Rain had finally stopped the next morning, but Kyle Navarro still felt like he was drowning.
Sleep had barely touched him the night before. He kept replaying the message from Alex — "Have you ever been in love with your best friend?" — over and over in his mind. What did it mean? Why now? And why did Alex always have to stir hope in him when Kyle was just starting to bury it?
Kyle stared blankly at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, toothbrush in hand, hair messy, eyes tired. He didn't recognize the person staring back.
And he hated that just one message could ruin his whole rhythm.
He arrived at campus early, hoping to clear his head before his classes started. The campus courtyard was still damp, and the air was thick with post-rain humidity. He sat under the large tree near the Fine Arts building, sketchpad in hand, trying to focus on something — anything — that wasn't him.
But peace never lasted long when Alex Reyes was involved.
"Hey," came a familiar voice.
Kyle didn't need to look up. That voice had lived in his head for years.
"You're early," Kyle murmured.
Alex dropped his bag beside Kyle and sat next to him on the bench. "Couldn't sleep."
Kyle stiffened. He wanted to ask if it had anything to do with the message. But he stayed quiet.
Alex didn't speak for a while either. He just stared at the sky like it held all the answers to the things he couldn't say.
"I wasn't trying to mess with you," Alex said suddenly.
Kyle blinked. "What?"
"Last night. The text." Alex's voice was softer than usual, almost unsure. "I meant it. I've been thinking about a lot of things."
Kyle's heart raced. He swallowed hard. "Like what?"
Alex turned to him, and in that moment, the space between them felt too small.
"Like how I've never really… figured myself out."
Kyle froze.
Alex looked away quickly, as if ashamed. "With Chelsea, it was easy. She liked me, I liked her. It just worked. But with you… it's different."
Kyle blinked. "Different how?"
"I don't know," Alex said, laughing bitterly. "That's the problem. You've always been here, but I never let myself think about it. About you. About us."
Kyle's voice was barely above a whisper. "So why now?"
Alex met his eyes, finally.
"Because when you care about someone enough… eventually, you stop being able to lie to yourself."
Kyle's throat tightened. His heart was screaming. But his head was telling him to run. This couldn't be happening. It wasn't real.
He stood suddenly. "I have class."
"Kyle—"
But Kyle shook his head. "Don't say things you're not ready to mean, Alex."
He walked away without looking back, leaving Alex sitting under the tree, hands clenched and silent.
---
Later that afternoon...
Kyle didn't go to class. He found an empty hallway in the old architecture building, sat on the floor, and tried to breathe.
His chest felt tight. Not from heartbreak — from confusion.
Alex had always been straight. He dated girls, joked about them, flirted shamelessly. Kyle had learned to accept his role as the "loyal best friend." He never expected more.
But now?
Now everything was upside down.
He pulled out his sketchpad and flipped to a blank page. For the first time in a long while, his pencil hesitated. He didn't know what to draw. His world didn't make sense anymore.
He didn't know if he should be angry, scared… or hopeful.
Suddenly, a shadow fell across the page.
Kyle looked up.
It was Mira, a classmate — and one of the few people who knew the truth.
"You look like someone just confessed to you and ran away," she said, sitting beside him with a drink in hand.
Kyle laughed bitterly. "More like someone said half a confession and now I don't know how to breathe."
Mira sipped her drink. "Let me guess. Alex?"
Kyle nodded.
She didn't look surprised. "It was always going to happen eventually."
Kyle turned to her sharply. "What do you mean?"
Mira smiled softly. "You look at him like he hung the stars, Kyle. And lately, he's been looking at you like he's finally starting to see it."
Kyle stayed quiet, his heart aching.
"But just because someone starts to see you," she said gently, "doesn't mean they're ready to love you."
That hit harder than it should have.
Kyle leaned his head against the wall, eyes closed. "I just want to stop feeling this way."
"No, you don't," Mira whispered. "You just want him to feel it too."
---
That night, back in his dorm...
Kyle stared at the message thread with Alex. No new messages.
He wanted to reach out. To say something. To ask if what happened earlier meant anything.
But his fingers hovered over the keyboard… and then dropped away.
Instead, he opened a new sketchpad page.
He drew a boy sitting under a tree — alone, in the rain — holding an umbrella meant for two.
He titled it:
> "The Space Between Us"
---