Willow: I’M COMING OVER
I barely have time to sit up before the door bursts open.
Willow stands in the doorway, still in her pajamas - an oversized sweater with a cartoon cat on it - hair exploding in approximately a hundred directions like she fought her way through a hurricane to get here.
Behind her, Katie hovers with mugs of coffee, already dressed in her usual neat sweater and jeans, lookingamused. “She’s alive,” she observes.
“Barely,” I mutter.
Willow crosses the room in three strides and drops onto the bed beside me, making the whole frame bounce. “Start talking.”
“There’s nothing to-”
“Leonora.” Willow’s voice is flat. “You disappeared. For hours. With Zane Blake. Who you have been secretly obsessed with for weeks.”
“I haven’t been-”
“You literally told us. At the spa. You admitted it.”
Katie sets the coffee on my desk and perches on the edge of my chair, tucking one leg under her. “We’re not here to judge. We’re here to… assess damage.”
“There’s no damage.”
“Then why do you look like someone died?”
I open my eyes. Stare at the ceiling again.
“Because I left.”
“Left?”
“His apartment. This morning. While he was still asleep.”
Silence.
“You pulled a ghost exit? After sleeping with him?” Katie sounds shocked.
“I didn’t - I mean, yes, but-”
“Holy shit.” Willow leans back, genuinely impressed. “That’s cold.”
“It’s not cold, it’s-” I sit up, dragging both hands through my hair. “He doesn’t know who I am. He thinks I’m just some girl from a party. Some girl who disappeared on him once already. And now I’ve done it again.”
Katie tilts her head. “So… you like him?”
“Yes.”
“And he clearly likes you-”
“He likes the idea of me. The mystery. The girl who won’t stick around. But he doesn’t know anything. Not even my full name. Not where I live. Not what I do.”
Willow is quiet for a moment, which is rare. Then she says, “Are you going to tell him who you are?”
“Obviously I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because-” I stop. Swallow. “Because if I tell him, I jeopardize the whole team. The league. All our wins. Or he’d have to keep my secret, and I can’t ask him to do that. It’s not fair.”
