The clip paused.
Coach rewound.
“Watch this,” he said. “This is where you lose control of tempo.”
The screen flickered back.
I wasn’t looking at it properly anymore.
Because I could hear Mason breathe.
Not clearly.
Just enough.
Too close for a room like this.
Caleb shifted behind me again, his knee lightly brushing the back of my chair as he leaned.
Normal.
Accidental.
Probably.
But I was suddenly aware of everything at once.
And that was new.
Coach spoke again, but his voice blurred slightly.
Then—
chair movement.
Behind me.
Not loud.
Just enough to register.
Mason had stood.
Or shifted.
I didn’t turn.
I refused.
Then the room tightened in a different way.
Because someone had moved past the row.
Not Caleb.
Not Coach.
Mason.
