I stretched my legs. The cardboard under me crackled. I thought about lobbies and stairwells and the two weeks I’ve spent learning how to pick my rooms.
“I want honesty on time,” I said. “No heroic gestures.” No pretending a flight is fate. If you stay, we will see what this is with actual days. If you go, we decide if ‘pause’ is grown-up or bullsh*t. But we decide it together, not in a series of missed calls.
His exhale was a relief and a bruise. “Copy.”
“And we don’t set ourselves on fire to prove something,” I added. “I just rebuilt my life.” "I like it not smoking.
Maya clinked her soda can against Tari’s and mouthed adulting in a way that made me want to laugh and cry at the same time.
Elijah nodded, face open, the calm he carries turning deliberately. “Three weeks.” I’ll push fo
