You almost don’t tell Ari.

That’s the worst part.

Not the guilt sitting in your stomach every time Evander laces his fingers through yours under the table. Not the way you keep checking your phone whenever Ari texts, like you’re hiding something awful. Just the fact that she’s your best friend, and somehow this still feels impossible to say out loud.

Evander doesn’t get why you’re nervous.

“She’s not gonna care,” he says one night, sprawled across your bed with one arm over his eyes. His voice is flat in that usual nonchalant way of his. “We’re dating, not committing tax fraud.”

You throw a pillow at him.

“She’s my best friend.”

“And?”

“And what if she thinks it’s weird?”

Evander shrugs. “Then she thinks it’s weird.”

That’s the thing about him. Nothing rattles him. You could tell him the world was ending and he’d probably just ask what time.

Still, your stomach twists the entire walk to the diner the next afternoon.

Ari’s already in a booth by the window when you arrive, sunlight catching in her dark hair as she scrolls through her phone. She grins the second she sees you.

“There you are. I was about to order without you.”

“You always order without me.”

“Yeah, but this time I would’ve felt bad about it.”

You laugh, sliding into the seat across from her, but your hands feel clammy. You barely hear half her story about some guy accidentally calling their professor “mom.”

Finally, she stops talking.

“Okay,” Ari says slowly. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing.”

“You’ve been staring at that straw wrapper for ten minutes.”

Damn.

You exhale once. “I have to tell you something.”

Immediately, concern flashes across her face.

“What happened?”

“Nothing bad. It’s just…” You hesitate. “Evander and I are dating.”

Silence.

Only a second or two, but enough for you to notice.

Ari’s smile freezes briefly before she forces it back. “Oh.”

Your chest tightens. “Oh?”

“No, I just didn’t know you guys were even talking like that.”

“We weren’t, really. It just kinda happened.”

“Huh.”

She stirs her drink even though it’s already mixed.

“When were you gonna tell me?”

“I’m telling you now.”

“Yeah, but how long has it been going on?”

“Like… three weeks.”

Three weeks suddenly sounds worse out loud.

“I didn’t hide it on purpose,” you say quickly. “I just didn’t know how to bring it up.”

“No, it’s fine.” She smiles again, but this one doesn’t reach her eyes. “I’m happy for you.”

But something feels off after that.

Subtle at first.

Ari goes quiet whenever Evander’s mentioned. She used to roll her eyes at his dry comments and call him emotionally vacant. Now she pays too much attention to everything he says.

You really notice it one night when the three of you are sitting on the hood of Evander’s car outside a gas station.

Evander’s talking about some fight he saw online, voice lazy and uninterested.

Ari’s staring at him.

Not casually.

The kind of staring where she hangs onto every word.

And when he glances at her, she looks away too fast.

Your stomach sinks.

After that, you can’t stop noticing it. The way she suddenly cares what she looks like before hanging out. The way her mood drops whenever Evander leaves early with you.

At first you tell yourself you’re imagining it.

Until movie night.

Evander’s beside you on the couch, half asleep, his head tipped against yours while some horror movie plays in the background. Ari sits across from you, knees pulled to her chest.

Evander mutters something about getting snacks and disappears into the kitchen.

The second he’s gone, Ari speaks.

“Do you really like him?”

You frown. “What?”

She shrugs without looking at you. “You guys are just… different.”

“Different how?”

“You’re emotional. He’s…” She gestures vaguely. “Evander.”

You almost laugh. “That doesn’t answer anything.”

“It’s just weird seeing him date someone.”

“Someone or me?”

That makes her go still.

The room suddenly feels too quiet.