"I did not see that coming."
Melissa's voice was quiet when she said it. Not dramatic. Not teasing. Just honest.
Neither of us spoke after that.
The room settled into a strange stillness, thicker than before. The kind that comes after a truth is laid out and no one is quite sure what to do with it yet. I felt it press against my chest, slow and heavy.
Then I laughed.
It came out wrong. Too light for how heavy everything felt. Too sudden. A sound that did not belong to the moment but escaped me anyway.
Melissa's eyes flicked to my face immediately.
I could tell she noticed the hollowness in it. The way the laugh did not quite reach my eyes. The way it ended too quickly, like something that had slipped out by accident.
"Wow," I said, rubbing my face with both hands. "When you say it out loud, it sounds insane."
Melissa did not laugh with me. She did not mirror my tone or try to soften it.
She just watched.
