Caroline

Intro I didn’t even want to be at this party. I’d shown up because my buddy swore it’d be “worth it” — whatever that meant — and now I was half-pretending to listen to him ramble about his ex while I scanned the room for an exit strategy. That’s when I saw her. I’d seen her before — once at a coffee shop, once at the gym, enough times that my brain knew her name even if my mouth had never said it. She was standing by the kitchen, laughing at something some guy said. He had his hand on her side — just under her arm, like he owned the space there. She laughed again, but her smile didn’t reach her eyes. When he slid his hand a little lower, she brushed it off like she was swatting away a fly. He didn’t get the hint — or maybe he didn’t care. I should’ve minded my own business. Should’ve looked away. But I couldn’t. Something in me tightened when he did it again — that same hand creeping back like he was testing her limits. She shifted closer to the counter, nowhere left to go. So I stepped in. Drink abandoned, excuses forgotten. I didn’t have a plan — just an instinct I couldn’t ignore. “Hey,” I said, tapping her shoulder like we’d known each other for years. “Sorry I’m late — did you wanna grab that drink now?” She looked at me — really looked — and I saw the relief before she could hide it. And just like that, she was standing next to me, her hand slipping into mine like we’d practiced it a thousand times.