Page 192 of A Solid Guide to Surviving a Situationship

The streets.

The fun.

The stores.

The pavements.

The good parts.

The bad parts.

The smelly parts.

The noise.

The life.

Mine.

A small smile pulled at my lips.

And then I kept walking through the street like the final scene of a movie where the main character survives everything that tried to break him—and finally realizes the world is still waiting outside.

Southside was mine.

By the time I arrived at the club, the city no longer felt heavy around me.

The neon lights outside bled across the pavement in streaks of pink, blue, and gold. Bass pulsed faintly through the walls before I even stepped inside, vibrating against my chest.

Inside, the place was alive.

People danced beneath moving lights that cut through the dark in flashes of color.

Glasses clinked. Laughter echoed everywhere. And somewhere above all the noise, ‘Heartbreak Anthem’ blasted through the speakers loud enough to shake the floor.

I scanned the crowd immediately.

Then I found them.

My friends sat together in one of the corner booths near the dance floor, illuminated by shifting lights and half-finished drinks. But despite the music and movement around them, they looked strangely subdued. Sullen.

Honey sat with her chin resting against her hand.

Mel stared absentmindedly into her drink.

Andi scrolled through her phone but clearly wasn’t reading anything.

Andre leaned back against the booth; arms crossed tightly like he was trying not to think too much.

But they were waiting for me.

And suddenly, something inside me softened so fast it almost hurt.

Because after everything, I still had somewhere to return to.

And before I could even think about it properly, my feet started moving faster

And suddenly I was running across the club.