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  Luca was half-sitting, legs under the blanket, scrolling absently on his phone with the resigned energy of someone who’d been told to rest and had already done too much of it.

  His usual school style, dark brown hair swept back with a splash of emerald highlight near the ends, always styled just messy enough to look effortless, was noticeably toned down.

  The green had grown faint at the roots, and his hair now fell naturally around his face, slightly flattened on one side from sleep. Without his earrings or camera sling, he looked younger, like someone caught mid-scene without the script.

  But his hazel eyes still flickered with that restless curiosity, tracking the screen like it might offer him a window back to the world.

  Camille sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed, leaning against the railing, while Elias had taken the old guest recliner by the window, his arms folded and gaze flicking now and then toward the hallway.

  None of them were talking much, just the occasional exchange about vending machine options or how long Mira and the others were taking to bring back more food. It was the kind of silence that only long friendships could carry comfortably.

  Camille eventually glanced up, her eyes thoughtful.

  “You know,” she said slowly, “they’re not even together, but Mira and Adrian are starting to look... kind of inevitable.”

  Luca chuckled. “Yeah, but somehow it makes sense? Like, I don’t know what her type is, but Adrian’s chill enough to survive her energy.”

  Camille laughed softly. “True. She’s just so unpredictable. Like a wildflower that grew wherever the wind carried her, bright, stubborn, a little wild.” She paused. “And Adrian… he’s like the mountain wind. Mysterious, cool, with a pull you don’t see coming. The kind of calm that doesn’t try to tame her, just makes space for her to keep blooming.”

  Luca turned toward Elias with a teasing glint in his eye. “Wait. Didn’t you go out with her once? Like, wasn’t there a thing?”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  Elias froze for just a moment too long. Camille’s head shot up.

  “Wait, what?” she said, blinking. “You and Mira?”

  Elias let out a sigh that was more resignation than anything else, running a hand through his hair. “Ugh, Luca. Why would you bring that up now?”

  Luca gave him a lopsided grin. “Hey, it’s part of our shared history. Besides, Camille didn’t know!”

  Camille straightened, clearly delighted. “You have to explain this now. What happened? When was this?”

  Elias rubbed the back of his neck, then finally relented. “Okay, fine. But it wasn’t a real date. At least, not to her. We were all hanging out during last year’s summer vacation, remember when you guys went shopping in that district she absolutely hated?”

  Camille nodded, “Oh right, that day.”

  “Well,” Elias continued, “she turned to me and said, ‘Wanna go to the park nearby instead?’ So we went. Just the two of us.”

  Camille leaned forward. “And?”

  He smiled, both fond and faintly exasperated. “She was everywhere. Jumped on the swings the second we got there, then the trampoline, the big slide, tried climbing the weird rope tower... I couldn’t even keep up. And then she suddenly went still and spent like twenty minutes chasing a dragonfly with her camera.”

  He paused, eyes distant. “It was like babysitting an 8-year-old. Except she was seventeen. And I, well, I felt like some exhausted single dad just trying to make sure she didn’t break an ankle.”

  “But that’s Mira,” Elias went on, his voice softening. “She’s... a storm, really. Chaotic, stubborn, totally fierce. But also, somehow, wild in a free kind of way. Like she lives without brakes. And at the same time, she’s got this strange childlike wonder that just catches you off guard.”

  Camille smiled. “She’s... exhausting,”

  Elias said, softer now. “But kind of incredible, too. Like she’s powered by chaos and caffeine and fairy dust. You want to slow her down, but at the same time, you know if you did, she wouldn’t be Mira anymore.”

  Camille leaned her chin on her hand, smiling. “That actually sounds kind of magical.”

  “Magical and mildly dangerous,” Elias muttered. “Anyway, nothing happened. She forgot the whole thing like twenty-four hours later.”

  Then Luca glanced at him with a mischievous grin. “So... how’s Naomi?”

  Elias groaned. “Why are we suddenly dissecting my entire dating history in a hospital room?”

  “Better than listening to you breathe dramatically,” Camille said sweetly.

  Elias sank lower into the recliner. “I need new friends.”

  “You’re stuck with us,” Luca said, tossing a candy wrapper in his direction. “Now hush. I’m trying to enjoy the peace while it lasts.”

  And the room drifted back into its easy silence, filled only by soft laughter and the steady beeping of the monitor beside the bed.

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