WREN
If I agree to it
It would be tutoring
Transactional
The word steadies me. Or I tell myself it does.
KIERAN
Done. Payment up front
My phone vibrates in my hand.
A notification blinks.
$200 received.
My breath stutters. My heart slams once, hard, like it’s testing the walls of my chest.
He didn’t even wait.
I swallow, pulse skidding. This is a terrible idea. I know it is.
So why does it feel like standing at the edge of something bright and dangerous?
WREN
Library. Tuesday at two. Don’t be late
KIERAN
I’ll be early
The typing bubble appears. Stops.Flickers back.
KIERAN
Night, Rules
My thumb hovers. My chest feels tight—too full, too aware.
WREN
Goodnight, O’Connor
KIERAN
It’s Kieran
I close my eyes.
WREN
Goodnight, Kieran
I set the phone face down, but the light still bleeds through the sheets, faint and insistent. The deal hums between us—bright as static, half transaction, half something I don’t have language for yet.
