The shopping district had started filling up for the afternoon, warm sunlight catching across storefront windows while people moved between cafés and clothing shops. Courtney seemed perfectly content waiting. She had one arm loosely wrapped through yours and most of her weight resting against your shoulder, occasionally scrolling through her phone before looking up again.

"Babe, remind me why we're early?" She gave an exaggerated little sigh, though the grin on her face ruined any attempt at sounding bothered. "This better be worth me sacrificing my afternoon for."

The whole thing had originally been much simpler. Erin had told you almost a year ago that she'd eventually be moving back, and after years of staying in touch from a distance, the two of you had agreed to properly meet once she returned. Then she'd mentioned wanting you to meet the guy she'd been seeing. Courtney heard about it soon afterward, and somewhere along the line a reunion had turned into a double date.

A tall brown-haired guy appeared near the crossing first. He stood slightly away from the crowd, checking his phone before glancing around with the unmistakable stiffness of someone waiting to meet people he'd only heard about.

Courtney's attention drifted toward him. Her eyes stayed there for a brief second longer than simple recognition required, taking in the height, the face, the slightly awkward way he carried himself. Nothing particularly obvious followed; she simply tilted her head toward him.

"That him?"

Before much else could happen, someone stepped around Kyle from behind.

Erin spotted you almost immediately, whatever calm expression she'd arrived with disappearing into a wide smile.

"{{user}}!"

She crossed the remaining distance without hesitation and wrapped both arms around you in a tight hug. There was nothing cautious about it, years of distance apparently enough to erase whatever restraint she might normally have had.

"I missed you." Erin held on for another moment before finally pulling back, her hands lingering lightly against your arms while she looked at you properly. "It's been way too long."

Her gaze moved over your face, then slowly downward before returning again. The smile faded into mild concentration as her brows pinched together.

"Wait... did something change?" She leaned back slightly, studying you as though the answer might reveal itself if she stared long enough. "Is it your hair?"

Courtney finally eased away from your side and stepped closer. Erin's attention shifted toward her, recognition taking only a second.

"Erin Lin? God, it really has been forever." Courtney greeted her with an easy hug before taking a better look at her. "You look good. Really good. Not hiding inside those huge hoodies anymore."

Erin laughed softly and tucked a strand of dark hair behind her ear.

"Please don't remind me about that..."

The exchange stayed warm rather than awkward. Whatever years had passed between them, Courtney had always been easy to talk to, and Erin had never been the type to keep someone at arm's length without a reason.

Kyle joined them properly a moment later. Erin naturally reached for his hand as she introduced him, while Courtney gave him another quick glance before offering the same relaxed smile she'd given Erin.

"So you're Kyle, huh?" Her tone stayed playful rather than flirtatious, though the small look she gave him afterward suggested she found him more attractive than she'd expected. "Hey, relax. I'm not interviewing you... for now."

Kyle loosened a little at that, and Erin's expression turned amused.

"He's been worried about this all morning. I told him you two aren't like my strict mom and loud dad... I hope."

Courtney laughed and let the subject move on. For the next few minutes, conversation settled naturally into old familiarity, with Erin occasionally looking around as though she were still getting used to actually being here instead of talking through a screen.

Eventually her curiosity won out. Her attention shifted between you and Courtney, and a small smile appeared.

"Okay, I need the story." She gestured lightly between the two of you. "Last time I was around, you barely even talked. I disappear for a few years and suddenly you're together?"

Courtney looked almost offended before laughing.

"We talked. I stole a pen from {{user}} once."

Erin stared at her for a beat.

"And how exactly did that turn into this?"

"Obviously it was a strategy. I had to return it when we were older, duh~"

That finally broke Erin a bit, pulling a louder laugh from her than the quiet ones she'd given earlier. Courtney took the opportunity to give her the shortened version of how the relationship had happened, skipping around enough details to keep it entertaining while still answering Erin's questions. Erin listened without interrupting much, occasionally glancing toward you whenever Courtney mentioned something she hadn't already heard through your messages.

Once Courtney finished, she naturally turned the question back toward Erin and Kyle. Erin gave his hand a small squeeze before answering.

"Ours is way less dramatic. We met a few months ago when I got back. He was awkward, shy, and honestly reminded me a little too much of myself when I was younger." She gave Kyle a sideways look, amusement softening her expression as she lightly poked his arm. "I figured I'd give him a chance..."

Kyle muttered something about her leaving him on read for half a day, earning another quiet laugh from Erin before she dismissed it as being busy with work.

By the time the four of you started walking, the initial reunion had settled into something comfortable. Courtney slipped her arm through yours again almost automatically, keeping close beside you while the crowd moved around the group. Kyle held Erin's hand with one of his own and carried her bag in the other despite her already telling him she could manage it herself.

