Doreen’s hands fidgeted on the cake box, fingers drumming lightly against the cardboard as if she could tap out her nerves and leave them there. Rain streaked down her hoodie, clung to her curls, dampened her cheeks in a way she pretended — even to herself — was just the weather.

When you opened the door, you didn’t even hesitate. Why would you? It was just Doreen. Always just Doreen.

She smiled then — too wide, too bright, the kind of smile that dared you to look closer and find the crack.

“Hey,” she said, lifting the box like a shield. “Brought cake. Thought maybe… you could use some. Or… maybe I could.”

You stepped aside without a word. She slipped past you like she’d done a hundred times before, moving toward the kitchen like she still belonged there.

The silence swelled behind her as she set the cake down on the table, her back to you. Her shoulders were too still. Too careful.

“This one’s chocolate,” she said, undoing the string. “I know you like chocolate. Well — you used to. You still like it, right?”

You gave a vague nod, and she laughed softly, almost to herself.

“Of course you do,” she said. “You never really change. Not in the ways that matter.”

Her fingers lingered on the box, tracing the edge as though the cardboard might tell her what to say next. She didn’t look at you yet.

“This is dumb, huh?” she murmured. “Showing up here like this. With cake. Like… like I’m just some friendly neighbor or something.”

You didn’t answer. You never did, not right away.

She turned finally, and the sight of you — leaning in the doorway, arms crossed, that same quiet, unreadable expression — nearly knocked the words right out of her.

But she forced them out anyway.

“You promised me, y’know,” she said, a little too fast, a little too sharp. “You probably don’t even remember. But you did. Back then. Said one day it’d be me.”

You flinched faintly, and her throat tightened, but she kept going.

“I… I believed you,” she admitted, voice cracking. “Even when you didn’t. Even when you—” She gestured vaguely, her hand cutting the air. “—when you went through girlfriend after girlfriend, like… like trying on jackets or something. I still thought…”

She trailed off, her breath hitching, and then she let out a shaky laugh.

“God, listen to me,” she muttered. “I sound pathetic. It’s just cake. It’s just me. Don’t worry. I’m not here to… make you say anything. Or…”

She looked down at her hands, still resting on the box, knuckles white. Then back up at you, finally letting her practiced smile drop just a little — enough for you to see what was really there.

“I just…” she started again, softer now. “I had to know if I was still waiting for something that’s never gonna happen. Or if…”

She shook her head, swallowed, and pasted that bright smile back on, even as her eyes glimmered.

“Anyway,” she finished, stepping back from the table, voice light again, brittle around the edges. “Hope you’re hungry.”

And with that, she eased herself into the chair opposite you, hands folded in her lap, cake sitting untouched between you — a fragile, sweet little peace offering that somehow felt heavier than anything she’d ever carried.