CHAPTER 121: ROMANCE CAN BE INSPIRING[JUNE’S POV]

Ren arched a brow at me. "Because, June, it sounds like you’re auditioning for Pornhub: The Musical."

"Okay, but like... imagine the headlines." I leaned closer and burst out laughing. "Blackwell’s first sex ballad rocks the auditorium. I’d be a legend."

He cracked up, leaning back on the bench. "Yeah, until the principal has a heart attack during the chorus."

I groaned into my hands. "God, stop, you’re making it worse."

"Hey." He nudged my arm with his shoulder, and I swear my heart left my body. "Don’t get me wrong, it’s catchy. But imagine the teachers in the front row, nodding along while you belt out ’your lips are gravity.’"

I peeked at him through my fingers. "Fine. We’ll shelve KissMe."

Ren turned back to the piano. "What if we actually wrote something... inspiring? Something people will remember for the right reasons."

I dropped my hands, giving him a look. "Inspiring like... follow your dreams corny? Or inspiring like... two broken souls, romance, friendship, people saving the world?"

"Romance can be inspiring," he said, smiling, pressing a little chord. "If it’s real. Not just... hormones."

I rolled my eyes, to cover the way my stomach flipped. "Ughhh, you’re so pure."

"Mhm." He flicked his fingers over the keys. Then he glanced at me again. "So prove it. What inspires you, Jellybean?"

My first thought was your face. My second was yourhands, hislips, literally every part of him, and my third was God, don’t say that out loud.

But I did not, under any circumstances,will I say that out loud.

I swallowed it all back and leaned on my elbow instead, trying to play it cool. "I don’t know."

His fingers faltered on the keys, just for a second. "Okay, then let’s do it this way. Who inspires you?"

That one hit different.

I froze. My first instinct was say Ash, because, of course it was Ash.

But would that make me sound lame

? Too sentimental?

Ash, who somehow still made dumb jokes even after crying in stairwells. Ash, who held everything in his chest until it cracked but never stopped showing up for the people he loved. Ash, who’d been with me through every ugly, messy thing.

I sighed, pushing my hair back. "Honestly? My bestfriend does."

Ren glanced at me, raised his eyebrows like he wasn’t expecting that. "Why?"

"Because..." My throat felt tight, but I pushed through. "Because he’s survived so much. Like stuff that would’ve broken other people. He still gets up every day, still fights, still... smiles sometimes, you know? He’s the strongest person I know."

The room went quiet except for the faint hum of the piano. I glanced at him. He was staring.

"Wow," he said finally. "You really love your best friend."

"Yeah." I smiled and nodded. "It’s been us two since we were little. Ever since my mom left my dad, his mom kind of... took me in. Like I was her daughter. She was so sweet, she didn’t even let me miss my own mom. Which is kinda messed up, but... yeah."

I gave a short laugh, rubbing my neck. "Guess Ash and I got glued together after that. He has just... always been my person."

Ren just kept staring at me. His eyes softened, like he was seeing me in a way no one else did.

"That’s... beautiful," he said gently. "And rare. Not a lot of people get something like that. Someone who’s just... yours, no matter what."

For a second, I couldn’t breathe.

And of course my whole throat decided to close up. "Thanks," I muttered. "You’re too nice."

Right then, his phone lit up on the piano. He glanced at it, tightened his jaw, and pressed the side button to ignore.

"You should probably take that," I pointed to his phone.

He shook his head, still looking at me like he didn’t want to lose the moment. "It’s not important." He chuckled. "Ash is lucky to have you."

Buzz. Buzz.

The phone lit up again.

Ren’s smile flickered.

He blew out a breath, eyes flicking to the caller ID before he stood up suddenly.

"Excuse me," he said. "Let me take this call."

Before I could ask, he grabbed the phone and headed up the narrow staircase, disappearing out of the room.

And I just sat there on the piano bench, staring at the keys like, cool cool cool June, play it cool, you are not about to melt into a puddle because of Ren.

Spoiler: I was.

I sat there, swinging my legs, trying to breathe like a normal human and not a girl whose entire ribcage just imploded because a boy said Ash is lucky to have me.

Now my brain was planning our wedding playlist. I hate myself.

My eyes flicked toward the stairs. His voice floated down...low, muffled. I couldn’t catch every word, but my ears strained like I was a spy in some Netflix drama.

"...I told you, I’m done."

I froze.

Done? Done with what? Homework? Laundry? Being perfect?

A pause. His voice dropped lower. "No. Because you lied. You lied, and you think I can just forget that?"

Okay. Drama.

