summary: feeling increasingly left behind as everyone around her settles into relationships, trinity begins to question whether she's simply too much for anyone to love. a casual invitation to a bar from her best friend might be the first step toward changing that.
authors note: bryce pov special wow
other chapters here!
bryce wakes the next morning with a half-deflated balloon resting against his bedroom ceiling.
the number three had followed him home sometime after midnight, its ribbon looped around his keys after zach insisted he needed to keep it. bryce had been too tired to remove it when he made it inside, heading straight to bed.
his phone rests facedown beside him. bryce reaches for it before he is fully awake, already aware of whose name he hopes to see. several notifications wait on the screen. sincere has sent pictures of the left-behind damage, while kayda has posted a photo of zach facedown beside their bathroom toilet.
nothing from trinity, but bryce opens their conversation anyway. he considers sending something.
did you make it home?
too much time has passed for that.
sorry zach ruined the ending of the party.
that would at least give her something to answer, but bryce doesn’t know if zach is the real reason she left so suddenly.
he had returned from helping sincere to find the couch empty. by the time someone explained that kayda had taken zach and trinity home, the elevator had reached the lobby. for the rest of the night, bryce had been left wondering what might have happened if no one had interrupted them.
bryce’s phone vibrates against the blanket as zach’s name appears across the screen. he answers almost immediately.
“yo. how are you alive?”
“i don’t know,” zach mumbles, his voice sounding rough and distant. “i barely remember leaving last night.”
bryce laughs, getting out of bed. the hardwood floor is cold beneath his feet as he walks toward the kitchen.
“i know kayda was pissed she had to drive us home early,” zach continues. “but it’s not my fault i’m a lightweight.”
bryce opens the refrigerator and takes out a bottle of water. he leans against the kitchen counter, waiting for zach to mention trinity. and when he doesn’t, bryce hates himself slightly for being disappointed.
“did trinity say anything in the car?” he asks eventually.
there is a pause on the other end.
“about having to leave early?” zach questions. “no. she wasn’t complaining at all. weirdly quiet though from what i remember.”
“oh.”
zach releases a laugh that immediately turns into a groan. “you’re asking if she said anything about you.”
bryce twists the cap off the bottle. “i just wanna know if she had fun.”
“dude, you’re asking the wrong guy. like, half my memory is gone.”
bryce leans against the kitchen counter and looks toward the windows across his living room. a thin layer of sunlight stretches across the floor.
“honestly, i’m not sure if she likes me.”
usually, this is not something bryce needs to question—he has dated before. specifically, he knows how to recognize flirting. trinity’s attention at the party had seemed obvious, especially when she stayed beside him for most of the night. but, she is also naturally teasing. bryce doesn’t know whether her behavior means she likes him or if it’s simply because she’s comfortable.
zach takes long enough to answer that bryce already regrets asking. “i don’t think she does.”
“what makes you say that?”
“to be honest, she doesn’t like men easily. kayda’s been trying to get her to come out with us for years. i was surprised she even showed up at the bar that one night.”
“what does that have to do with me though?”
“i think she likes talking to you,” zach says. “but i don’t think she actually likes you.”
bryce looks down at the floor. he has spent the past week assuming the connection is mutual because he wants it to be. maybe trinity only sees him as someone new and entertaining. maybe the almost-kiss existed more in his mind than hers.
“damn, bro.”
“i’m just telling you what i think,” zach states.
bryce closes his eyes briefly. zach’s opinion shouldn’t matter. he was barely conscious by the end of the party and has never shown a particular ability to understand what anyone else is feeling. still, doubt has already entered bryce’s mind.
“alright,” he responds. “well, thanks i guess.”
bryce stands in the kitchen for another minute, staring at trinity’s conversation on his phone.
he just needs to ask the only person whose answer matters.
after a moment, he presses the call button. the ringing begins before he can reconsider.
trinity answers after the fourth ring.
“hello?”
her voice is softer than usual, clearly still affected by sleep.
“hey. sorry, i didn’t mean to wake you.”
“well, you did. what do you need?”
bryce releases a quiet chuckle, though it fades quickly. “i guess i’ve been in my head about what happened at the party. when i left you at the couch, i didn’t realize sincere would need me for that long. by the time we were done, you were gone.”
