"i could take a guess but i'm also not a mind reader. so why don't you tell me what's up?".

“ oh, i was hoping you’d actually tell me your guess. you know i’m not good with words. ” light-hearted chuckle fills the air. “ do you like where we’re at? in, y'know, life? like … things between us? ”

the laughter he gives in response to her audacity is loud and genuine. having spent his entire life around invasive camera flashes, dakota isn’t at all moved by farah’s threats. more-so entertained, since none of his exes have ever bother taking things this far. he looked through the photos with barely contained amusement. “damn, you’re not playin’.” he’s genuinely impressed that she managed to get one over on him. bad pr would threaten at least one of his multi-million dollar endorsements. “one spiteful bitch to another,” he pushes the photos back into the envelope and slides them across the table, “this isn’t gonna make you feel better in the long run. instant gratification is a drug.” the amusement is replaced by a begrudging respect. “but fine. i don’t have the time to play the he-she-said shit. i’m sorry for being such a shit boyfriend. better?”

“ why the fuck would i be playing, dakota? you’re about as serious as your career. just one big joke that you’re in on. ” she should kick him out. swat him over the head with the envelope of pictures. instead, all she can do is stare daggers at him, eye twitching at all his defenses at play. “ no, but it’s going to make me feel a lot better for the next few weeks. hell, maybe for a few months. ” there’s no part of this farah finds entertaining. she’s able to suppress the tears, but anger happily takes its place. “ oh, suddenly you’re my boyfriend now. this is the first i’m hearing of this. first time you act like it in a long time, too. ” farah won’t admit how long she’s been checked out emotionally. brushing off rumors and rumblings of cracks in her relationship as nothing more than chatter. she’d politely turned down every possible suitor, in good faith that he’d come around. foolish is all she appears as now, visible heat rising in her features. “ we’re either together or we aren’t. and right now, i want nothing to do with you or your half-assed apology. ”

"how was i supposed to know what you were thinking?" finn admits he was naive, mistaking her open arms each time for something less than what it truly was. his voice grows softer as he realizes he isn't the one who's been hurting all this time. "i want to know willa. what do you think of me?"

“ pleaes, as if it wasn’t written across my face. i thought you’d be a little more observant than that. guess i was wrong. ” there’s an aura of despair in her words, a half-hearted laugh to ease the blow. she doesn’t want to sound desperate, beg him to choose her. so she won’t. “ does it matter what i think? is it going to change anything? ” lips press into a thin line, quietly gauging her next few words with care. “ i … i don’t know. i think of you as more than a friend. ”

“yeah, if only,” voice flat with boredom as he flips to another page of the novel he's reading. “i know what you’re trying to do, luci, and it’s not gonna work on me.”

“ i could be somewhere else right now. somewhere i’m wanted. ” hand splays across the pages of his novel, impatient nails drumming against the paper. “ and what am i trying to do, hm? please tell me. ”

Keke Palmer in One of Them Days (2025) dir. Lawrence Lamont

❝oh yeah?❞ this is no time for his temper to ruin the moment; still he simmers. ❝what's it like? with other people?❞

“ can i be honest? ” a dangerous rhetorical, one that can easily set them into heated territory. “ it’s not the same. they can hardly function. it’s sad to watch. i’ve got a better chance at getting entertained by someone over the phone. ”

" and so what ? you're just going to go and forget that i ever existed ? i don't need you to give me false hope but god , the premature detachment is a little brutal . "

every attempt at reassurance only drags her further down the wrong path. “ when did i even say that? i said i’m leaving, not that i’m cutting you out of my life. ” thea pulls at the holes in her stockings, tugs until they snare again. “ i’ve never done a long-distance thing. god, i’ve never even done a medium-distance thing. there’s no promise i can make that’ll guarantee we end up in a happy place. ”

" that's not fair , " shelly states firmly . " you can't use that against me . you don't know me anymore , atticus . you don't get to dictate when i'm in love with someone or not . "

“ well, i knew you at some point. and you look at them the same way you looked at me once. you couldn’t hide it if your life depended on it. ” he takes a step back, suffocated by how little space there is in the room. “ what are you here for then? for closure? to feel better about moving on? i don’t get your brain, shells. ”

 “yeah , and i owe you a solid for this one.” zev nervously bounced back and forth between his feet. asking his friend to dress him for a date was humiliating.  “do you think she'd think it's weird that i got help with my outfit?”

“ you owe me more than that. i snuck these things out of the archives for you. ” zerina reminded him through clenched teeth, holding thread in place as she finished hemming the pant legs. a tedious, almost risky idea to tamper with precious pieces, but a fault she’s willing to blame another for. “ uh, no. it shows effort, baby. also, you literally don’t have to tell her. no one’s going to know! just say it’s yours and never wear it again. problem solved.”