I leaned a little toward the staircase, biting my lip. Okay, not to be nosy, but the house was dead quiet, and his voice carried like it was meant for my ears.

"...trust... gone... don’t care what you want anymore. You broke it. Whatever it was, it’s broken now." He sounded angry in a way I’d never heard from him.

I blinked at the wall. Whoa. So, Ren had... beef? With who though? His dad? A coach? Some cousin who stole his sneakers?

There was another pause. "It’s over. I don’t want this anymore."

I clutched my phone tighter. Over? Don’t want this anymore? He sounded so tired. Not the angel-boy, piano-playing Ren I knew, but like... someone who’d been holding in too much for too long.

And my dumb brain, of course, spun it into melodrama. Maybe he was in a secret boy band and wanted to quit. Maybe he was dropping out of Blackwell to become a monk.

What if it was his dad? Or worse, what if he was dumping, like... an actual girlfriend?

I shook my head fast. No way. If Ren had a girlfriend, June the professional gossip hunter would’ve sniffed it out by now.

Still, the way his voice cracked on that last part... ugh. I hated how much it made me want to go hug him

Then a longer silence. I thought maybe the call ended, but his voice came again.

"Please. Don’t call me again."

The stairs creaked. I scrambled back to the piano, pretending to care deeply about the chord progression.

Ren came down the stairs again, with his hands in his pocket. His smile was back on, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes.

"Sorry about that," he said softly. "Where were we?"

"Um." I blinked at him, trying to act casual while my brain screaming. "We were... writing, Huhh. Ditching my masterpiece for something inspiring. I wasn’t, like, eavesdropping or anything."

He gave me a suspicious look. "Mm-hm. Right."

My ears rang. Busted.

And just like that, he was back to Ren. Warm, easy, infuriatingly perfect.

Meanwhile me? I couldn’t stop wondering who or what he’d just cut out of his life

But then he played one soft note on the piano, glanced at me, and said quietly:

"Let’s try again."

Something in his voice sounded lighter, almost relieved. And somehow, I was relieved too.

I sat up straighter, my palms were sweaty. "Okay. But no laughing at me this time. I’ve got trauma from you clowning my Dorito song."

Ren smirked. "I didn’t clown it. I...rebranded it."

I rolled my eyes, but my chest warmed. He pressed a few gentle chords, and I hummed along under my breath until suddenly words just...spilled out.

"People are storms, people are shelters.

They’re the hurt and the healing,

the question and the answer.

I don’t know which you’ll be for me,

but I’ll risk it anyway.

It’s never the same, never the same after they go...

But somehow, you’re still standing. Somehow, you still grow."

Ren’s head snapped toward me, and his eyes widened, like he didn’t expect me to go there. But instead of teasing, he nodded once. Firm. Encouraging.

"Keep going."

Ren let the last chord linger, then his hands flew, shaping something like he already knew where the melody needed to go.

"Damn," he whispered. "That’s....just. That’s real."

"Really?" My voice cracked, because oh my God, he was looking at me.

He nodded again. "Your voice....it’s raw. But that’s the best kind. And the way you write? It’s fearless."

I wanted to die and reincarnate as the piano bench just so I could keep sitting next to him forever.

Then he started singing.

I swear, my soul left my body. His voice wasn’t just good....it was perfect. Smooth and deep.

It wrapped around my words like they were meant to belong to him too.

We kept going, back and forth, building a chorus:

🎶 "People are doors we open blind,

some lead to heaven, some leave you behind.

But if you find one that fits just right,

you hold them close, you hold them tight." 🎶

We harmonized by accident and then it just....flowed.

And then our hands brushed on the keys. It jolted through me so hard I messed up my part and started laughing.

"Sorry," I squeaked, yanking my hand back.

Ren chuckled, shaking his head. "Don’t be.

Before I could answer, Mrs. Alvarez appeared in the doorway with a tray. "Dinner," she announced.

I nearly jumped, because wow, yes, I was about to starve.

Ren got up to take it from her, but she gave me this look and smiled.

"Uh...thank you! Wow. This looks...amazing."

Ren gave her that polite little smile, thanking her in Spanish that rolled way too smoothly off his tongue. My brain was screaming he even sounds hot in another language.

As soon as she left, we dug in like, laughing between mouthfuls, pasta sauce dangerously close to splattering on his pristine white sheets.

We wrote and rewrote, argued over rhymes, hummed melodies, and every once in a while, I caught him looking at me like he couldn’t believe I was really there.

Every time he complimented a line I wrote, my chest ached in the best way.

I was having the best night of my life.

And not because I was half in love with his face okay, fine, maybe partly.

But because I was making something beautiful that actually felt like it mattered.