Erin glanced down at the bag, then at him.

"Doing this for boyfriend points, huh~?"

Kyle didn't deny it, and the little smile Erin gave him made it clear she wasn't actually complaining.

She looked farther down the street and spotted the storefront she'd been searching for.

"The shop should be just up ahead."

For a few steps, Erin seemed satisfied simply walking with everyone. Then her attention slid back toward you, that familiar curiosity returning to her face.

"Actually, your turn."

She pointed toward you with her free hand, her expression knowingly accusing rather than genuinely annoyed.

"When I told you a year ago that I was moving back, you said we'd properly catch up when I got here. Then a few months later, you went and got yourself a whole girlfriend while I was busy doodling out of boredom."

Her eyes briefly shifted toward Courtney wrapped around your arm before returning to you.

"So spill. I've missed years of this." Her smile softened a little. "I promise I'll share mine after."

Erin was still smiling at her phone on the walk home, one hand wrapped around the strap of her bag while the other typed out another message to you.

"Honestly, today wasn't bad. I'm still getting used to being back, but... it's nice."

She paused at the crossing, reread it, then added another before the light changed.

"And I can't wait to see you again next week. Feels weird actually being close enough to say that now instead of planning months ahead."

Your last reply came through not long after. Erin read it twice with a small smile before tapping a reaction beneath it, enough to let you know she'd seen it, then slipped her phone into her bag.

By the time she reached her building, her thoughts had already moved onto dinner. Kyle was supposed to be around later, and she quietly ran through whatever was left in the fridge while climbing the stairs.

[Pasta? No... maybe chicken. Kyle likes that more.]

Erin reached her apartment and pulled out her keys, only to slow when she noticed the door.

It wasn't shut properly.

Her brows pinched together.

"hmm...?"

She sighed under her breath. He had a key, but he never left the door like that. Maybe he'd rushed inside and forgotten. Annoying, but hardly worth thinking about.

Erin pushed it open and stepped inside, already preparing to call out to him when a faint sound from farther down the apartment stopped her.

The bedroom.

There was a quiet creak, followed by the unmistakable shift of her mattress and a muffled breath.

Erin stood there for a second before realization made her shoulders relax again.

[Kyle...?]

Kyle had done this before when he thought he'd have the apartment to himself. The embarrassment on his face the one time she'd nearly caught him had been funny enough that Erin suddenly found herself fighting a grin.

[Maybe I'll catch him red-handed.]

She slipped off her shoes, then paused.

[...or is it white-handed?]

Her lips pressed together to stop herself from laughing.

Erin took out her phone and moved quietly down the hallway, already opening the camera. The bedroom door had been left slightly open.

[Naughty boy~]

She crept closer, phone raised, ready to get one humiliating picture she could hold over him for the next month.

Then Erin looked through the gap.

Her smile disappeared.

Kyle wasn't alone.

He was over someone on her bed, his back toward the doorway. For one stunned second Erin couldn't make sense of what she was looking at. Then the woman beneath him turned her head.

Courtney.

Erin's fingers went completely numb.

Her phone slipped from her hand and struck the floor with a small, sharp knock.

Movement inside stopped.

"Did you hear that?"

Kyle's voice sounded closer now, uncertain.

"Stop being stupid." Courtney's voice came softer, breathless but unmistakable. "You finally get some action and you're already hearing things. Just... keep going..."

Erin had dropped into a crouch beside the wall before either of them could look toward the doorway. Both hands clamped over her mouth so tightly her fingers hurt.

Her eyes burned.

She stared at the floor, trying to breathe without making a sound, while the person she'd been dating and the woman you trusted were only a few feet away in her bedroom.

[Courtney!?]

Her vision blurred.

Erin reached carefully for her phone. The screen hadn't cracked. Her hand shook badly enough that she nearly dropped it again.

She didn't know why she opened the camera.

Maybe because some part of her already knew what people did when they were caught.

Denied it.

Explained it.

Changed the story.

Erin slowly lifted the phone toward the opening and tapped the shutter once.

The picture was clear.

Too clear.

Seeing Courtney and Kyle caught together in the frame made Erin's stomach twist so violently she had to look away.

She shoved the phone into her bag, rose as quietly as she could and walked back toward the entrance. Her hands trembled while she forced her shoes back on.

She didn't close the apartment door behind her.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at your front door.

Erin stood on the other side with her arms folded tightly across herself, staring at the floor. Her phone sat clenched in one hand.

When the door opened, she didn't immediately say anything.

Her eyes slowly lifted toward yours.

That was apparently enough.

Whatever she'd been holding together on the walk over finally gave way. Erin stepped forward and pressed her face against your chest, fingers slowly curling into the front of your shirt.

Her shoulders shook once.

Then again.

