flight of stairs. My arms trembled with the effort, but it wasn't just the weight, it was the exh

cking. She was balancing a stack of kitchen pans like a circus act. Her braids s

y own T-shirt was clinging to me like a second skin, the A

partment, tiny, overpriced, off-campus, sat at the very end. It wasn't much, but it was mine. No more dorms with girls crying through

that was

hoing with every step. Beige carpet. Off-white walls. A little balcony with a view of the pa

Marketplace and fanned herself with a takeout menu, then threw

d I meant it. The idea of solitude had been t

oise in two weeks. Calling me, whining that it's too quie

tear the tape off anot

st box and pushed back out into the stairwell. My arms were already shaking

aus

in one hand, he was impossible to miss. Sweat glistened across his chest, and his basketball shorts

st...

and egos, the whole lot. But something about him felt different... Effortless eve

d over itself, loud and useless. The cardboard scraped my forearm, a

t dare l

s eyes, or maybe I just wanted

pressing my palm to my c

the couch, brow arch

id too fast. "J

d. "You look like you saw a gho

tered, crouching

ff the box, stacking cookbooks into nea

here. My soul is melting." She kicked off her sneakers, legs dangling over the arm of the couch.

and shook my head. "Go show

I knew I kept you around for a reason." She hopped up, alrea

st by stepping inside. She was loud where I was quiet, reckless where I was careful, but she understood me in a way most people never tried to. She got that my so

-shirt, dropping it on the couch. The air conditioner was still dead, the landlord pro

out the neat stack of cookware I couldn't survive without. The metal clinked

gh enough to drown out the muffled singing drifting from the shower. T

If I didn't order now, Mariah would kill me. A few taps later, confirmation blinked o

I almost didn't hear Mariah's footsteps padding out of the bathroom.

our neighbors are so nice. Did they bring the pies already?" S

uldn't name why. It wasn't dread exactly, but it was enough to make my pulse