Chapter 9 BROKEN THINGS

It started with a name Ava hadn't heard in over a year: Tessa.

The message came late at night, lighting up Liam's phone while they were watching a movie together in the common room. Ava saw it out of the corner of her eye.

Tessa: Still in town. Can we talk?

Liam didn't reply right away. He just stared at the screen, jaw tight, until Ava said quietly, "You going to answer that?"

He looked at her. "It's not what you think."

She gave a small, humorless laugh. "It never is. Right?"

Tessa was the girl before Ava.

The girl Liam never really dated-but also never let go.

They had history. Complicated, messy, unfinished.

When Ava and Liam were first falling for each other, Tessa had been a ghost haunting every quiet pause between them.

Rumors. Half-truths. A near-kiss that Ava never asked about-but never forgot either.

And now she was back.

That night, Liam sat on the rooftop alone, wrestling with the past.

Tessa had been his chaos. The girl who never asked for promises, just presence.

They were fire and gasoline-explosive, addictive, toxic.

But Ava? Ava was steady. Ava made him want to be better.

He hadn't answered Tessa because he didn't care.

He hadn't answered because a part of him still felt guilty for how things ended-with no closure, no honesty.

But now, not answering was putting Ava in the same position.

And that? That wasn't fair.

Ava didn't wait for him to bring it up again.

Two days passed. He acted normal. She didn't.

Finally, after class, she cornered him by the lockers.

"Did you meet her?"

Liam blinked. "No."

"But you want to."

"Ava..."

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not." He ran a hand through his hair. "I just-there are things I never said to her. Not because I want her back. But because I never got to end it right. And I don't want that... unfinished business... affecting what we're trying to build."

Ava's eyes narrowed. "So you're going to meet her. Alone."

Liam was quiet.

"That's not how second chances work," she said, voice trembling. "You don't walk backward while claiming to move forward."

The next afternoon, Tessa showed up on campus.

Beautiful. Confident. Careless.

She found Liam sitting outside the studio, sketching.

"Still got the broody thing going for you," she teased, sliding beside him.

He didn't smile. "Why are you really here, Tessa?"

"Closure," she said. "And maybe a little curiosity."

"I'm not that guy anymore."

Tessa tilted her head. "So I've heard. Ava softened you up, huh?"

Liam's fists clenched. "Don't talk about her."

Tessa's smirk faded. "That serious, huh?"

He nodded. "More than serious."

There was silence for a moment.

"You ever think maybe I could've been her if things had gone differently?" Tessa asked.

Liam didn't hesitate. "No. Ava's one of one. You were never her."

Tessa smiled sadly. "Then I guess I finally got my answer."

Ava saw them together from a distance.

Saw Tessa's hand touch his arm. Saw Liam pull away.

But the vision of them together, even briefly, reignited every insecurity she had tried to bury.

That night, Liam showed up at her dorm.

"I met her," he said simply.

Ava folded her arms. "And?"

"I told her the truth. That I'm with someone I don't ever want to lose. That whatever we had wasn't real. That I never should've let her ghost follow me into something that was."

Ava stared at him. "Why do I feel like she still got a piece of you?"

"She didn't," he said. "But she reminded me what I almost gave up."

He stepped closer.

"And I won't lose you again-not over a shadow. Not over silence. Not over anything."

Ava hesitated.

Then whispered, "I hate that I believe you."

He smiled softly. "That makes two of us."

And for the first time in a long time, she let herself lean forward.

And kissed him.

It wasn't rushed.

It wasn't perfect.

But it was theirs.

Messy, real, and earned.

Even after Liam told Ava about the meeting with Tessa, the air between them stayed heavy.

He'd said all the right things.

Done all the right things.

But doubt wasn't logical. It crept in anyway.

Ava replayed their conversation on a loop-every pause, every breath, every word Liam didn't say.

Had he hesitated before telling her Tessa meant nothing?

Had he sounded too careful?

The silence that followed was filled with what ifs.

And then-Tessa came looking for her.

It happened the next afternoon. Ava was heading to the campus café when a voice called behind her.

"Hey. You're Ava, right?"

She turned-and froze.

Tessa.

Tall. Effortlessly pretty. A calm, unreadable smile on her face.

"I'm not here to start drama," Tessa said, holding her hands up. "I just... wanted to meet the girl who finally made Liam stop running."

Ava blinked. "You talked to him."

Tessa nodded. "Yeah. Yesterday. Said everything he should've said to me a year ago."

There was a pause.

"I won't lie I use to think I still had a chance with him," Tessa continued. "But seeing the way he looks when he talks about you? I know I never did."

Ava didn't know what to say. Gratitude? Suspicion? Defense?

"So why tell me this?" Ava asked carefully.

"Because I've been where you are. Wondering. Second guessing. Feeling like your relationship has an expiration date you can't read yet."

Tessa met her eyes. "I want you to know I'm not the ghost in your story anymore. He chose you. And from the way you're looking at me right now, I think that scares you more than if he hadn't."

Ava's chest tightened.

Because she was right.

It did scare her.

That night, Ava walked until her legs ached.

Not because she didn't trust Liam.

But because trust wasn't the same as feeling safe.

Tessa was over. Liam had been honest. But the voice in her head-the one that whispered you're not enough-was louder than ever.

She sat on a bench near the art building, phone in hand, fingers hovering over Liam's contact.

Instead, she texted Maya:

What if loving someone again means giving them the power to destroy you all over again?

Maya replied almost instantly:

Then you make sure they know they're holding something fragile. And you watch how they carry it.

That weekend, Liam surprised her.

He brought her to the art studio late at night. The lights were off-except for one.

In the center of the room, on a single easel, was a canvas.

Not a painting.

A collage.

Dozens of tiny sketches, torn journal pages, color swatches, old movie tickets, and one simple sentence at the center:

"I choose you. In every version of this story."

Ava's breath caught.

"This is all...?"

"You," he said. "Us."

Liam stepped closer.

"I've made a lot of mistakes. But loving you won't be one of them."

This time, Ava didn't hesitate.

She stepped forward.

Took his face in her hands.

And kissed him like she meant it.

Like she wasn't afraid of the pain anymore.

Like she'd stopped waiting for the past to rewrite her future.

When they finally pulled apart, she whispered:

"You better mean it."

And Liam, smiling softly, replied:

"Every word. Every breath. Every version of me you get."