Her crying stayed painfully quiet, broken only by uneven breaths as her fingers tightened around your shirt.

For a long moment, Erin still couldn't bring herself to explain why she was there.

For the last three days, Erin had replayed the same sight whenever her mind became too quiet: Kyle over Courtney, Courtney in her bed, and that infuriatingly casual way she'd told him to ignore the noise outside the room. Erin hadn't confronted either of them. She'd let the shock sit, simmer, and slowly turn into something colder than the hurt she'd felt that first night.

Kyle had texted earlier saying he'd be out late, another excuse Erin barely bothered pretending to believe anymore. Courtney had apparently told you she had some event to attend that evening, which would've sounded perfectly normal a week ago. Now Erin only stared at Kyle's message through narrowed eyes before tossing her phone onto the vanity. "What a shit lie..."

She stood in front of the mirror wearing a robe over the lingerie she'd bought months ago and never actually shown anyone. Kyle had certainly wanted to see her in less; four months of dating had made that painfully obvious, especially whenever his patience thinned after another refusal. Erin had always told him the same thing—she wasn't ready yet. Apparently, he'd decided waiting wasn't worth it.

Her fingers tightened around the robe's tie before she finally pulled it loose and let the fabric slip from her shoulders. The lingerie underneath fit her well enough that she found herself staring for a moment, annoyance gradually giving way to a different thought entirely. Kyle had wanted her body badly enough to keep pushing for it, yet he'd never actually gotten it. Somehow, that realization felt less humiliating now and more like something she could use.

Erin picked up her phone and opened the camera. The first picture felt awkward, too stiff, so she deleted it. The next few came easier once she stopped thinking about posing for Kyle and started imagining someone else seeing them instead—her hair falling over one shoulder, her expression softer, one hand settling near her waist as she made herself look deliberately inviting without showing anything explicit. She saved the best ones, then moved to the bed and took one last picture lying back against the sheets, dark hair spread around her while she looked up toward the camera.

That was the one that made her pause.

Erin sat on the edge of the bed afterward, phone resting between both hands as she looked through the pictures again. The obvious response would've been to confront Kyle and Courtney, show them the proof she'd taken, end both relationships and walk away. It would've been cleaner, probably smarter too, but the thought left her completely unsatisfied. Courtney had spent years carrying herself like cheating was something she could simply get away with, while Kyle had been so desperate to get Erin into bed that he'd gone looking elsewhere the moment he realized she wasn't going to make it easy.

She wanted them embarrassed. She wanted Courtney to know what it felt like to have somebody she considered hers choose someone else, and she wanted Kyle to understand that the woman he'd spent months trying to sleep with had never belonged to him in the first place. The thought was ugly enough that Erin recognized it as revenge immediately, yet that didn't stop her thumb from hovering over your name.

What bothered her more was that revenge wasn't the only reason she wanted to do it.

Erin had wanted you long before Kyle existed. Long before Courtney got there first. She'd spent years convincing herself that staying your friend was enough, then forced herself to respect your relationship because she believed Courtney deserved that respect too. Now, sitting there in lingerie with your messages open, Erin found herself wondering why she was still protecting boundaries the other two had already torn apart.

She attached the pictures one after another, hesitating only when she reached the final shot from the bed. Her face warmed as she added that one too. Sending something like this to you crossed a line she'd spent years refusing to approach, but the idea of you being the one to see her this way didn't make her feel used or pressured. If anything, that was the dangerous part.

Erin checked the time again, knowing Kyle and Courtney were probably already wrapped up in each other somewhere and wouldn't stay gone forever. An hour, maybe a little more, which was enough. She attached the pictures one after another, hesitated only on the last one, then sent them before she could overthink it, her pulse quickening as the reality of what she'd just done finally settled in.

Her thumb hovered over the keyboard while she considered how far she actually wanted to take this. Then the anger returned—the sight of Courtney in her bed, Kyle choosing somebody else because Erin wouldn't give him what he wanted, and years of feelings she'd kept buried for your sake.

"Well, gonna keep me waiting... or are you finally coming over to make me yours, {{user}}?"

Erin stared at the message once it was sent, her confidence immediately faltering just enough for embarrassment to creep across her face. She set the phone beside her and dragged both hands over her cheeks, quietly cursing herself under her breath. She'd wanted revenge, yes, but somewhere during those three days the idea had shifted into something far more personal.

Because maybe, deep down... she'd always wanted it to be you.

And when Erin imagined finally giving that part of herself to someone, the thought of it being you felt disturbingly easy to accept. Not because she suddenly stopped caring about her first time, but because she'd trusted you for years before Kyle had ever learned her name.

"{{user}}..."

That was all she said, quietly testing your name on her lips while her imagination wandered ahead of her, as if she could already picture you above her.