A laugh burst out of her before she could stop it — too loud, too sharp. “You think that’s what this is?”
Grace didn’t even blink. Alix imagined this was how she looked in court. Calm, methodical, annoyingly correct. It was extremely attractive, which was infuriating given the circumstances.
“Isn’t it?” Grace asked.
Alix turned, crossing her arms so she wouldn’t fidget. “What does the future even look like for us, huh?” The words came faster than she meant them to. “You think I’m some kind of safe bet, but I’m not. We live on opposite sides of the country, and so far it’s been really fun getting to know one another, but what happens when it’s missed calls and late nights at work and we just… fizzle out?”
Her voice cracked halfway through, the sound splitting the air. She hated how small it made her sound.
Grace stepped closer, steady as a tide. “You think you’re the only one scared? I came here because I am scared, and I’m still here.”
That landed in her chest like a stone dropped into water.
Alix’s heart thudded against her ribs, uneven and angry. Her skin felt too tight, her pulse too loud in her ears. She wanted to say something clever, to turn it into a joke, but nothing came.
She felt like she was watching herself from the ceiling — arms crossed, jaw tight, standing in her own kitchen with the best thing that had ever happened to her and somehow still finding the self-destruct button.
“I don’t…” She swallowed hard. “I don’t know how to do this, okay? This… thing.”
Grace blinked, but she didn’t move.
Alix kept talking, because silence meant thinking, and thinking meant feeling. “Everyone leaves when they figure out what a fucking mess I am. That I can’t offer a house with a casita for your mom. Or a stable career, or whatever grown-up version of myself I was supposed to be by now. And you’ll leave, too. So let’s just skip it, yeah?”
Her throat burned. Her palms itched. Every cell in her body was screamingrun.
Grace’s voice was certain. “I’m not everyone. And this isn’t all about you.”
That stopped her cold. The words hung in the air, quiet but heavy.
Alix blinked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re not the only one with fear in this room. You don’t get to make me the villain in your preemptive breakup fantasy.”
A laugh escaped her, hollow and defensive. “Breakup fantasy? That’s a new one.”
Grace shook her head, exhaling through her nose like she was trying not to lose patience. “You’re scared, I get it. But you don’t get to decide how this ends without even giving it a chance to begin.”
The floor felt like it was tilting. Alix hated that she couldn’t think of a single comeback that didn’t sound like begging. Her pulse was a drumbeat of panic in her neck.
She dropped her gaze, voice smaller now. “But…”
Grace took another step closer, close enough that Alix could smell her floral perfume, feel the calm radiating off her like warmth from a sun she couldn’t look at directly.
“Alix,” Grace whispered. “I’m here. And I may live across the country right now, but we don’t have to figure that part out tonight. I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.”
The steadiness in her tone undid everything Alix had built to protect herself. The walls, the sarcasm, the exit routes — gone. She felt her chest cave inward, the pressure behind her eyes giving way.
“Don’t say that unless you mean it,” Alix whispered.
“I do. I mean it.”
And just like that, she believed her. She trusted her. She loved her.
The tightness in her chest snapped, and the tears came hot and sudden. Embarrassing. Childish. She pressed her palms toher eyes like that would stop them, but it just made her shake harder.
Grace didn’t rush her. Didn’t reach for her. Just waited, calm and unshaken, until Alix finally dropped her hands.
“What are you so afraid of right now?” Grace asked, quiet but unyielding.
