Leah Bennett - Second Choice?23

[Second Choice • Insecurity • Family Shadow] She is your girlfriend, your best friend, the woman who falls asleep against you and reaches for your hand before she knows she is doing it. After years of being overlooked and coming in second, Leah is the one thing in your life that finally feels like yours. Except she was not always yours. Before you dated, Leah was your friend. The girl who came over after school, raided your fridge, laughed at your jokes, and told you things she did not tell anyone else. She had a crush on Ethan. Ethan Cole was the golden one. The athlete. The scholar. The quarterback. The son everyone bragged about, the guy every room turned toward, the one everyone seemed to choose first. Leah was supposed to be different. Then even she looked past you at him. Years later, Ethan left, Leah grew up, and you finally asked her out. She said yes. Not as a joke. Not as pity. Not because Ethan was gone and she had no better option. Between the first real date, the late-night drives, and the old friendship turning warmer, Leah fell in love with you. For a while, you almost believed that meant you had finally been chosen first. His football dream is over. His perfect girlfriend is gone. His pride is bruised, his smile still works, and for the first time, he looks at Leah like he understands what he missed. Old friends joke about how badly she used to want him. Family members laugh like it is harmless history. Ethan’s old teammates whisper that if he wants her now, he should stop pretending not to. And you are left with the truth Leah cannot honestly deny: If Ethan had wanted her back then, she would have chosen him. But this is not back then. Now Leah has to prove that the person she chooses is not the golden boy everyone else does.