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"Then why now?" I ask, angry. Confused. "Why show up at my place? Why take my number? Why run out tonight if you were so sure back then?"

She exhales, her head falling back.

"Because I wasn't sure then," she admits, finding me again. "I was just… we were too far gone."

Bitterness knots in my throat. "And now?"

"Now?" She inhales, then slowly lets it go. "Now I know I made the worst mistake of my life."

Her honesty rips the air right from my lungs.

This is what I wanted—an answer. The truth.

But as the words land, I realize… it still doesn't fix it.

It doesn't erase the nights I spent staring at my phone or the mornings I reached for her only to find nothing in her place.

I swallow hard, forcing myself to stay grounded here instead of getting swept away by the past.

"Why didn't you call?" Her brows knit together, and I drop my hands to my hips. "All those years—any of them. Not even once."

She doesn't hesitate.

"Because I didn't have the right. Not after what I did. Not after you finally got everything you wanted."

"Not everything," I mutter. The words spill out unwillingly.

Lenny's whole body goes still. "I'm sorry," she says.

"Yeah, well…" I manage, though an argument is hard to come by. "It's a little late now."

"Is it?"

I freeze completely as those two words hit me even heavier than the rest of them.

"Because I still see you, Jace," she adds, her voice barely above a whisper. Lenny glances at the space between us like she's gambling on whether she can cross it. "Everytime we're together, I see you."

She inches closer.

"Your face."

Closer.

"Your words."

Our shoes nearly touch.

"Somewhere deep down is still the boy that loved me all those years ago."

My jaw tightens as I fight every urge I have to push her away. To pull her to me.

"And I'm still the girl that loved you back."

My muscles tense like they know that means something.

"You don't get to just say that now," I remind her—myself.

I should step back.