I stood by the window longer than necessary.
City lights outside didn’t feel like they belonged to anything stable.
They moved too much.
Like everything here refused to stay still.
“Are you going to stand there all night?” Rowan asked suddenly.
Her voice wasn’t sharp.
Just… present.
I didn’t turn immediately.
Then I did.
“Maybe,” I said.
She looked up at me for a second.
Not long.
Just enough.
Then back to her phone.
That should’ve ended it.
It didn’t.
Rowan
He hadn’t moved from the window in ten minutes.
I’d stopped pretending to scroll five minutes ago.
The room had settled into something worse than silence.
Routine silence.
The kind where you become aware of every small sound you make.
Fabric shifting.
Breathing.
The floor creaking slightly when I adjusted my position.
Mason was still by the window.
Still not doing anything.
Which somehow made it worse.
“You don’t have to act like I’m not here,” I said.
That got him to turn slightly.
