb hovering over the comment I'd already posted, some ugly satisfaction sitting alongside the ache I refused to name out loud.Cute. Real cute.Twelve likes already. A few replies underneath mine, people I didn't fully recognize adding their own commentary, speculating about how serious things actually were between Jace and his journalism girlfriend. I scrolled through the responses, something twisting tighter in my chest with every comment that painted them as some perfect campus couple.My roommate Bri walked out of the bathroom, towel wrapped around her wet hair, catching the look on my face immediately. "What are you doing.""Nothing." I didn't look up from my phone, still scrolling."You sure it's nothing?." Bri sat down on the edge of her bed, studying me carefully."It's nothing."She crossed her arms not yet satisfied with my lie. "What happened now?""Someone posted a photo from the winter formal." I tu

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

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

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

Jace's POVI stood outside her door, my knuckles still stinging faintly from knocking too hard, my whole chest tight with a fear I hadn't felt since the night my dad first called hockey a distraction."Ariana." My voice came out rougher than I meant it to. "Please."The door opened, but it wasn't Ariana. Becca stood there, arms crossed, her expression harder than I'd ever seen it, all the usual warmth completely gone."She doesn't want to see you," Becca said flatly."I know I don't deserve to be let in right now." My voice cracked slightly, desperation bleeding through despite my best effort to stay composed. "But please, Becca. Just give me five minutes. I need her to hear the rest of it."Becca studied me for a long moment, something conflicted crossing her face, loyalty to Ariana clearly warring with whatever she could see in my expression right now."Five minutes," she said finally, stepping back from the door. "And if she wants you gone before that, you leave. Immediately.""Tha