Monday came with bruised skies and heavier silences.
Molly didn't show up for the first period. Or second.
Jessica told herself she didn't care.
She told herself twice during chemistry, again in the hallway, and a third time as she passed Molly's empty locker.
It didn't stick.
By lunch, she was edgy - snapping her gum, pretending she wasn't checking her phone for updates she had no right to expect.
Selene slid into the seat across from her, flipping her water bottle. "You okay, inferno?"
Jessica rolled her eyes, "don't call me that."
Selene raised an eyebrow. "So that's a no."
Jessica stabbed her fork into her salad. "It's a hell yes. I'm great. Thriving. Living my best non-Molly life."
Selene leaned back, "you know, for someone trying to be over her, you talk about her a lot."
Jessica didn't respond.
Because Selene was right.
Meanwhile, Molly was in her car - parked in a grocery store lot on the edge of town. Hoodie up. Phone face-down. Music low.
She hadn't gone to school because she couldn't. Not after the party. Not after what she said. What she didn't say.
Her mom thought she had a stomach bug. Adam hadn't texted. Amy sent one: You alive? She didn't answer.
Because she wasn't sure she was. She'd crossed a line. And Jessica had looked at her like she was done waiting. Like she was finished. Molly squeezed her eyes shit, resting her head on the steering wheel. She didn't want to be scared anymore. She wanted to want freely, love loudly, kiss recklessly.
That night, Jessica closed up the bookstore late. Rain tapping the windows, air thick with unsaid things.
She was shelving the last return when the bell over the door jingled.
She turned - and froze.
Molly.
Soaked. Beautiful. Breathless.
Jessica blinked. "Seriously?"
Molly didn't smile. Didn't move.
"I walked here," she said, like it mattered. Like Jessica needed to know shed crossed town on foot, in the rain, just to say whatever this was.
Jessica stared, "why?"
Molly's voice was barely a whisper, "because I can't do this anymore."
Jessica crossed her arms. "Can't do what?"
"This hiding. This pretending. This war."
The rain fell harder. Wind whistling through the doorframe.
"I wanted to be perfect," Molly said. "For my parents. My friends. Adam. Everyone. But especially for me. Because if I was perfect, I'd be safe."
She took a shaky breath.
"But you make me want to be real instead."
Jessica's expression faltered.
"I hurt you," Molly said. "I pushed you away. I made you feel like a secret. But you're not. You're a spotlight. You're the only thing I see when I close my eyes."
Jessica's arms dropped to her sides.
"I don't know how to do this," Molly said, stepping forward. "But I want to try. I want to be brave."
Jessica stared at her for a heartbeat.
Then another.
Then- softly- "you sure?"
Molly nodded, rainwater dripping from her lashes. "I've never been more sure of anything."
Jessica walked forward slowly, closing the space between them.
She reached out, cupped Molly's jaw.
"This isn't going to be easy," she said.
Molly leaned into her touch, "I know."
And finally - finally - Jessica kissed her.
Slow. Fierce. Certain.
Molly melted into it, into her, into the moment she'd been running from for far too long.
Outside, thunder rolled.
Inside, something began.
Not a fire.
But a spark that might finally burn the right way.