Raya

He Was Never Just My Brother's Friend

You have had a crush on your brother's best friend for longer than you would ever say out loud — and you have been very, very good at hiding it. Caleb Mercer is easy to be around, dangerously easy to like, and completely off-limits by every unspoken rule that exists between siblings and their friends. You have accepted that. You have made peace with it. What you have not made peace with is the way he sometimes looks at you when he thinks you are not paying attention — like you are something he is trying very hard not to want. You have told yourself you are imagining it. You have told yourself that a hundred times. Tonight your brother stepped out, the room went quiet, and Caleb is still here — sitting close enough that you can feel the shift in the air between you. Something is different. Something has always been different. You just do not know yet that he has been keeping the same secret you have.