Three days after their reunion outside the locker room, Adrian sent a text.
He'd typed and deleted it seven times. Each version felt wrong—too casual, too intense, too performative.
Finally, he settled on simple.
Adrian: Coffee? No agenda. Just us.
He hit send before he could second-guess himself again. Set his phone face-down on his desk. Tried to focus on reading for his Developmental Psychology class.
The phone buzzed thirty seconds later.
Dante: When?
Adrian: Tomorrow? 2pm?
Dante: The campus café?
Adrian paused. The campus café was where their first "incident" had happened months ago—where Dante had overheard Adrian complaining about him to Sage. Where this whole mess had really started unraveling.
Adrian: Yeah. That work?
Dante: Yeah. See you then.
That was it. No hearts. No "can't wait." Just practical logistics.
Adrian told himself that was good. They were taking it slow. Being careful. Not rushing into anything.
