Chapter 2 Feeling invisible

Leah's POV I already knew him. I already knew the way his voice sounded-low and smooth, the kind that lingered in your mind long after it was gone. I already knew the way he smelled-clean, expensive, like something untouchable. I already knew the way his presence could consume a room without effort, the way he could make everything else fade into the background. And yet, he didn't seem to notice me To him, I was no one. Ryan gestured toward him, still grinning. "Leah, this is Josh Carter-my best friend from college." Josh leaned back against the couch, his beer bottle resting lazily on his thigh, and gave me a polite, indifferent nod. "Hey." That was it. No recognition. No acknowledgment. Not even a flicker of memory in those hazel eyes. The very same eyes that had looked right at me this morning as he pulled me away from death. For a second, I considered saying something-telling him that we had already met, that he had saved my life. Maybe then he would look at me properly, really see me. But something stopped me. The way he looked so effortlessly at ease in my brother's presence, the way he carried himself with a quiet, untouchable confidence, the way he had already dismissed me as just another girl in the room. I swallowed past the lump in my throat. If he didn't remember, then maybe I wouldn't remind him. "Leah," Ryan said again, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Aren't you going to say hi?" I forced my lips into something that resembled a smile. "Hi." Josh nodded again, his expression unreadable. He didn't even try to hold the conversation, didn't ask me anything, didn't seem remotely interested. Instead, he turned back to Ryan, immediately engaging in whatever conversation they had been having before I walked in. And just like that, I faded into the background. Like I always did. I stood there for a second, gripping the strap of my schoolbag, feeling stupid. For standing there, for expecting something different, for feeling a ridiculous sense of disappointment when I shouldn't have. Ryan didn't notice. He was too busy laughing at something Josh had said. But I noticed. I noticed how easily I had been overlooked. How effortlessly he had brushed past me, like I was nothing more than a passing shadow in his world. I turned away before either of them could see the heat crawling up my neck. "I have homework," I mumbled, even though neither of them was paying attention anymore. "I'll be in my room." Ryan made some absentminded noise of acknowledgment, but Josh said nothing. Hours Later I stared at my textbook, but the words blurred together into a meaningless mess. I had been sitting at my desk for over an hour, pretending to study, but my mind was trapped somewhere else. Somewhere downstairs. Every few minutes, I would hear their voices drift up from the living room-Josh's deep and smooth, Ryan's lighthearted and familiar. The sounds of clinking bottles