“Please, Hattie. I just… can’t right now.”
“Fine. Take me to Camila’s then.”
My hand shakes when I knock on Korie’s door forty minutes later. There’s a pause on the other side, then the door opens.
Korie blinks at me, surprise flashing across their face before it settles into something more guarded.
“Hey,” I say lamely.
“Hey.” They hesitate, like they’re deciding something, then step back. “Come in.”
I shove my hands into my pockets because I don’t trust myself not to fidget.
Korie closes the door behind me, but they don’t move any closer, like they’re not sure how long I’m sticking around. “What’s up?”
I exhale and shuffle my feet against the worn carpet. Aris sings something loud and obnoxious, but I keep my attention on Korie. I need to say this right, so they believe me.
“I wanted to see you. To… explain, I mean.”
Korie hardly seems surprised. But they’re clearly hurt, shoulders curled inward. “Why you left, you mean.”
My heart sinks, but there’s no denying it. No accusation. Just a fact… colored in pain.
“That’s not—” I stop, dragging a hand over the back of my neck. “That’s not what it looked like.”
Their jaw ticks, and a flash of anger appears in their eyes before it’s gone. Like this is something they’ve heard a thousand times before. “Kinda seemed that way.”
“Korie.”
I take a step closer, but when I reach for them, they fold their arms, tilting their chin. Shit, I really screwed up.
“What I’m trying to say is… I didn’t leave because of what I saw. At least, not how you’re thinking.”
“Then why did you?”
Because my brain short-circuited.
Because I suddenly couldn’t think about anything except you.
Because all of this isn’t neutral anymore, and I don’t know what to do with that.
I don’t say any of that. I go with the only version I can actually get out.
“It just… hit differently, you know?”
Korie frowns slightly, hugging their arms tighter.
“I saw you and my brain got loud.”
“Loud?”
“Yeah.” I tap my temple. “I noticed a bunch of stuff all at once and didn’t know where to put it.”
Their gaze sharpens. “Because of the underwear?”
“No. I meant it got loud… aboutyou,” I say. Heat rushes up my neck, but I push on before I can overthink it. “I’ve known you wear stuff like that for a while. That’s not new. But seeing it—seeingyouwith it—it just… it wasn’t nothing anymore, Kor.”
There’s a long pause.
