Caden held his breath. What could he possibly say to Ruby? She was probably not even going to remember any of this the next day. She continued looking into his eyes, and the more she looked, the faster his heart paced. All of this time he had never believed it to be real. He never thought she truly like him. It could be mere attraction—maybe due to the attention he showered her. But this was more than that. He could see it on her face. He could feel it in her words. Now, she sat in front of him, her soul bared and speaking her heart out. Ruby would never tell him any of that if she was sober. She’d rather fail a hundred tests. But now that the words were out, he felt happy and sad. Both at the same time. Was his mind conflicting with his heart? He knew he had fucked up that moment when they had almost kissed. The only reason why he’d pulled back was because he wasn’t sure if he wanted to do that out of his attraction for her, or simply because he wanted to make himself believe h

Ruby stammered, “I-I… umm…” “What are you doing in my grandson’s bed?” The old woman raised an eyebrow at her, but her lips twitched as though she was holding back a smile. It dawned upon her that the woman was Caden’s grandma. The matter had become worse. “Grandma?” Caden’s shocked voice suddenly fell on her ears. Ruby gasped in response, kicking off the sheets from her. He appeared behind the woman, his eyes widened in panic. “When did you come home?” “Well, thanks for the warm welcome, Caden. Now tell me who that is,” the woman urged, now smirking. Caden’s gaze locked onto Ruby’s face, and she saw him hesitate. Then he said in an easy voice, “I see you’ve already met Ruby.” He paused, the silence seeming to stretch for hours before he mumbled, “my girlfriend.” Ruby clamped her hand over her mouth to keep herself from screaming in protest. What was this guy going on about? Caden’s grandmother didn’t buy it; Ruby knew that from the way the woman scrutinised her. She leaned cl

Florence manoeuvred her car to the familiar street, the engine humming softly as she drove out of Caden’s driveway. Although she had managed to seem chill to her friends, on the inside her conversation with Daniel was suffocating her. The heavy silence that settled between the three as she drove didn’t help either. So she put on some music and blasted it, loud enough to cast out any of the gloom in the car. As they drove, Florence stole glances at Ruby, her mind swirling with thoughts of what had transpired with Daniel at the party. She couldn't bring herself to voice her concerns, the weight of her own confusion and guilt pressing down on her. While Ruby sat beside her, lost in her thoughts, trying to piece together the fragments of memories from the previous night. She couldn't shake the feeling of unease that gnawed at her, the gaps in her memory leaving her feeling unsettled and vulnerable. Caden’s words haunted her, but she was sure he was only bluffing. There was no truth to

Long after Florence had left, Ruby laid on her bed staring at the ceiling above her in deep thought. She had imagined a hundred different ways the previous night had probably ended. There were some that were less embarrassing—but all of them were embarrassing nonetheless. Someone had spiked her drink at the party, and she had ended up being completely out of her senses so much that she couldn’t recall anything. It was so hard to believe that her mind didn’t even register Luke showing up to the party. Caden deciding to bring her into his house was something she just couldn't understand. It was him being too nice. And that was something she couldn’t wrap her mind around. The thought of likely having done something similar to Florence made her nearly want to bury herself deep inside the ground. Had she fessed up something that was best kept hidden?Caden’s teasing behavior was unusual. And the fact that he introduced her as his girlfriend to his grandma? Couldn’t he come up with a bet

Florence tapped her feet impatiently against the gravel road. It had been a while since she was waiting outside her favorite waffle shop. Waiting for Daniel to show up. She pulled out her cell phone and refreshed their chat screen. There were no new messages from him, and the last one still said, ‘I’ll be there.’ She had asked him to meet her there at four o’clock. But now it was twenty minutes past four and he was nowhere in sight. Maybe he wasn’t going to come. Why would he, after all, when she had avoided him for two days, not picking up even one of his 56 calls and responding only after he sent 426 messages? In her defense, she had needed the time to come to terms with what happened, and what it meant, and how it could go from there. She had learnt that being by herself was no help—her brain was constantly thinking of Daniel—and she had to meet him to sort this out. She licked her lips, thinking hard on how she would greet him. How would she even begin addressing the topic? Sh