Chapter 4 - Reed
REED
Iwatched her walk up the porch steps, slower than usual, shoulders drawn in like she was trying to shrink from the light overhead. When she paused at the door, I wondered if she’d turn around, look back, and say something more.
She didn’t, and somehow that made it harder to drive away.
I didn’t know what I was doing anymore with her or with this…
thing between us. There had been this lingering tension between us for years now.
It hid in stolen glances, sarcasm, and shared silences.
It wasn’t supposed to matter, wasn’t supposed to mean anything, but it always had.
I keep pretending it doesn’t because pretending is safer.
It’s safe for us. Safer for the friendship with Cam I’d be risking if I ever said any of it out loud.
But tonight, something cracked open.
She’d cried, and I hadn’t asked why. Maybe that made me a coward. Or maybe it made me the only person in her orbit who knew not to touch a fresh wound with dirty hands. Either way, she didn’t pull away. She didn’t tell me to leave. That counted for something, didn’t it?
The way she thanked me for not asking? That hit harder than anything else she could’ve said. It meant she trusted me to just be there, to sit with her in the mess without trying to fix it. That trust felt dangerous because I wasn’t sure I could hold it together forever without wanting more.
I sighed and finally put my truck into gear. Drove off slowly, careful not to glance back in the rearview mirror. The road was quiet, headlights stretching just far enough to see what was in front of me. Not far enough to show me where this was going.
The whole drive home, I kept replaying her voice, that last look, the way her hand lingered on the door like maybe she wanted to stay in the truck just a few minutes longer. Or maybe that was just me, projecting something that wasn’t there.
It didn’t matter. The damage was already done.
Because Wren Willow Callahan wasn’t supposed to matter to me, she was my best friend’s little sister.
My little sister’s best friend. She was loud and stubborn and too smart for her own good, yet somehow always in the middle of something.
She was all fire and motion, but tonight, she’d been nothing but stillness and shadows.
This wasn’t some harmless crush. It wasn’t something I could joke away or bury beneath my loyalty to Cam.
It was real, and I didn’t know how to un-feel it.
I wasn’t used to seeing her break like that. Now I couldn’t get the image out of my head.
I tapped the steering wheel, becoming impatient with my thoughts.
This was supposed to be just a drive. A quick, quiet drive.
Make sure she gets home safely, then move on with my night.
That was it. But the silence between us had felt…
different. Like it was saying more than words could.
Like maybe she needed someone to be there, just in case.
I wasn’t good at being that guy. The one people leaned on. I wasn’t built for softness. My world didn’t have space for emotional detours.
But with Wren, I didn’t feel like I had to say the right thing.
I just had to show up. Somehow, that felt easier, especially with her.
It had always been like this, even years ago when we kissed after she had gotten out of that shitty relationship.
I’m not sure how that even came about. It went quickly from comforting her to that.
I pulled into my driveway, shutting off the truck, and leaned my head back against the seat. For a minute, I just sat there, trying to get my thoughts in order. And I knew, without fully understanding why, that tonight had shifted something.