I almost answered instinctively.
Didn’t.
Because that wasn’t the right version anymore.
So I said:
“I’m not sure I know how.”
That was honest.
Too honest.
The room didn’t move after that.
But something in it did.
And neither of us pretended it didn’t.
Twenty Nine
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
ROWAN
The invitation showed up like it didn’t care if I answered.
Group chat. Someone’s name I barely remembered from practice staff.
“NYC welcome party. Tonight. Rooftop. Come through.”
Serena didn’t even hesitate.
“We’re going,” she said.
“I didn’t say yes.”
“You didn’t say no.”
That was her logic system.
And annoyingly, it worked.
By the time we got ready, the hotel room already felt different.
Not quieter.
Just charged.
Like something was about to happen and nobody had agreed on what it was yet.
Serena stood in front of the mirror adjusting her top. “This is going to be full chaos, by the way.”
“That’s the point of a party,” I said.
“No,” she replied. “This is the kind where people pretend it’s not chaos until it is.”
I didn’t answer that.
