Seven Years, Just Friends

The reunion ended at midnight.

I had already ordered a car. According to the app, the driver was a few blocks away. Some of the guys from our year stumbled past me, laughing and shoving each other into a waiting cab.

Luca and Chloe came out last.

Their shadows stretched across the pavement beneath the amber streetlights. Chloe was flushed and unsteady. Luca’s bodyguard moved toward her, but Luca lifted a hand, dismissing him.

“Easy, Chloe.”

There was mild exasperation in his voice. His arm hovered at her waist, ready to catch her.

A little rabbit-shaped purse hung from his shoulder. One of its soft ears drooped over the strap.

Chloe rummaged inside it and pulled out a cat-ear headband. She held it above his head for a moment, considering, then put it on him.

“I’ve been dying to do that.” She giggled. “You look adorable.”

Luca Moretti, who could silence a room full of armed men without raising his voice, let her adjust the ears.

And smiled at her.

I looked down at the keys in my hand.

My key ring was a rabbit too. It had come in a matching set, with a tiny bell attached. You could only get them in mystery boxes. I’d spent more than a hundred dollars trying to find the pair.

When I’d offered Luca his, he hadn’t even touched it.

“Elena. You know I don’t use childish crap like that.”

I pressed my lips together and rubbed my thumb over the little rabbit’s stitched face. It was absurd that something so small could still hurt.

A car pulled up beside me. The driver lowered his window.

“Elena?”

I checked the plate and got in.

As I reached for the door, I caught Luca looking across the pavement at me.

The rear window was open. Warm night air stirred against my face. I raised the glass, and his reflection blurred, then vanished.

It was still summer. I folded my arms over my stomach anyway.

My phone vibrated.

Luca: Chloe’s drunk. I’m not letting her go home alone.

Nothing about what he had said upstairs. Nothing about the bracelet.

Just a decision he assumed I would understand.

Messages began pouring into the reunion chat. Someone had uploaded a video and tagged them both.

Look at these two. Still in the honeymoon phase. Get a room!

I pressed Play.

The video had been taken after I left the table.

“Chloe, you lost,” a woman was saying. “Come on. Finish your drink.”

People were laughing. One of the men elbowed Luca.

“Your moment to shine, buddy.”

In the jostling, Chloe stumbled into Luca’s lap. She buried her face against him, blushing, and the cheering grew louder.

Luca’s mouth curved.

“Leave her alone. You’re embarrassing her. I’ll take the drink.”

He picked up a full pint of beer and drained it without a pause.

“Oh, come on. Some of us are single.”

“Have a little mercy, you two.”

I stopped the video.

At our building, I thanked the driver and got out before he could ask if I was all right.

The bell on my key ring chimed with every step through the lobby.

Upstairs, in the empty hallway, it sounded much too loud.