CHAPTER SIX_ Things that surface
288 Words
I learned the truth about Isa and Aaron by accident.
It wasn’t a confession.
It wasn’t dramatic.
It was a careless comment from someone who didn’t know it mattered.
Aaron’s friend — the one Naomi had started spending time with — mentioned Isa during a late group hangout near the engineering labs.
“Isa?” I asked. “From animal science?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Quiet girl. Used to hang around Aaron a lot in first year.”
“Hang around how?”
He hesitated. “She was into him. Pretty bad.”
My chest tightened. “And he?”
He scoffed. “Aaron doesn’t do feelings. You know that.”
I did.
“She thought it was more,” he continued. “He didn’t correct her.”
That was worse than I expected.
When I got back to the dorm that night, Isa was alone at her desk, highlighting notes with obsessive precision.
“You didn’t tell me,” I said.
She didn’t look up. “Tell you what?”
“That Aaron used you.”
Her hand stilled.
Slowly, she set the highlighter down.
“He didn’t use me,” she said evenly. “I allowed it.”
“That doesn’t make it better.”
“No,” she agreed. “It makes it quieter.”
I studied her face. “Is that why you react the way you do around him?”
She met my gaze. “Is that what you think?”
“I think you still care,” I said. “And I think seeing him interested in me bothers you.”
Her expression hardened — not defensive, but closed.
“You’re wrong,” she said.
But she didn’t tell me how.
- Writer
