---
1. The Invitation
Noah's phone buzzed at 2:37 AM.
You awake?
The screen's blue light cut through the darkness of his dorm room. He stared at the message—Lena's name glowing back at him—and felt something primal and terrified kick in his chest.
Yeah, he typed back. Can't sleep?
Come outside.
Noah's window overlooked the quad. He pushed aside the thin curtain and squinted into the darkness. There, perched on the stone bench beneath the oak tree, was a shadowy figure wrapped in an oversized coat. Even from this distance, he could see the cherry-red ember of a cigarette between her fingers.
He was pulling on his shoes before he'd even decided to move.
---
2. The Walk to Nowhere
Lena stubbed out the cigarette when she saw him approaching. "You came."
Noah shoved his hands in his pockets. The November air bit at his cheeks. "You knew I would."
She smiled—that slow, knowing smile that made his stomach flip—and stood. "Walk with me."
They wandered campus in the kind of silence that only exists between people who don't need words. Lena led them past the shuttered dining hall, past the darkened theater building, until they reached a maintenance ladder bolted to the side of the old astronomy tower.
Noah blinked. "We can't—"
Lena was already climbing.
---
3. The Rooftop
The roof was flat and gravel-strewn, dotted with forgotten cigarette butts and soda cans. The town stretched out below them, a patchwork of streetlights and sleeping houses.
But the sky—
Noah sucked in a breath.
The stars were brighter here, unpolluted by the glow of campus. The Milky Way bled across the darkness like a spilled glass of milk.
Lena sat cross-legged near the edge, her face tilted upward. "Better than your dorm ceiling, right?"
Noah sat beside her, their knees brushing. "How'd you know about this place?"
"I come up here when the world gets too loud." She plucked a pebble from the roof and rolled it between her fingers. "Sometimes I think about jumping."
The words hit like a punch.
Noah turned to stare at her.
Lena laughed—soft, humorless. "Not like that. Just… to see what it would feel like to fall." She stretched out on her back, arms pillowed behind her head. "Lie down."
Noah hesitated, then lay beside her. The gravel dug into his shoulder blades.
Lena pointed. "That's Orion. And there—that flickering one? That's Sirius."
Noah wasn't looking at the stars. He was looking at the way the starlight caught in her eyelashes, at the pulse point in her throat, at the way her lips moved around the names of constellations like a prayer.
"You're not looking," she murmured.
"I am."
Lena turned her head. Their noses nearly brushed.
For a heartbeat, neither of them moved.
Then—
A sharp inhale. A wince. Lena's hand flew to her temple.
Noah sat up. "Hey. You okay?"
Lena squeezed her eyes shut. "Yeah. Just… headaches sometimes."
Noah reached for her, then stopped himself. "Should we go back?"
When she opened her eyes, the moment was broken. "Not yet." She sat up, putting space between them. "Tell me something true."
Noah swallowed. "Like what?"
"Anything."
The night air hummed between them.
"I'm scared," Noah said quietly. "All the time."
Lena studied him. "Of what?"
"That one day I'll wake up and realize I've been sleepwalking through my entire life." He picked at a loose thread on his jeans. "That I'll get to the end and realize I never really lived."
Lena was quiet for a long moment. Then—
"I think," she said slowly, "that's the most human thing I've ever heard."
She leaned in.
And this time, when their lips met, there was no hesitation.
---
4. The First Kiss
Lena tasted like smoke and mint gum.
Noah's hands found her waist, pulling her closer as if he could fuse their bodies together through sheer will. The kiss was messy—all teeth and desperate breaths and the faint metallic tang of blood where someone's lip split.
When they finally broke apart, Lena's cheeks were flushed, her pupils blown wide.
Noah pressed his forehead to hers. "Wow."
Lena laughed breathlessly. "Yeah."
They stayed like that for a long time, tangled together under the stars, as if they could outrun the dawn.
---
5. The First Shadow
Noah didn't notice the way Lena's hands trembled.
He didn't notice how she blinked too fast, like she was fighting back dizziness.
He didn't notice the pill bottle half-hidden in her coat pocket.
(He would. Later. Too late.)