I parked just outside Evangeline’s and met Rio on the sidewalk.
“Rub, you look terrible,” she said, hugging me, pressing me tighter than usual.
“Thanks, you too.” I scoffed, trying to keep my throat from closing up.
Rio chuckled, then caught my elbow and pulled back to study me. “You’ll tell us inside,” she said with certainty. She did read between the lines. As usual.
Eve was already at the door, waving us over. “Is Daphne coming?” I asked.
“She texted to say she’d try,” Eve said, wrapping me in her arms when I reached her. She smelled like a sweet bouquet.
I held on longer than usual, needing the anchor. Maybe Rio felt it too, because she hugged me from behind, sandwiching me between them.
The sea inside me stilled, heavy with the threat of what was coming. And part of me almost wished it would crash already—because anything was better than the waiting, better than drowning in the emptiness of his absence. An emptinessmyfears carved.
“Come on, I made brownies,” Eve said, breaking our little circle. “We want to hear it all.”
I looked at her. “You, too?”
“What, you think I can’t decode you? I’m the one with half a degree in Electronics, you know.”
I laughed, though my heart was heavy, my left ribcage still raw from more than the ink.
Rio made coffee, Eve set a plate of brownies on the table, while I stood at the window of her living room overlookingthe yard and the sliver of ocean that peeked between the rows of houses beyond.
We took our usual spots—me curled into the deep armchair, the two of them on the couch across from me. The way they looked at me, it was obvious they were waiting for me to open.
“Everything is ready for the inauguration,” I said, as if that was the headline of the night. “I hope you’ve got your outfits picked.”
“Ruby.” Rio shot me a cutting look. The quiet that followed left no room to hide.
I exhaled and finally spoke. Fast. Breathless. “So Sebastian said he loved me and wants to be with me and I said no, and I don’t know what to do.” That was the shorthand version, and the most I could manage.
Eve and Rio waited, eyes fixed on me, holding out for more.
I swallowed.
“If you said no, you knew what to do,” Rio said eventually.
“Yeah, seems like you did. Because you don’t want him,” Evangeline added.
The words cut straight through, sharp and wrong—like I’d stabbed him myself.
I want him,I screamed inside.
They watched me closely. It was probably written all over me.
“You’llhave to say it, Ruby. Only when you hear yourself say it, you’ll believe it,” Eve said, circling closer to the truth I was choking on, forcing me to spit it out.
“The psychology course again?” I shot back. Sarcasm—my oldest shield. My sometimes traitor.
“No. Lifetime of experience,” she said, unfazed.
I wanted to hug her for not flinching. “Okay. So, I said no. Not that I didn’t want him, just ... no to changing us. Doesn’t matter. I ... can’t sleep, I ...” My throat burned. “I cried. A lot. Like every day. I never cry.” The words felt foreign, like they belonged to someone else.
“Oh, Ruby,” Rio said, shaking her head like she was feeling sorry for me.
“So you have feelings for him,” Eve said. “Why is that bad? ‘Cause it’s lots of feelings? I mean, we know you don’t like those ... but ... everyone changes.” Her tone was soft, patient, like I was slow to catch up.
