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Chapter Six — Terms
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2026-01-14 08:30:27Rihanna didn’t plan to see Dennis the next day.
She told herself she needed space. Time to think. Time to remember who she was before every thought started orbiting around someone else’s comfort.
But Willow Creek didn’t believe in distance.
She was halfway through her afternoon walk when she saw his car parked near the curb, engine off, door open. Dennis stood beside it, phone in hand, like he’d been waiting—or like he’d just arrived and hadn’t decided which excuse to use yet.
Her steps slowed.
He looked up.
Their eyes met.
“Hey,” he said.
She almost kept walking.
Instead, she stopped a few feet away. “You didn’t text.”
“I figured you might not want to talk.”
“And yet here you are.”
A corner of his mouth lifted. “I didn’t want to leave it weird.”
“It already is.”
Silence stretched between them, thick and uncomfortable. Jack barked once from the back seat, tail thumping against the door like he was trying to break the tension himself.
Dennis exhaled slowly. “Can we talk?”
Rihanna hesitated, then nodded. “Five minutes.”
They leaned against opposite sides of the car. Not touching. Not close. It felt deliberate.
“I’m not trying to control you,” Dennis said. “I just don’t like how fast things got… visible.”
“Visible to who?”
“Everyone.”
Rihanna laughed softly, incredulous. “So the problem isn’t me. It’s the audience.”
“That’s not fair.”
“It’s accurate.”
Dennis ran a hand through his hair. “You don’t understand what people assume.”
“I understand exactly what they assume,” she said. “I’ve lived here my whole life.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Because you don’t care what they think.”
She straightened. “That’s not true. I care. I just don’t let it decide my life.”
His jaw tightened. “I do.”
There it was.
The difference between them, laid bare.
“I don’t want things getting messy,” he continued. “I don’t want rumors. I don’t want expectations we can’t meet.”
Rihanna folded her arms. “Then what do you want?”
Dennis hesitated just long enough for her to notice.
“I want this,” he said finally. “Us. Just… without labels. Without pressure.”
“And without anyone knowing.”
“Without complications.”
She stared at him. “You mean without accountability.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“But it’s what you mean.”
Dennis looked frustrated now, like she’d taken something he wasn’t ready to give a name to and held it up in the light. “Why does everything have to be so defined?”
“Because I don’t do half-things,” she replied. “I don’t pretend something matters less than it does.”
His voice dropped. “I told you I don’t want expectations.”
“And I told you I don’t hide.”
They stood there, both breathing harder now, neither willing to step closer or walk away.
“I’m not asking you to change,” Dennis said. “I’m just asking for time.”
Rihanna shook her head. “You’re asking me to make myself quieter while you figure out what you want.”
“That’s not—”
“It is,” she cut in. “And I won’t do it.”
For a moment, it looked like he might argue.
Instead, he said, “So what are you saying?”
She swallowed, heart pounding. “I’m saying if this continues, it can’t be on your terms alone.”
His gaze sharpened. “And what are your terms?”
She met his eyes. “Clarity.”
The word hung between them.
Dennis looked away first.
“I can’t promise that,” he said quietly.
Rihanna felt something inside her settle. Not break. Set.
“Then we pause,” she said.
Dennis’s head snapped back toward her. “Pause?”
“Yes. We stop pretending this is casual when it isn’t. We stop until you know what you want.”
“And if I decide I don’t want labels?”
“Then you don’t want me.”
The words surprised both of them.
Jack whined softly in the back seat.
Dennis stared at her like he was seeing her differently now—not as someone warm and accommodating, but as someone with edges.
“I’m not saying no,” he said carefully. “I’m just not ready to say yes.”
Rihanna nodded once. “Then don’t say anything.”
She turned to leave.
“Rihanna,” he called.
She stopped, but didn’t look back.
“I don’t want to lose you.”
Her voice was steady when she replied. “Then don’t treat me like something temporary.”
She walked away before he could answer.
That night, she didn’t check her phone every five minutes.
She checked it once.
There was a message from Dennis.
Dennis:
If I choose you, I need to know you won’t make this harder than it has to be.
Rihanna stared at the screen.
Then another message came in.
Dennis:
Because I’m starting to think you don’t need me the way I need you.
Her chest tightened.
And for the first time, she wondered—
Was that the problem…
Or the truth?
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