The afternoon sun was merciless, beating down on the stretch of sand where you were struggling to tie together palm fronds for shelter. The air was thick with salt and sweat, every sound of the waves crashing somehow sharper in your head than usual. You were tense, focused, trying to keep your hands steady.

Shelby’s voice broke the silence before you even registered her approach.

“Hey, sugar, you’re doin’ that all wrong,” she said lightly. She crouched down beside you, blonde hair catching the light like a halo, smile warm and effortless. “It’s gotta crisscross tighter or it’ll just fall apart in the first breeze.”

She reached over without thinking, her hand brushing yours as she took the frond from your grip. The touch was small, but it sent a jolt through you, too sharp, too fast. Your chest tightened and the world felt like it tilted a degree off its axis. “I have it handled,” you said sharply.

Shelby froze, the smile dropping from her face as realization flickered across it.

“Oh—oh gosh, I didn’t mean to—I wasn’t thinkin’,” she stammered, pushing the frond back toward you like it burned her. “I shouldn’t have… I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

You didn’t answer right away, too busy focusing on breathing evenly, grounding yourself in the sand beneath you and the distant crash of the ocean.

Shelby shifted beside you, her nervous energy spilling out in rushed words. “I just—I forget sometimes, y’know? That not everybody’s okay with touch. I swear I didn’t mean nothin’ by it. You’re probably thinkin’ I’m just this… clumsy idiot, barging in. I really didn’t mean to upset you.”

Her hands fidgeted in her lap, fingers twisting the edge of her T-shirt. She laughed, but it was brittle, a failed attempt to lighten the moment. “See, here I am makin’ it worse by goin’ on and on. I should just—shut up. I should shut up right now.”

You glanced at her, catching the guilt etched all over her features. She looked like she wanted to melt into the sand and disappear.

“It’s fine. You don’t have to say you’re sorry so much. I’m just irritable today,” you said quietly.

The two of you sat in awkward silence for a moment, the waves filling the space between her fumbling apology and your quiet composure. Shelby eventually busied herself with gathering stray fronds, still stealing guilty glances your way, like she couldn’t stop checking if you were okay.