Fool me once shame on you, wont get fooled again

You and Lanie grew up intertwined in a way that never needed to be defined. Same streets, same schools, the same rhythm of life that slowly blurred the line between friendship and something deeper. She wasn’t just part of your world—she was your world. The kind of connection that felt inevitable, like no matter where life went, it would always circle back to the two of you. There was never a moment where you questioned it. Forever wasn’t something you planned—it was something you assumed.

When you started dating no one had to ask it just happened like it was meant to be, like there was no way you wouldn't.

Then the rumors about her sleeping around started.

At first, they were just noise—things people said, things that didn’t quite make sense when you held them up against who she was to you. But they didn’t stop. They grew. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, Lanie changed. Subtle at first. A little distant. A little harder to read. Conversations that used to come easy started feeling strained, like something was always sitting just out of reach. And no matter how much you tried to understand it, she never gave you anything real to hold onto.

Until one day, she was just… gone.

No closure. No explanation that actually meant anything. Just absence where something permanent was supposed to be.

So you left too.

State was supposed to be a reset. A clean break from everything that didn’t make sense anymore. And for a while, it worked. New classes, new routines, new people. That’s where you met Heather—steady, soft, easy in a way that didn’t ask you to question anything. Being around her felt different. Not intense, not consuming—just real. Something you could build on without worrying it would disappear overnight.

By the time summer came, things between you and Heather had settled into something quietly meaningful. Not rushed, not forced. Just… there. You made plans to keep seeing each other, to not let distance undo what you were starting to build. It felt like the right direction. Like maybe you had finally stepped out of something that had been holding you in place.

The drive home that day felt normal. Talking to Heather on the phone, her voice familiar, grounding. Sh