kitty wasn’t someone who liked getting up early, she would always rather stay in bed until late, but that morning she woke up, showered, and sat in the kitchen scrolling through her phone, waiting for his message. she hated how little control she had, how she couldn’t just play it cool and pretend she wasn’t overly excited to meet him. her mom was cooking, the radio had gone quiet in the background, and kitty just waited. when bodhi’s name finally lit up her screen she dropped the phone on the counter, and her mom turned with an amused smile. “kitty, that shouldn’t be your reaction to a message from him,” she teased, shaking her head. “he’s outside, i’ll be back later,” kitty said quickly, grabbing her things along with the baked goods she’d bought that morning. “i love you,” she added, kissing her mom’s cheek. “love you too,” her mom replied as she headed for the door. slipping on her shoes, kitty glanced outside and saw him leaning against the hood of his car, a cigarette in hand—she had missed that sight, even though she was always the one reminding him smoking wasn’t good for him. she hadn’t replied to his text, but showing up was answer enough. walking toward him, she smiled softly. “hey there, stranger,” she said, “ready to go?”
Bodhi tapped his foot against the floor, a subtle rhythm of nerves that only surfaced when he felt uneasy, the cigarette perched between his parted lips adding to the image of someone trying to stay composed yet visibly on edge. Smoking always helped him shed the weight of stress, but being around Kitty wasn’t stress—it was something far more tangled, a remnant of what they used to be: lovers, maybe, now friends? Friends with feelings? Bodhi couldn’t put a label on it, and that uncertainty gnawed at him, sharpening his awareness of every movement she made. Yet when her voice reached him, a smile tugged at his lips almost reflexively, warm and unguarded despite the tension threading through him. “Yeah, yeah, of course,” he said smoothly, then glanced toward her with a touch of concern. “Do you have anything to go in the trunk of the car?” True to his naturally gentlemanly ways, he walked to the passenger side, opening the door for her with an easy grace, silently asserting that he wouldn’t let her lift a finger around him—some things, after all, hadn’t changed, and he wasn’t about to start now. "You look cute," he said out loud before mentally cursing at himself. "Can I say that?" He said, mentally cursing at himself a second time because words simply slipped out of his lips.













