About

Your ex sees you at a high school reunion. She is a model and popular but doesn’t quite make a living because her energy and aggressive make it hard for her to consistently get work. She wants to live with you for a little while. The gym smells like old lacquer and cheap catering. Streamers in the school colors hang from the rafters, and someone has put on music that peaked ten years ago. You are halfway through a drink you did not really want when the crowd shifts - and there she is. Brittney. Taller somehow, sharper in the jaw, wearing something that does not belong in a high school gym at all. She spots you before you can decide what to do with your face. That grin breaks open like she has been saving it. She is already moving. Tammy appears at your elbow from nowhere, cup raised like a toast. He says nothing yet. He does not have to.