My car rattled as I idled outside his apartment. The check engine light glowed like a judgment—constant, unwelcome, just one more warning light in a life full of them. Rain slid down the windshield in lazy streaks. The wipers only cleared my side, the passenger side stayed smeared and foggy, half-forgotten. Like everything else, I hadn’t gotten around to fixing. My phone lit up in my lap, casting a soft glow over a face I...

Th-thump, th-thump, th-thump. The dryer was off again. Front leg, right side—always the same. My husband fixes it, I swear it breaks again on purpose. Total mystery how it keeps happening. Definitely not me accidentally nudging it out of alignment every time I do laundry. It’s just… that corner dips just right. Just enough to lean into. Just enough to feel the hum where it counts. The laundry room smelled like fresh linen...

It was the perfect weather for what I had planned: overcast, a soft drizzle falling like whispers. The streets were calm, hushed—an eerie contrast to the storm unfurling inside me. Each step I took sent the sharp click of black heels echoing off the wet concrete, trailing heat up my spine. Or maybe that heat was from what I wasn’t wearing. The trench coat clung to my body, cinched tight at the waist, guarding the secret b...

My eyes were glued to Riley’s rosy lips as she sealed them around the mouth of the bong. The click of the lighter echoed through my tiny apartment, followed by the familiar bubbling sound as smoke filled the tube—and, somehow, filled my chest too. With nerves. With heat. With something else I didn’t have a name for yet. She exhaled slowly through her nose, her shoulders relaxing as her posture melted. A beat. A pause. I h...

I slid open the glass door and stepped into the breath of summer—warm, thick, and welcoming. My bare feet left the soft hush of carpet and met the slap of hot concrete. I flinched as the heat bit into my soles and tiptoed across the patio until the grass welcomed me—cool, lush, forgiving. A soft sigh slipped from my lips as the sting melted away. I glanced down, trying in vain to glimpse my toes. It had been months since...