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Kayla glares

"Softly Sock him in the mouth softly," I correct "With my pinky"

Our food arrives and we eat like starved hyenas, which is an ie girls are just below great white sharks and above starved hyenas, whichourselves The waitress doesn’t seem to think so, and wrinkles her nose when she takes away our dishes, the rings of food left behind like halos of glory And indigestion I duck into the bathroom for a second to wash my face free of peanut sauce And it’s then the eance Jack leaned against that counter Jack touched that sink Jack touched my face for the first time while he stood where the counter and the wall met Jack’s in every tile of this bathroom, and I can’t escape it

And I don’t want to

He host, but here? He’s still here I can envision his tall fraain

It’s just a dumb bathroom in a try-hard Thai restaurant But to me, it’s so much more

I wash my face and stare in the mirror

This is the last dinner Kayla and I will have for a long time Four months, at least I leave tomorrow She leaves a week after This is where it all stops, and begins again Nobody knoill happen, but I’m determined to keep her in my life I won’t lose her

Not like I lost Jack

"Everything okay?" Kayla asks when I come back to the table "Diarhhea?"

"Oh, constantly It’s "

Kayla’s quiet, which either

"You miss hi about It’s hard not to when he’s a giant pink elephant all but sitting on our faces Spiritually Spiritually sitting on our faces But I play dumb because that’s easier

"Wren? Hell yeah, I ht and he never -"

"I hs and crosses her arms over her chest as she waits for the check

"It’s not fair He just took off and left you"

I laugh, the sound bitter "It’s fine There was nothing between us, anyway"

Kayla gives me another, sharper death-stare She’d learned from Avery well "Don’t bullshit me, okay? There’s an entire school that can attest to your mutual attraction And I’m your best friend And I dated him for a while I know exactly how h again "Since he left so quick Without saying goodbye"

Kayla’s silent, waiting for et used to it But it happens anyway And sos that make it a little s, and the tighter you hold, the faster they slip away"

I look out theto the dusk-paintedto bloom I’ll miss this small town It won’t miss me

"I think Sophia knew that the best out of all of us Maybe she was the only one in the world who knew that Maybe that’s why she justlet go Because the things she loved were leaving faster the tighter she held on"

"Isis -"

I turn back to Kayla "I’ about her a lot About what I could’ve done Gran toldBut I could’ve I could’ve just let go I could have let Jack go, and maybe Sophia would still be here"

"That’s not true!" Kayla protests