So she stopped thinking.
Savannah turned and pushed back through the lobby door, the cold rushing up to meet her like a dare. The air stung her cheeks. Her boots slipped slightly on the salted concrete as she hurried down the steps.
Please still be there.
Please still be there.
The car sat under the streetlamp exactly where she’d left it, exhaust drifting in soft white clouds. Her pulse jumped. Tilly hadn’t pulled away. She still had time.
Savannah crossed the last few feet faster than she meant to and knocked on the passenger window before she could talk herself out of it.
Tilly jumped slightly in the driver’s seat, then leaned over and unlocked the door.
Savannah opened it halfway, breath catching in the cold. “Um,” she started, which was already a disaster. She cleared her throat. “I was just wondering if… if you wanted to come up. For a bit.”
Her voice cracked on the last word.
She hated that she cared.
She hated that she hoped.
She hated how terrified she felt waiting for an answer.
Tilly blinked at her like they weren’t sure they’d heard her correctly. Not rejecting her. Not accepting either. Just… startled. The kind of startled that made Savannah’s stomach twist.
They reached for the radio and turned it down, slow and careful. “You want me to come up?”
Savannah’s mouth went dry. This was already going badly.
“You don’t have to,” she said too quickly. “I just… I thought maybe… You might want to.”
There. Terrible. Humiliating. She wished the cold would just swallow her whole.
Tilly looked at her for a long moment. Long enough that she felt her pulse in her throat. Then they nodded once. Simple. Quiet.
“Yeah. Okay.”
Savannah nearly sagged with relief, which only made her more irritated with herself. She stepped back, letting Tilly turn off the engine and climb out. Their breath mingled in the cold air between them, soft and visible.
She led the way to the door without speaking because she wasn’t sure what would fall out of her mouth if she tried. In the reflection on the glass, she caught Tilly watching her—not intensely, not inappropriately, but with a kind of attentiveness that made heat curl low in her stomach.
She shouldn’t have done this.
She shouldn’t have asked.
She’d known that even while she said the words.
And yet here she was.
Inside the lobby, the warmth felt too sudden. Tilly stood close enough behind her that she could feel their presence like a hand between her shoulder blades. Not touching. Just there.
Savannah pressed the elevator button and stared at the tiny ring of light, like it might save her.
Tilly’s voice broke the quiet, low and almost hesitant. “You seemed… like you didn’t want to be alone.”
The doors slid open before she had to answer. She stepped in, grateful for the distraction, but the elevator was small. Too small. Tilly stepped beside her, and the air shifted immediately.
Savannah’s pulse jumped. She folded her arms tightly, trying to anchor herself.
