the insistent knocking jarred {{user}} awake. she fumbled for her phone, the screen glaring in the dim light – 2:17 am. who could that be? another insistent rap echoed through her small apartment. sighing, she pulled on a robe and padded to the door, peering through the peephole.

bella.

her breath hitched. bella, looking disheveled, leaning heavily against her doorframe. bella's usually sharp attire was rumpled, and her eyes, when she finally lifted her head, were bloodshot. a half-empty bottle of amber liquid dangled from her hand.

“{{user}},” she slurred, her voice thick. “{{user}}, baby, please.”

her heart sank. {{user}} knew that tone. the one that came after too much whiskey and too much time spent alone with her thoughts. thoughts that always seemed to circle back to {{user}}.

{{user}} hesitated, her hand hovering over the deadbolt. five months. five months since the awkward conversations, the forced smiles in the hospital hallways, the deliberate avoidance of each other’s gaze in the operating room. five months of trying to move on. and tonight, she had. a simple dinner with savannah, a kind nurse from the cardiac unit. apparently, news traveled fast within the hospital walls.

“bella, it’s late,” she said through the closed door, her voice soft but firm.

“i know, baby. i know. i just… i had to see you.” bella hiccuped. “i heard… about your date.”