FORTY TWO - LEXIE

The rest of my life started blurring into the background, consumed by my obsession with Ryder. I’d brought a stack of legal textbooks with me to Los Angeles, a well-meaning attempt to prepare for law school, but I wasn’t really studying. Meanwhile, my savings account quietly grew, the balance rising like a number that no longer mattered. Ryder had offered to connect me with his sister Laura’s company more than once, but I kept declining. It didn’t matter. Just being near him, knowing he was in the room, was enough. I couldn't even step into his office with him, but when Angie took her lunch break, we’d steal a few moments together. I knew it was reckless, that I was throwing myself into something that was bound to crash and burn, but I didn’t care. My whole life had been about the future—always planning, always strategizing. But now? I was hooked on the present, too drunk on it to look past today. For the first time, I wasn’t afraid of failing or falling behind. I was afraid of losing