for as long as anyone could remember, they came as a pair. it started in elementary school with two desks pushed together and a boy who never stopped talking to the quiet girl beside him. years later, they’re still inseparable. he knows how she takes her coffee, which songs she listens to when she’s sad, and exactly what snacks to bring when life gets cruel. she’s the first person he calls. he’s the first person she runs to. she thinks of him as her best friend. he has spent years pretending that’s enough. but when every heartbreak leads her back to him, when every future she imagines somehow includes him, and when the possibility of losing each other becomes more frightening than the truth, both of them are forced to ask a question neither has ever dared say out loud: what happens when your best friend has always felt like home?