Noah was chomping on his turkey club, eyes flicking over the lunch table, when he finally let the question slip out. “You told her yet?” he asked, a half?smirk on his face.

  “Not a word,” I muttered, because the truth felt like a punch to the gut. Noah knows everything, maybe too much, but he’s my best friend, and he’s the only one who’s actually noticed that I haven’t even started filling out college applications.

  Chloe’s already drawn up a whole life for us. She’s got the list memorized: a four?year school, a steady 9?to?5 job, a white?picket fence, a 401(k) that’ll make her grandmother proud. Usually I’m the guy who goes along with her plans without a second thought; I’m the guy who cheers the loudest at every pep rally, who makes sure everyone else’s smile stays bright. But this time, the script feels wrong.

  My uncle runs the auto?shop on Main Street, the one with the grease?stained floorboards and the old lift that groans when you raise a car. He’s offered me a spot right now and, eventually, the whole place. I’ve been dreaming about wrenching on engines since I was the kid who lifted a dead?beat bike and tried to fix it with a paperclip. The money’s decent, too, enough to keep us afloat while I learn a trade that actually excites me. Maybe if I can sell her the idea of a steady paycheck and a future that’s built on something I love, she’ll see that I’m not just “being lazy.”

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  “Every day you push this off, the closer we get to graduation,” Noah warned, his tone half?serious, half?teasing. “You don’t want that deadline looming over the summer, do you? If you’re going to end things, do it now, don’t drag it out and make it uglier for both of you.”

  He was right. If Chloe really wants the classic ‘white?collar husband, white?picket fence’ life, she’ll find it somewhere else. College is the most obvious place to meet someone who fits that mold, and she’ll have no trouble landing a guy who ticks all those boxes. I can picture her walking across campus, her eyes scanning for a future CEO instead of a grease?stained hand.

  A strange tug pulled at my chest as I thought about a life without her. It didn’t sting the way I expected. It was…lighter, almost relieved. Maybe this is the moment I finally start standing up for myself, instead of being the guy who says ‘yes’ to every plan that isn’t his own.