“genuinely, don’t worry about it. i kind of forgot,” she says casually. “zach was a lot. and kayda was my ride so we had to leave, like, as soon as possible.”
bryce moves toward the windows, suddenly unable to remain still. zach’s voice enters his mind, but he pushes it away.
“i wanted to ask if you were busy today,” he blurts.
there is a brief pause.
“why?”
“i mean, we didn’t really get to finish talking last night,” bryce adds. “i thought we could get coffee or walk somewhere. unless you already have plans.”
“i don’t.”
the answer comes quickly enough to loosen something in his chest.
“okay.”
“okay,” she repeats.
bryce looks at the time. “i can text you a place that i go to sometimes. meet around noon?”
“that sounds good,” trinity replies.
bryce wants to ask if she has been thinking about what almost happened on the couch. instead, he listens to the quiet sound of her breathing through the phone.
“was there something specific you wanted to talk about?” she questions.
he looks toward the balloon trapped in his bedroom doorway. “nothing bad. let’s just talk when we get there.”
the call ends. bryce lowers the phone and now looks at his reflection in the dark television screen. he has two hours to figure out what he is actually going to say.
the cafe is busier than bryce expected. despite arriving almost twenty minutes early, most of the tables inside are occupied, and the line extends nearly to the entrance.
at exactly twelve, trinity walks through the door. she wears jeans and a fitted black top beneath a light jacket, her hair falling loosely around her shoulders. bryce immediately forgets the sentences he had been forming in his mind.
her expression softens before she approaches him in line. “you’re early.”
“i tried to beat the line,” bryce smiles. “what do you want to order?”
trinity looks toward the menu hanging above the counter. “you decide.”
when they make their way to the front of the line, bryce orders a coffee and sandwich for himself. for trinity, he chooses an iced latte and pancakes, making sure to take the bill as well.
while they wait near the far end of the counter, the cafe feels too crowded for the conversation he imagined. the sound of plates clattering, names being called over the intercom, and the tables close enough that everyone else can hear seems like a nightmare waiting to happen.
bryce peeks through the windows toward the riverwalk outside. “we should go out there.”
trinity follows his attention. “i’m down.”
once their order is ready, they step outside. the air is warm, though a steady breeze moves off the river. trees line the paved path while boats move slowly through the water.
it is completely different from other times they’ve hung out. none of their friends is watching their every move. just the two of them.
a low stone wall separates the walkway from the water, while several benches face it. bryce and trinity glance at each other, a silent agreement to finally rest and eat their food.
“what did you want to talk about?” she questions as she sits down.
bryce takes a drink, though he is no longer thirsty. he had spent the morning planning ways to talk to her without sounding as though he needed reassurance. none of them feels natural now that she is beside him.
“i thought you might’ve left last night because things got awkward,” he admits.
“i didn't, but it's not like i had a choice. my personal uber was leaving,” trinity states. she doesn’t sound angry. if anything, she seems amused by his concern.
some of bryce’s earlier tension fades. still, zach’s opinion stays in the back of his mind.
for a moment, they watch a boat pass along the river. the sunlight slips between the leaves overhead, moving across trinity’s face whenever the branches shift. it catches in her eyes along the small pieces of gold jewelry she wears.
bryce starts staring longer than he should. at this point, he has already been caught enough times before that he doesn’t care to stop.
“anyway,” trinity says as she cuts into one of her pancakes. “how’s life?”
“great. work is good. so is everything else.”
“you’re still a handyman, right?” she asks, winking at him. “what’s that like?”
her expression makes him laugh before he begins answering more seriously.
“i like being able to see what i finish,” he explains. “a lot of jobs feel like you do the same thing every day and nothing changes. with this, you have different things to focus on.”
trinity listens without interrupting. she has a way of looking at him that makes bryce feel as though his answer matters.
“what are your other jobs?”
“i’m kind of a dj. and a model.”
trinity’s eyes widen. “really?”
“it’s low-key,” bryce says, becoming embarrassingly aware of how closely she watches him.
he has already learned that trinity collects details and memorizes them, which makes it stranger that she hasn’t mentioned their first meeting. maybe it is the same reason he keeps it from her. he isn’t ready to explain that he has wondered about her more than once over the past five years.
the conversation eventually shifts toward trinity. she tells him more about working at the hardware store and admits she never expected to stay there as long as she has. she had started during college because the schedule worked around her classes. after graduation, she kept waiting for the perfect opportunity to appear. it never did.
