I roll my eyes at her.The look—the one that says, “I will not fuck and tell,” and she knows it.
Elena narrows her eyes. “Ugh. Fine. Be mysterious. But just so you know, I’ve already written fanfic in my head. He’s Russian. He growls. There’s probably velvet involved.”
I change the subject so fast it could qualify as whiplash.
“You look good,” I say, grabbing the water glass on the table like it’s going to save me.
“So do you.” She sips her drink and shrugs. “Tense. But good.”
I raise a brow. “You, on the other hand, look like aFinal Fantasycharacter who lost a bet.”
“Thank you.” She beams. “Japan changed me. I bought a sword.”
“Of course you did.”
She leans in now, voice soft but serious. The shift happens fast—only Elena can go from glittery chaos to gut-punch real in two seconds flat.
“Okay,” she says. “So. What’s going on?”
I open my mouth.
But I don’t even know where to begin.
I start to speak.
She stops me with a finger. “Wait. Let me guess. You had sex with your emotionally constipated husband. It was fucking great. Then he vanished into the mafia mist again. Now your brother wants to meet him, and you’re spiraling into a panic-drenched tailspin while pretending everything is fine.”
I blink.
“I’m sorry—did youreadmy browser history?”
She shrugs. “I know your chaos pattern, Bell. You’re like a tornado wrapped in beige. And I love you.”
I let out a long, exhausted breath.
“I don’t know what I’m doing, Elena. This isn’t… a life. This is a hostage negotiation with good skincare.”
“You need to stop thinking five years ahead. You’re always trying to fix everything before it breaks. Just live in the moment.”
“I hate the moment.”
She taps the table with a manicured nail. “In Japan, there’s a saying—’nareai wa kusai.’”
“Please don’t Zen me right now.”
“It means ‘overfamiliarity smells like old fish.’”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“It means stop turning every hot night into a life plan. Enjoy the sushi. Don’t marry the tuna.”
I snort. “That’s not real.”
“Google it.”
“I will not.”
She grins. “Good. That’s the sound of you unwinding.”
