Chapter 1 - Midnight Introductions“This is Jack,” Sophie told the girl in our doorway. “He’s the one I keep talking about every night.”
The girl looked at me. I looked at Sophie. Sophie looked at the ceiling, which had done absolutely nothing to deserve being dragged into this.
It was 12:43 in the morning. I was sitting on our couch, wearing a henley shirt and jeans, caught completely off guard. Behind me, the kitchen smelled like dark coffee and late-night quiet. Rain tapped against the high apartment windows, framing the blurred lights of the city skyline below.
The girl in the doorway was sharp and polished—a maroon top, black leather skirt, dark hair falling in smooth waves over her shoulders. She had the expression of someone who had agreed to come upstairs for a drink and had instead been handed a map of somebody else’s emotional disaster.
“I’m Nina,” she said.
“Jack,” I said, rising slowly from the couch, though Sophie had already covered that part with alarming, chaotic enthusiasm.
Sophie stood beside Nina, wearing a dark green lace crop top and high-waisted jeans, her blonde hair pinned in a loose, casual bun. Her cheeks were flushed from cold air, alcohol, and the reckless joy of making a mess she did not yet know how to clean.
“Every night?” I asked, leaning against the back of the sofa.
Sophie’s smile widened into something too bright, gesture-handing air like a hostess presenting a prize. “Don’t flatter yourself,” she said. “Some nights I talk about rent.”
Nina’s gaze flicked between us again. She was far from stupid, and that made the air in the room instantly heavy.
“I can go,” Nina said gently, holding her handbag close.
“No,” Sophie said too fast.
I looked at Sophie properly then—past the bright smile, past the party version of her that smelled like late nights and city rain. Her eyes were tired. Not sleepy, but tired in the way a person gets from running in place inside herself.
“Sophie,” I said quietly. “What are you doing?”
May you like
She laughed once, a fragile sound. “Introducing you.”
When Nina politely took her leave minutes later, sensing the unsaid history suffocating the air, the apartment fell into a heavy, echoing silence. The door clicked shut, leaving just the two of us standing in the warm glow of the living room lights.
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