Chap­ter 22 of If These Wings Could Fly opens with the pro­tag­o­nist, Leighton, reflect­ing on the sun­set as she makes her way to Liam’s house. The vibrant col­ors of the sun­set con­trast with the imper­fec­tions of Auburn, a town that holds both beau­ty and flaws in equal mea­sure. The red glow of the sun brings to mind a chaot­ic moment with her sis­ter, Juniper, when high­lighters were used on the pages of The Bell Jar. This jux­ta­po­si­tion of bright hues against dark words sym­bol­izes the com­plex, often con­flict­ing emo­tions Leighton feels. Upon her arrival at Liam’s house, her moth­er teas­es her about need­ing a tutor, specif­i­cal­ly in art, which leads to play­ful ban­ter between them. Leighton then shows her moth­er her lat­est still-life project, which elic­its a laugh, and in a ten­der moment, she kiss­es her moth­er good­bye, feel­ing a mix of affec­tion and a sense of long­ing for some­thing more.

Upon enter­ing Liam’s home, Leighton is warm­ly greet­ed by his sis­ter, Fiona, who seems relieved to see her, par­tic­u­lar­ly as a shield from Liam’s usu­al antics. Their easy cama­raderie sets the tone for the vis­it, with Fiona play­ful­ly com­ment­ing on Liam’s hob­bies and teas­ing him about his quirks. As the door opens, Mrs. McNa­ma­ra, Liam’s moth­er, enters, fill­ing the room with a sense of warmth and com­fort. She shares her expe­ri­ences of teach­ing in a small, pre­dom­i­nant­ly white town and speaks pas­sion­ate­ly about the impor­tance of inclu­siv­i­ty in edu­ca­tion. These con­ver­sa­tions sub­tly high­light the dif­fer­ent dynam­ics of their fam­i­lies while reveal­ing the shared expe­ri­ences of grow­ing up in a small com­mu­ni­ty. The open­ness of Liam’s fam­i­ly con­trasts with Leighton’s often com­pli­cat­ed home life, giv­ing her a brief respite from her usu­al strug­gles.

Liam’s arrival brings a wave of ener­gy, and his charm­ing pres­ence leaves Leighton feel­ing both com­fort­able and unsure of where their rela­tion­ship stands. They ban­ter casu­al­ly while pick­ing out snacks, and Liam’s laid-back nature con­tin­ues to break down Leighton’s walls, slow­ly eas­ing her reser­va­tions. As they move to Liam’s room, the space is filled with cre­ative works: art, graph­ic nov­els, and glimpses of Liam’s per­son­al aspi­ra­tions. Amidst the play­ful exchanges, they begin dis­cussing deep­er top­ics, such as their future dreams and the fears that come with them, par­tic­u­lar­ly regard­ing their small-town life. Leighton starts to see Liam not just as a friend, but as some­one with whom she could poten­tial­ly share more than just sur­face-lev­el inter­ac­tions. Despite the light­heart­ed­ness of their con­ver­sa­tion, there’s an unde­ni­able con­nec­tion that grows stronger as they explore their shared ambi­tions and anx­i­eties.

As the evening pro­gress­es, their close prox­im­i­ty while work­ing on art leads to play­ful, flir­ty moments, fur­ther height­en­ing the chem­istry between them. How­ev­er, the arrival of Fiona inter­rupts the atmos­phere, remind­ing them both of the bound­aries that exist with­in their friend­ship. The inter­rup­tion gives way to a more reflec­tive tone as the real­i­ty of their rela­tion­ship set­tles in. Before they part ways, Liam express­es a desire to spend more time togeth­er beyond the con­fines of school and their cur­rent rou­tine. Leighton, torn between her sense of respon­si­bil­i­ty and the excite­ment of a spon­ta­neous con­nec­tion, agrees to join him for a bon­fire, a deci­sion that adds to the thrill of break­ing away from her usu­al rou­tine. Despite the inter­nal tug-of-war between ambi­tion and enjoy­ment, she feels a spark of exhil­a­ra­tion, won­der­ing what this moment could lead to.

As she returns home, a swirl of emo­tions floods her mind. There’s a sense of excite­ment about ven­tur­ing into some­thing new, but also a feel­ing of guilt, as if she’s step­ping away from her usu­al oblig­a­tions and expec­ta­tions. In bed that night, she feels the weight of her choices—how they blend youth­ful explo­ration with the respon­si­bil­i­ties that weigh heav­i­ly on her. The chap­ter ends with Leighton caught in a del­i­cate bal­ance between fam­i­ly oblig­a­tions, the thrill of teenage life, and the desire to forge her own path, set­ting the stage for the emo­tion­al com­plex­i­ties that will fol­low.