Fake it with me
*
Three dots appeared immediately.
Then: *That's not an answer.*
*I know,* he typed back. *It's honest though.*
A pause. Longer than her usual response time, long enough that he picked up his phone twice to check if she had stopped typing, and then her message arrived and it was not what he expected, was not the level, controlled Ava Bennett response he had learned to anticipate, it was something quieter than that, something that felt like the version of her that appeared in empty gyms and practice rooms when no one important was watching.