Chapter 79 Aria
It had been one of those mornings where I couldn’t focus on anything at school. My mind kept wandering back to Luca. It wasn’t just the protective edge he always carried but it was something warmer and almost alive in a way I couldn’t explain.
I shoved my math textbook closed and rubbed my temples. Mr. Richard’s voice faded into a blur of equations and numbers. I stared out the window, watching the thin branches of the pine sway against the early morning sun wishing I could by now make sense of the constant tug I felt whenever Luca was around.
“Aria, are you even listening?” Nora’s voice pulled me back, snapping my head up.
“I… yeah,” I said, forcing a smile. “Just thinking.”
“About Luca?” she asked casually, like she hadn’t been reading me for months. Her eyebrows lifted and I wanted to hide under the desk.
“I… maybe,” I admitted, just loud enough for her to hear.
She grinned. “Finally. Took you long enough. Honestly, it’s kind of adorable how messed up he makes you.”
I rolled my eyes, though my cheeks warmed. “You don’t understand. It’s not just that. It’s like when he’s around, I feel everything more. My heart, my thoughts… even the air feels different.”
Nora gave me a knowing look. “Welcome to the club, Aria. Happens to everyone with a certain someone.”
I laughed but it was half-hearted. I didn’t want to admit just how deep the “everything” went. It wasn’t just the normal crush stuff. It was heavier and impossible to ignore. I never knew that a mate bond went that deep.
After school, I found myself wandering home slowly, my backpack slung over one shoulder. The walk was empty and quiet which was the perfect place for my thoughts to spiral. I tried to distract myself by listing the homework I had but Luca kept creeping in at every turn. The way his laugh sounded, the way his hand brushed mine when we passed and even the moments when he didn’t notice me, my chest would tighten for no reason.
When I got inside, the house smelled like warm bread and vanilla from the candles my mom always lit. Mom was at the kitchen island, flipping through papers and sipping her coffee. She glanced up and smiled, the kind that made everything feel safer even if I wasn’t sure why.
“Hey, Aria,” she said. “Long day?”
“Yeah,” I murmured, dropping my backpack by the door. “It was weird.”
Mom tilted her head, her eyes gentle. “Weird how?”
I hesitated. How could I explain the pull, the unnameable feeling, and the weird fluttering in my chest without sounding completely insane? Plus I couldn’t just tell her about the mate bond. It’ll sound insane. “It’s nothing,” I said quickly. “Just feelings.”
Mom raised a brow. “Feelings are never nothing. You want to talk about them?”
I laughed nervously. “I don’t even know where to start.”
She leaned back, giving me space but staying close enough that I felt the warmth radiating off her. “Start with the part that matters most.”
So I did. I told her about the weird moments, the little sparks when Luca’s around, the sudden protective instincts I didn’t understand, and the overwhelming tug at my chest that had nothing to do with reason. I kept it because some things weren’t mine to expose yet.
Mom listened quietly, nodding, her face thoughtful. “Sounds like you’re noticing a lot of connections with someone,” she said finally. “That’s normal. It’s natural to feel drawn to certain people. Some of it you can explain, some you can’t. And that’s okay.”
“Even when it’s confusing?” I asked, almost whispering.
“Especially then,” she answered, smiling. “Some of the strongest feelings are the ones that don’t make sense at first. Give yourself time to figure it out. Don’t try to force it, and definitely don’t let it scare you.”
I nodded slowly, feeling a weight lift from my chest. Talking to her made it feel less chaotic. Like maybe it wasn’t all too much, that there was a way to hold the intensity without drowning in it.
Later that night, I lay on my bed staring at the ceiling, letting the darkness wrap around me. My phone buzzed indicating a text from Nora.
Nora: How’s your brain now?
Full of sparks, I typed back. It’s really confusing.
The response came almost instantly: Sparks are good. Just don’t blow anything up.
I smiled tossing the phone onto my nightstand. She had no idea how accurate that was. Every time I thought about Luca, about the way he shifted between calm and chaos, my mind felt like it was on fire in the best and worst ways.
I ran my fingers over the edges of my notebook, tracing the pencil marks I’d made earlier that day in class. Little sketches, notes, and random thoughts. There were all ways to try to make sense of feelings I couldn’t put into words.
A knock at the window made me jump. Outside, the shadows of the trees swayed in the moonlight. I pressed my ear to the glass but heard nothing just the wind. My heartbeat kept on racing. My body seemed to remember the closeness and the spark of presence I felt when he was near, even though he wasn’t there.
I leaned back against the headboard, hugging a pillow to my chest. It was frustrating in a way I had no idea of. The inexplicable urgency and the awareness of him even when he was gone. Every glance, every accidental brush and shared laugh felt magnified that I couldn’t ignore it.
Sleep came slowly tangled in thoughts of what it meant, what I was feeling, and what it might become. And through the haze of tiredness, I realized maybe part of growing up was learning how to carry intensity without letting it break you. Maybe some feelings weren’t meant to make sense immediately.
And maybe that was okay.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
Oh my gosh, did you feel that energy? That’s exactly what I wanted, just a little helpless crush chaos (laughs in Spanish 😂😂). Drop a comment if you’ve ever had a feeling so big you couldn’t even describe it. Bonus points if it’s someone who’s just as impossible as Luca. Let’s fangirl/fanboy together, my lovelies❤️.