Ipushthroughtheglass doors of the medical center, boots squeaking against the floor, and walk the full length of the hallway without stopping. Then I circle back, retrace my steps, and exit through the same entrance I came in.
Buying time. Making sure she's gone.
Theo's car idles at the curb. I pull open the passenger door and slide in.
He pulls away before I've closed it.
"She handed her phone to you," he states, eyes on the road.
"Your plan worked." I glance at him. "She didn't recognize me at first. Then she did — and now she thinks I'm Cody's friend who showed up to get a broken finger checked out."
"You're his best friend," Theo says, flat.
"Right." I pause. "She dropped something on me. She transferred. To UW."
Silas exhales slowly from the backseat. "Shit."
Theo's knuckles whiten against the wheel. "Why?"
"She said she planned it for a while. Said she wanted to surprise him. Never got the chance." I watch the city pass through the window. "She's here alone now. No friends. No Cody. She has no idea where to put herself."
Silas says quietly, "She's isolated."
"She's not innocent," Theo snaps.
I don't argue. I just let it sit.
"She had the laptop," I say.
That earns me a look from Theo — fast and loaded.
"In her car. She's been keeping it in her car."
The silence that follows is its own kind of answer.
"I'm going to get it from her," I say.
Theo laughs — that low, building sound — and takes a drag from his vape, blowing smoke toward the windshield. "Welcome to UW, Adela."
I stare at the brake lights bleeding red in the rain ahead of us.
She's isolated. She's desperate. She's reaching for anything that feels like an answer.
Hours later, I'm at my kitchen table, flexing my hand, trying to straighten the swollen finger. Pain shoots through the joint with each attempt.
Serena texts. I reply without thinking about it.
Twenty minutes later, she's in my bed.
I go through the motions — fast and done. She's loud about it. I'm somewhere else entirely.
When it's over, I'm staring at the ceiling, and she's trailing her fingers down my back like I've earned softness, and I feel nothing except mildly irritated that I wasted the hour.
My phone lights up on the nightstand. Unknown number. I sit up.
Adela: Hey, are you awake?
Serena stirs. "What is it?"
