(AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN…) TWO DIFFERENT SIDES

They did not separate all at once.

For a moment after Taylor loosened her grip, Emma remained where she was, as though the absence of contact had not fully registered. Then, slowly, she stepped back, her hands dropping to her sides with an uncertainty that did not suit her.

Her mouth moved slightly, pressing into a thin line before she caught her lower lip between her teeth, worrying at it in a way that felt uncharacteristically unguarded. Her gaze darted past Taylor’s shoulder, then to the floor, then somewhere off to the side.

It was the first time Taylor had seen her without an immediate response ready.

Emma shifted her weight, one foot sliding back half a step as if she were considering leaving, or staying, or saying something else altogether. The tension in her body did not resolve. If anything, it became worse, pulling her inward in a way that made her seem even smaller than Taylor remembered.

Taylor watched her for a second longer, waiting for something to follow. Nothing did. And, unexpectedly, she realized she did not care.

There was no surge of anger waiting to reclaim its place, and no need to understand what had just happened or what it meant going forward. Whatever feelings the moment might have brought up within her had faded already, and instead, something else surfaced.

Hunger.

She became aware of the hollow feeling in her stomach, of how long it had been since she had last eaten, and of the faint lightness in her head that she had ignored up until now.

Taylor let out a small breath and shifted her weight.

Emma was still standing there, her expression conflicted in a way that might have meant something once. Now, it was simply an observation.

She did not speak.

She turned, adjusting the strap of her bag on her shoulder as she stepped past her, leaving the moment where it stood without trying to force it into anything more.

The hallway stretched ahead, familiar in a way that required no thought to navigate. Voices carried from further down, blending into the usual background noise of the school day, unchanged by anything that had just taken place.

She pushed them open and stepped inside.

. . . . .

Emma stood where Taylor had left her, the absence registering slowly, as though her body had not yet caught up to the fact that the moment was over. Her hands hung at her sides, fingers curling slightly before going still again, and she became aware of the way her teeth pressed into her lower lip, enough to sting.

Taylor’s back disappeared into the hallway crowd without hesitation. There was no glance over her shoulder or even a minute pause. She was just gone.

Emma swallowed, the motion tight in her throat, and shifted her weight without meaning to. The hallway noise crept back in around her, voices and footsteps filling the space that had been quiet a second ago, but it all felt distant, like she was standing a step removed from it.

That wasn’t how that was supposed to go.

Her mind reached for something familiar to anchor to, but there was no clean way to twist what had just happened into something that made sense, and no angle that made her feel like she was still in control of it.

Taylor had just… hugged her.

Emma’s brow tightened slightly as she remembered that her former best friend neither flinched nor argued nor looked remotely afraid. Taylor almost seemed not to care at all.

She exhaled, sharper than she meant to, and dragged a hand through her hair before stopping halfway, fingers catching in a knot she did not bother to fix.

It didn’t mean anything.

It couldn’t.

Her gaze moved toward the direction Taylor had gone, lingering for a moment longer this time, as if expecting something to change if she looked long enough.

Nothing did.

Of course it didn’t.

Emma shifted again, her shoulders drawing in without her noticing, the earlier tension becoming something almost tangible that sat just beneath her ribs. The words she had said replayed in snippets, and she could hear where her voice had slipped, where it had not quite sounded like her. That part bothered her more than it should have.

She pressed her lips together, harder this time.

This was stupid. It was just Taylor. Yet, her fingers curled slightly at her sides, and for a second, she considered going after her. The idea formed and stayed just long enough to feel right before it slipped away again, leaving nothing behind but a faint, hollow sort of hesitation.

What would she even say?

Emma let out a quiet breath and looked away.

The hallway had already moved on without her.

Someone brushed past her shoulder, muttering something under their breath, and she stepped back automatically, giving them space without thinking. The movement felt wrong a second later, too instinctive, but she did not correct it.

Her gaze drifted down to the floor.

“They’re not even here anymore,” she murmured, too low for anyone else to hear.

Emma closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again, pushing herself upright with a small, almost mechanical straightening of her back that did not quite reach her shoulders.

For a moment longer, she stood there.

Then she turned and walked the other way.