The City Lights Below Them
By the time January arrived, Blackwood University felt quieter.
Most students returned home during the short winter break, leaving campus half-empty beneath cold skies and endless snow-covered sidewalks. The city beyond the university glowed softly every evening, lights reflecting against frozen streets while distant traffic echoed through the winter air.
And somehow, inside all that quietness, Lucas Reed realized he was genuinely happy.
Not temporarily distracted.
Not emotionally surviving.
Happy.
The realization still startled him sometimes.
Especially because happiness used to feel like something that happened to other people, louder people, easier people, people who didn’t spend half their lives overthinking emotions and hiding loneliness behind sarcasm.
Then Ava Monroe entered his life quietly and somehow changed the entire emotional atmosphere of it.
God.
He loved her so much it physically frightened him occasionally.
One freezing Saturday night, snow drifted softly across the city while Ava dragged Lucas through downtown streets insisting they “needed fresh air before academic burnout permanently destroyed their personalities.”
Lucas disagreed deeply.
“It’s literally below freezing.”
Ava walked beside him wearing one of his dark hoodies beneath her winter coat while snowflakes settled softly in her dark hair.
“You’re dramatic.”
“I’m actively dying.”
“You’ve said that three times already.”
“Because my organs are shutting down.”
Ava laughed softly under her breath, the sound warm against the cold evening air.
God.
Lucas still thought that laugh might be one of his favorite sounds in the world.
The city looked beautiful at night beneath winter lights. Small cafés glowed warmly beside crowded sidewalks while people wandered through the streets carrying shopping bags and coffee cups.
Eventually Ava pulled him toward a quiet overlook near the river where the skyline stretched endlessly across the dark water below.
Cold wind drifted around them while the city lights shimmered softly against the river surface.
Lucas leaned beside the railing while Ava stood close enough that her shoulder rested lightly against his arm.
For several moments, neither spoke.
Then softly, Ava whispered:
“You know what I love about winter?”
Lucas glanced toward her.
“You complain less during it.”
She looked offended immediately.
“That’s deeply false.”
A faint smile touched his face.
“Then what?”
Ava looked out toward the city again.
“It makes everything quieter.” Her gray eyes softened gently. “Like the world slows down enough for people to notice each other properly.”
God.
Only Ava could make winter sound emotional.
Lucas looked at her carefully beneath the glowing city lights.
“You romanticize literally everything.”
“You love that about me.”
Fair.
Ava smiled faintly afterward before resting her head lightly against his shoulder.
Comfortable.
Natural now.
And somehow that still amazed him.
Lucas wrapped an arm loosely around her while cold wind moved softly around them.
Then unexpectedly, Ava murmured:
“Can I ask you something?”
“You already are.”
She rolled her eyes slightly before continuing.
“Do you ever think about how weird this entire story was?”
Lucas frowned slightly.
“What do you mean?”
Ava laughed quietly under her breath.
“You were this lonely literature boy hiding in library corners.” She looked up at him softly. “And somehow two girls fell in love with you.”
God.
The guilt still flickered faintly through him hearing that.
Ava noticed immediately.
Of course she did.
Her expression softened gently.
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I know.”
Then quietly, Lucas admitted:
“I still think about her sometimes.”
The honesty settled softly between them.
Ava didn’t look surprised.
Only thoughtful.
“I know,” she whispered.
Lucas looked down briefly toward the city lights below.
“I think part of me always will.”
Ava stayed quiet for a moment before speaking softly.
“That’s normal.”
He frowned slightly.
“It doesn’t bother you?”
Ava turned toward him then, her expression calm and warm beneath the winter lights.
“No.” She smiled faintly. “Because loving someone once doesn’t erase loving someone now.”
God.
The maturity inside that sentence nearly destroyed him emotionally.
Because honestly?
That was one of the things Lucas loved most about Ava.
She never asked him to rewrite the past just to prove the present mattered more.
Cold air drifted softly around them again.
Then unexpectedly, Ava added quietly:
“I think she changed you.”
Lucas looked at her carefully.
“How?”
“You let people closer now.”
The truth inside those words settled deeply into his chest.
Because maybe Hailey really did change him in important ways.
She taught him how to be seen openly.
How to laugh louder.
How to stop hiding every emotion immediately.
And Ava?
Ava taught him how to stay.
God.
The realization physically ached.
Lucas leaned lightly against the railing while looking out over the glowing city.
“You know what scares me?”
Ava tilted her head slightly.
“What?”
“That I could’ve lost you because I was too afraid to understand my own feelings.”
The vulnerability in his voice softened her expression instantly.
Ava reached for his hand slowly, intertwining their fingers against the cold metal railing.
“But you didn’t.”
Lucas looked toward her.
Ava’s gray eyes held his gently while snow drifted around them.
“You figured it out.” Her voice softened almost into a whisper. “And then you chose me.”
God.
The emotion in her voice nearly ruined him.
Because even now, after all this time, part of Ava still sounded amazed by being loved this completely.
Lucas stepped closer instinctively until only inches separated them.
“I’m gonna keep choosing you,” he whispered softly.
Ava visibly stopped breathing for a second.
Then slowly, her expression softened into something so vulnerable and happy that Lucas physically felt his chest ache.
“You can’t just say things like that in cold weather,” she murmured quietly. “My heart’s already emotionally unstable.”
A laugh escaped him immediately.
God.
He loved her.
Completely.
Lucas leaned down and kissed her softly beneath the winter skyline while snow drifted silently around them and city lights shimmered endlessly below.
And somewhere inside that quiet moment, he realized something important.
Love wasn’t always about finding the perfect person at the perfect time.
Sometimes it was simply about finding the person who made loneliness stop feeling permanent.
For Lucas Reed, that person would always be Ava Monroe.