The thought stayed with me for a few moments after the conversation ended.
Eventually, I went back to the rest of my notifications. Most of them blurred together. Then one handle caught my eye.
kieran.oc.
My thumb froze.
I opened the notification.
The profile picture loaded first.
Then the display name beneath it.
Kieran O'Connor.
Out of the thousands of notifications crowding my screen, that was the one name capable of stealing all the air from my lungs.
Two days earlier, I'd walked away from his hotel room convinced I'd missed my chance. I'd told myself it was the sensible thing to do. My life was already complicated before the press conference. Afterward, it had become a circus. I'd convinced myself that whatever existed between us was betterleft as one perfect night than risk wanting something I couldn't have.
None of that had stopped me from thinking about him. The memory of that night had followed me everywhere.
The worst part was that I'd done it to myself. I hadn't asked for his number. I hadn't given him mine. I'd left before he woke up because it seemed easier than facing the possibility that I wanted more than one night from someone I barely knew.
Under different circumstances, maybe I would have gone looking for him. Instead, I'd spent the last two days living with the consequences of my own decisions.
And now his name was on my screen.
I opened the message.
kieran.oc: Hey. It's Kieran.
kieran.oc: I just saw the press conference.
kieran.oc: I don't really know what today has been like for you, but I wanted to say I hope you're doing okay.
I hadn’t expected those four short sentences to affect me so much.
I read the message again. Then a third time.
The internet had spent the last twenty-four hours demanding things from me. Kieran wanted nothing. He wasn't asking for clarification about my sexuality or why I'd left before he woke up. He wasn't even asking whether we would see each other again. He was checking on me.
The simplicity of that should not have affected me as much as it did.
I stared at the message for another few seconds before common sense had a chance to interfere. Then I pressed thevideo call button. The moment it started ringing, I questioned my own sanity. The phone rang once. Twice. Three times.
Part of me expected him to decline it. Kieran had no particular reason to answer a video call from a man he'd spent one night with and hadn't heard from since. The call connected. Kieran appeared on the screen. For a second, he just stared at me. Then his eyes widened. "Thane?"
The surprise in his voice made me smile. "Last time I checked."
A laugh escaped him. Genuine, warm, and immediately familiar. The sound settled something restless inside me.
"I honestly wasn't expecting you to call," he admitted.
"I'm starting to get that impression."
His smile deepened.
For a moment, neither of us seemed entirely sure what came next. The awkwardness should have felt uncomfortable. Instead, it felt strangely easy.
