Like I’m playing into the void.
Like I could scream into this mic, put every ounce of my soul into this stage, and it still wouldn’t fix this ache under my ribs.
I don’t even realize I’m looking toward the back of the room until?—
There.
A flicker of black hair being flung over a shoulder.
A shadow beside the bar.
My pulse jolts, hard and fast.
I blink, forcing my eyes to snap forward.
I won’t do this to myself again.
I’ve imagined her in places she’s never been before.Convinced myself I saw her when she was miles away.
That’s all this is.
Another trick.
Another moment of wishful thinking.
It’s not her.It’snot.
Just someone who moves like her.
Someone who stands like her.
Someone who?—
My breath cuts short.
Because now I see Lily.
And London.
And then?—
No.Nofucking way.
My stomach free-falls.
Because it’s her.
Here.
Watching me.
The chord in my fingers goes sharp, ringing out wrong, exposing me.
I recover—barely.
Too late.
The band keeps playing, keeps covering—but I’m gone.