Page 167 of Glitched Play

Wallet.

Phone charger.

Notebook.

Pens.

Receipts.

A folded envelope skids farther than everything else, stopping right in front of Noelle. She bends automatically and picks it up.

I freeze.

My heart stutters.

No.

Not that one.

She turns it over. Across the front, in my handwriting...

Glitch

No address, just one name.

Her eyes lift to mine, not angry or suspicious.

More like she’s processing and being protective, like every older sister who's spent her life making sure no one hurts her little brother.

"Who's Glitch?"

The room’s decibel level falls from ten to one. Enough that I know everyone heard.

I force myself to smile. "An old online friend."

She looks at the envelope again.

"You never mailed it?"

I shake my head. "I wrote it a while ago."

I rewrote it the the day after returning from the Grand Canyon. Things had changed and I needed to be clearer.

Birdie casually reaches for another honey jar, intentionally giving me space instead of piling on questions.

Sutton changes the subject first. "So..." She holds up two ribbons. "Is this eucalyptus green or sage green?"

Annika groans dramatically. "We're not starting that again."

The conversation moves on almost instantly.

But before Noelle sets the envelope back into my hand, she gives me the smallest smile.

The kind that says...

I'm not asking because I'm judging you.

I'm asking because I love my brother.