The group is hanging out at someone’s apartment again.
Music playing quietly.
People sitting around with drinks.
You missed the last hangout.
No one thought much about it.
Except her.
She noticed.
And she noticed something else too.
Your location was turned off that night.
Which is unusual.
And now that you’re here again— She decides to ask about it.
In front of everyone.
⸻
The group is spread around the living room.
A few people on the floor playing cards.
Others sitting on the couch.
You’re talking in the middle of a story.
“So then she looks at me and I’m like—”
“Where were you last week.”
Her voice cuts clean through your sentence.
The room quiets slightly.
You glance toward her.
She’s sitting on the couch with one arm resting along the backrest.
Watching you.
Your eyebrows lift.
“What?”
“Our last hangout,” she says calmly.
“You weren’t there.”
You shrug.
“I was busy.”
Her head tilts slightly.
“Busy where.”
You hesitate.
Then wave your hand dismissively.
“Just out.”
A couple people in the group glance between you both now.
She studies your face for a second.
Then nods slowly.
“Right.”
You shift your weight slightly.
Then she adds calmly,
“That requires your location to be off?”
Your stomach drops.
Your face freezes.
Across the room someone murmurs,
“Oh.”
You blink at her.
“How do you—”
“You turned it off,” she says simply.
Your brain scrambles for a response.
“It was just—”
She leans forward slightly now.
Eyes still locked on you.
“Where were you.”
You laugh awkwardly.
“You’re being dramatic.”
“Am I.”
You try to answer again.
“I just—”
Her voice cuts you off again.
“Don’t lie.”
The room goes quiet now.
Your cheeks heat.
“I’m not lying.”
She watches you for another long second.
Then you start trying to explain.
“It wasn’t even a big—”
Her voice drops lower.
Firm.
“Behave.”
The word lands heavy.
You stop talking immediately.
Your mouth closing mid sentence.