Za’s brows knit. “Frankie…”
“I’ve been moving weird. Ignoring you. Leaving you in the dark. It wasn’t fair.I just been?—”
She closes the distance in two steps and wraps her arms around me.
It’s sudden and tight and it almost breaks me.
I stand stiff for a moment, shocked by how much I needed it. Then my arms come up around her and I hug her back, just as tight. My throat burns.
“No, no,” Za murmurs into my shoulder. “I get it.”
I pull back slightly. “You do?”
She nods, sniffing. “I didn’t have your back after the awards.”
I freeze. Za steps back fully now, arms still half around me, looking up at my face.
“I was trying to do the ‘grace’ thing and be the bigger person cause I didn’t want to make you feel worse about not winning.But I ended up making you feel alone.” Za wipes under her eye with the sleeve of her robe. “I’m so sorry, Cici.”
“I’m sorry too, Zee.”
“It’s okay.” Za takes a breath then reaches for my hand. “You scared me.”
“I know.”
“No,” she says, squeezing my hand. “Like properly. You didn’t come home. You didn’t answer my calls. Your location was off. Where were you?”
“I stayed with a…friend.” I half lied.
Za eyes me. I swallow. We stand there for a second, holding hands.
Za wipes her face again, then takes a shaky breath. “I don’t care what you do or who you date,” she says suddenly.
I go still. She continues, steadying herself. “I don’t care who you sleep with. Even if they’re just “friends”. I just… I need you to be safe.”
My heart thuds.
Za tilts her head. “Do you hear me?”
I nod quickly. “Yeah. I hear you.”
She squints at me like she can sense something in my face. Like she can feel the unsaid.
I hold my expression still. Neutral.
CEO mode. Friend mode? Anything fucking mode that isn’t confession mode.
“I won’t disappear anymore,” I promise. It comes out more emotional than I mean it to.
Za’s eyes soften. “Okay.”
I swallow. “And I’m sorry again.”
Za pulls me into another hug, slower this time. “It’s alright. I’m sorry too.”
I hug her back, eyes squeezed shut. Part of me wants to tell her everything. Right now. While she’s holding me. While she’s being soft. While she’s saying she’ll accept whoever I’m with...
But the other part of me can already see her face when she realises who.