“i thought i’d have more figured out by now,” she admits. “i feel like i decided my whole life in high school, and none of it has really gone to plan.”
“what do you mean?”
trinity traces one finger through the condensation on her cup. “i was expecting to start college in the most perfect way. with a perfect boyfriend and a perfect job. i’ve been single since high school, and i still work at a dumbass hardware store.”
bryce simply waits, giving her the choice to continue.
“i know i’m doing fine. but sometimes i feel like i’m just missing out.”
“on what?”
“maybe just having someone,” she continues. “and it’s because i’m difficult, i question everything. if somebody says something i don’t like, i remember it forever. and once i decide i’m done, i’m done.”
“you’re definitely not difficult,” bryce says casually, as if it is the most obvious conclusion.
“you’re trying to impress me.”
“is it working?”
“a little.”
bryce’s eyes lower toward trinity’s mouth. he wants to kiss her. he has wanted to kiss her for longer than she knows. there is no uncertainty about that part.
he lifts one hand, hesitating before brushing a loose strand of hair away from her face. his fingers barely touch her temple, but the contact is enough to make his pulse quicken.
“you barely know me,” she says quietly, a small smile appearing on her face.
“i know enough.”
bryce wants to ask what happened in her past relationships. he wants to know who convinced her that having boundaries made her impossible to love. and for a moment, he considers moving closer. there is enough space between them that he would have to trust that she would meet him somewhere in the middle.
instead, bryce lowers his hand and looks toward the river, giving himself another second to think. he wonders if he has disappointed her by choosing not to do anything.
“zach said something this morning,” bryce confesses.
bryce rests his forearms against his knees. “he said he didn’t think you liked me.”
for several seconds, the only sound between them comes from the river and the traffic passing behind the park. then she laughs, but not a nervous laugh or the polite-kind people use when they don’t know how to answer. the loud kind, which escapes her suddenly, forcing her to cover her mouth with one hand.
“yikes,” he mutters.
“zach barely knows what kayda is thinking, and they’ve been together for years. why the hell would he know anything about me?”
“oh. yeah. i guess you’re right.”
she turns toward him again, still smiling. “what made him say that though?”
“i asked him. because i couldn’t tell.”
the words are already closer to a confession than he intended to make. trinity lowers her gaze toward her hands as he waits.
“i wouldn’t be here if i didn’t want to be,” she says eventually.
it doesn’t tell him exactly how she feels, but it gives him more than he had before. some of the tension between them disappears, but he is still aware of how close they are and how easily this moment could’ve become something more.
once they finish eating, he gathers the empty containers and throws them into the trash can beside the bench.
trinity watches him stand. “are we leaving?”
“of course not,” bryce says, gesturing towards the path. “want to keep walking?”
she remains seated for another second, pretending to consider it. then she rises and picks up her coffee.
“only because i’m not finished with this.”
the conversation becomes easier again, returning to the rhythm they always seem to find once neither of them is thinking too hard about it. trinity tells him about growing up with five siblings while bryce tries to imagine living in a house that crowded. having one brother already felt like enough.
when they make their way to the end of the path, they turn around, walking back toward the cafe. the afternoon crowd has grown, filling the nearby sidewalks and benches.
at one point, someone nearly walks into trinity while looking down their phone. bryce places his hand lightly against the middle of her back, guiding her out of the way. as they pass by, he removes his hand, though he can still feel the warmth of her through the thin fabric of her shirt.
when they reach the intersection, trinity stops. her car is parked in the opposite direction from his, forcing them to separate. neither is eager to leave.
“thanks for bringing me out here,” she says.
“by the way, i’m working an event next weekend,” he mentions. “djing. the others will probably be there.”
“are you asking me to come?”
bryce scratches his head. “i thought that was pretty obvious.”
“just send me the details,” she giggles, taking a few steps backward before turning toward the street.
