Luca pulls into the same overlook near the beach where we've been a few times before.
Apparently this is becoming our place.
He parks the car and shuts off the engine, leaving us sitting in the quiet darkness with only the distant sound of waves crashing against the cliffs below.
For a few minutes neither of us moves.
"You're surprisingly calm," he says eventually.
"I'm thinking."
"That's usually dangerous."
"Very."
I turn slightly in my seat so I can look at him properly.
"You broke someone's car."
"He deserved it."
"You keep saying that."
"He did."
I sigh, rubbing my temples briefly.
"You're impossible."
"And yet you haven't left yet."
He says it casually, but the words land harder than he probably intended.
Because he's right.
Despite everything he just told me…
I'm still here.
Still sitting in his car.
Still trying to understand him instead of walking away.
"You know what the scary part is?" I say quietly.
"What?"
"I don't actually want to leave."
The confession hangs in the air between us.
Luca studies my face carefully, like he's trying to figure out whether I'm serious.
"You probably should though," he says eventually.
"That's your solution for everything, isn't it?"
"What is?"
"Push people away before they get too close."
He doesn't respond right away.
Because he knows I'm right.
"And what if I don't want to leave?" I ask.
He exhales slowly.
"Then you're making a risky decision."
I shrug slightly.
"I've always been a little reckless."
His mouth tilts faintly at the corner.
"Not from what I've seen."
"You clearly haven't been paying attention."
And somewhere between those quiet words and the dark ocean stretching endlessly in front of us-
Something shifts again.