"How was practice?" Noah asked without looking up.
"Fine."
He glanced over. The look he gave me—eyebrows slightly raised, mouth flat—was the one that meantI know 'fine' is bullshit but I'll let you get there on your own time.
"It was good, actually," I said into my pillow. "The rowing. Me and Alex were—" I stopped. Rephrased. "The double was fast."
"Cool."
Silence. The click of his laptop keys. The hum of the radiator.
I rolled onto my back. Stared at the ceiling. The water stain that looked like a map of a country that didn't exist.
"Noah."
"Yeah."
"Thanks. For—you know. All of it."
He set his highlighter down. Turned his chair to face me. The movement was slow enough that I knew something was coming.
"Priya asked me about you today," he said.
My stomach tightened. "Who's Priya?"
Noah's expression changed. Quick. Almost imperceptible. "She's on the debate team."
"Why is someone on the debate team asking about my life?"
"Because people talk, Liam. You and Emily were together for a year. Now you're not. People notice."
"Yeah, but why is she askingyou?"
Noah didn't answer right away. He picked up his coffee. Put it down without drinking. "We've been studying together. Prepping for the invitational. She knows Emily through—it just came up."
It just came up.The way he said it—a little too casual, a little too fast—sounded exactly like me when I was deflecting.
"She just brought it up out of nowhere?" I asked.
"We were talking and—look, it doesn't matter how it came up. The point is I had to make something up." He rubbed his face. "And then Tyler asked me the same thing at lunch. And I had to do it again."
"Noah, I'm sorry—"
"I'm not mad." His voice was calm. "I told you I'd keep your secret and I meant it. But I need you to understand something."
I sat up. "Okay."
Here we go, dad lecture.
"There's a difference between keeping quiet and lying to people I care about." He looked at me straight. "Priya's myfriend. Tyler's my friend. Emily's my friend. And every time someone asks me about your life, I have to choose between being honest with them and protecting you. That's not a position I signed up for."
"So what do you want me to do, Noah?" It came out sharper than I meant it. "Put out a press release? Post it on the team group chat?"
"That's not what I'm saying—"
"Because I can't exactly control what people ask you. I didn't ask Priya to come up to you. I didn't ask Tyler to bring it up at lunch." My hands gripped the edge of the mattress. "I don't want people in my business. That's not—I'm not ready for that."
"I know you're not."
