The Cross Family
His hand moved across the strings as he murmured words into the empty room:
“You’re not a spotlight girl,
No diamonds in your hair.
You’re the quiet in the chaos,
The truth in thinner air.
Not glitter — gravity —
Pulling me where I should be.”
He froze.
That line.
Not glitter — gravity.
He hadn’t meant to say it aloud. It had just slipped out of him, like the universe had tugged it from his throat.
He wrote faster, breath unsteady, each lyric pulling the next one forward.
“You don’t dazzle — you anchor,
You don’t fade — you stay.
You don’t shine to be noticed,
You shine in your own way.”
Images came to him: Jayla behind the counter wiping down the machine. Jayla’s hands placed gently around