“bye, trinity.”
she reaches the corner before glancing back at him. “bye, bryce.”
bryce is still standing outside, watching her leave as he takes in the events of the last hour.
summary: feeling increasingly left behind as everyone around her settles into relationships, trinity begins to question whether she's simply too much for anyone to love. a casual invitation to a bar from her best friend might be the first step toward changing that.
authors note: i'm planning on this being a whole series so sorry this first chapter is not really beefy... next one will be better trust!
other chapters here!
trinity was kind of a bitch when it came to dating.
her past relationships, if she could even call them that, always ended badly. in high school, she’d taken every one far more seriously than they deserved. that was, until her attitude eventually got the best of her. boys her age were just too immature and weren’t capable of handling someone who challenged them.
at least, that’s what she’d always told herself.
as she nears twenty-three, loneliness creeps into every moment of trinity’s life. practically all of her friends seem to have found the one, and each conversation somehow circles back to their perfect love lives. even her shifts at the hardware store involve committed couples debating which color to paint their living room, as if determined to show her how happy they are.
trinity now sits cross-legged on her bed, watching raindrops race each other along her apartment window. her appreciation for gloomy weather has continued to grow since moving away from virginia. after years of sweating through muggy summers, the cool drizzle feels like a relief that, unfortunately, also leaves far too much room for her own thoughts.
a family walks down the sidewalk, their children making splashes in any puddle they find. the parents laugh so hard they’re almost in tears every time they get drenched.
she keeps her gaze on them for a moment longer.
am i too much for someone?
“what?”
the words leave her mouth before she even realizes she’d said it aloud.
and also while on the phone with her best friend, kayda.
she hated admitting that they met at a speed dating event during their freshman year of college. it sounded desperate whenever trinity said it out loud, though that wasn’t the case at all. she signed up hoping it’d be funny; but ironically found it hard to stay interested. most of the conversations had been painfully terrible—except for one.
he and trinity had spent more time laughing at the icebreakers than actually reading them. each card he picked up got more and more baffling, as the questions suddenly went from: “what’s your favorite pet?” to “what’s your favorite sex position?”
after practically running out of air, they eventually answered and even had the same choices: cats and doggystyle.
but before she could get his number, or even ask for his name, he suddenly disappeared. that was just her luck. she knew then it was a mistake to attend something serious as a joke, because she actually ended up disappointed in the end.
on her way out the door, she bumped into kayda for the first time. they both bonded over the strangest one hour experience of their life. two opposite ones, in fact. trinity had met someone she never saw again, meanwhile kayda had met zach and somehow never got rid of him.
these days, she's a third wheel all too often.
“hellooo? trinity?” kayda waves to the camera. “what did you say?”
“nothing. i’m just…” trinity flops onto her pillow. “i want a man.”
kayda scoffs. “trust me, girl. it’s not all it’s cut out to be.”
“what happened now…?”
“i’ll tell you later. this conversation isn’t about me, it’s about you, and we’re going to find you the best boyfriend on this planet.”
a snort escapes trinity. “okay, and where is he?”
“listen,” kayda starts hesitantly. “ignore the shade i just threw against him, but later this week us and some of zach’s college friends are going to go out to this bar, and i think you should totally come.”
“are you sure? are they like… normal?”
kayda’s face deadpans. “yes, dude. they’re normal.”
with a sigh, trinity throws her hands up in the air. “my bad! considering how much i’ve come to learn about zach over the years, i have to make sure that the other people he surrounds himself with aren’t borderline weirdos.”
kayda goes silent. maybe trinity threw that on her a little too harsh, but after everything that zach had put them through, it was difficult to feel guilty.
their sophomore year, after zach had graduated, he was convinced that kayda was cheating on him while she was on campus. he moved himself into trinity and kayda’s shared apartment with no warning, claiming he needed to keep an eye on things.
his investigation lasted almost five months before trinity finally convinced him to leave. she explained to him that he needed to stop being a “monitoring spirit” in the girls’ living space, and he reluctantly agreed.
after about ten seconds of awkward silence, kayda breaks it. “whatever. you’re right. but still, you should come.”
the corners of trinity’s lips tug upward. “i’ll think about it.”
“don’t, you’ll overthink. we’ll pick you up at nine on saturday.”
the words ‘call over’ blast onto the screen before trinity can protest. tossing her phone onto the sheets, she starts to stare out the window again but stops.
trinity knows she shouldn’t feel so sorry for herself. she also knows she’ll find the right person eventually. she had to.
but why did it feel so much easier for everyone else?
