Page 66 of One Last Encore

"Yes, definitely," Ingrid replied, aiming for neutral enthusiasm. There was a fifty-fifty chance it was the right answer.

A huff crackled on the other end. Guess it wasn’t. But she couldn’t find it in herself to care, not when the weight of everything pressed in. Beck. Her scars. The gnawing feeling that she was standing on the edge of something about to tip, and once it did, there’d be no going back.

"Thank you both for coming. I’ve gathered you here for an important reason," Ingrid began, her tone serious as she stared at the lavender-scented candle flickering on the coffee table. She’d been lighting it every night, hoping for some magical calming effect, but all it had done was make her apartment smell like a stressed-out yoga studio. Now, as its flame struggled against the last of the wax, she realized it was just as exhausted as she was.

"For a séance?" Sylvia asked, raising an eyebrow at the candle.

"No," Ingrid said, keeping her voice steady despite the creeping sense of impending doom.

"Candlelit Zumba?" Eden suggested, tilting her head.

"Absolutely not."

"A game of Monopoly by candlelight?" Sylvia suggested dryly.

"Or maybe a threesome?" Eden threw in, earning a quick high-five from Sylvia as the two dissolved into laughter.

"Although all of that sounds wonderful, that’s not why I called this meeting," Ingrid deadpanned, ignoring the way her stomach twisted. She got up and started pacing, her socked feet making soft shuffling sounds against the floor.

She needed to move, to do something with the nervous energy threatening to claw its way out of her. Because the truth was, she hadn’t been able to shake Beck from her mind since the moment his fingers had brushed her scars. He hadn’t recoiled, hadn’t given her the dreadedoh no, should I hug you?look. Instead, he’d looked at her like he saw every jagged piece of her and still thought she was worth knowing.

She had tried to push him away. Told him she didn’t care when, in truth, caring was all she ever did. Claimed she tolerated him when being around him had always felt like breathing after holding her lungs underwater. None of it mattered anyway because he never bought any of her deflections. God, he was making it impossible to push him away and that wasbad.

Because now, instead of focusing on dance, or training, she was rereading his texts like they were ancient scrolls hiding some secret meaning.

Turns out Finn had Eden’s number, she gave me yours. Hope that’s okay.

How was rehearsal?

Finn wants to have you over for a Big Bang Theory marathon… I can’t tell if he’s joking or not. I hope he is.

I just bought one of those subway churros. It was delicious. I hope we can still be on talking terms after I just told you that.

Her feelings were out of control. She was one bad decision away from actually responding to his churro take, and then what? What if this led to something real? What if she got distracted? What if she liked it? What if she liked him?

Who was she kidding? Shereallyliked him. So much it was dizzying, thrilling, and terrifying all at once.

"Oh, this is serious. She’s pacing," Eden murmured, watching Ingrid’s path back and forth.

"And fidgeting like a caffeinated squirrel," Sylvia whispered back, her lips twitching as Eden nodded sagely.

Ingrid pressed her lips together and ignored them.

She had feelings.Bigfeelings. The kind that made people do irrational things, like write bad poetry or cry during commercials. And, unfortunately, she was going to have to deal with them.

"What does it mean if you want to spend all your time with someone, but they also drive you insane? Like, they make you happy, but also freak you out because you suddenly... care about them way too much?" Ingrid asked, her pacing slowing as she turned toward Eden and Sylvia on the couch.

Eden and Sylvia exchanged a glance. The kind of glance that screamedoh, this is gonna be good.

"Hypothetically, of course," Ingrid added quickly, as if that would somehow make her question sound less like a panicked confession.

"It sounds like you like someone," Sylvia said, smirking.

"Or," Eden said, leaning forward, "you're falling in looooove."

Ingrid’s head snapped toward her so fast she nearly gave herself whiplash. "Absolutely not."

Eden just grinned. "Mmm-hmm. Classic denial. A textbook case."

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