1:17 A.M.

It was the next night after the infamous drive. All day, I’d been my normal self. Meetings. Emails. Small talk that required just enough engagement to pass. At home, I sat at dinner and nodded at stories I barely absorbed. I laughed in the right places. I played my role.

But underneath it all, the drive replayed on a loop… The mirror. Her eyes. The fact that she hadn’t looked away.

By the time the house was quiet and the lights were off, I knew sleep wasn’t coming easily.

At 1:17 a.m., my phone lit up on the nightstand. I was awake before I reached for it. Her name. One message.

You made it home safe, right?

I stared at it longer than necessary. She knew we had. We lived fifteen minutes from her. The question wasn’t about the road.

I turned onto my side, lowering the brightness so the glow wouldn’t spill across the room.

Yes we did, thank you. How’d you sleep?

“Seen” immediately.

I didn’t really sleep after.

My pulse shifted.

Me neither.

Three dots appeared. Disappeared. Appeared again. 

I kept replaying the drive.

There it was. No joke to soften it. No disguise.

Anything specific you kept thinking about?

The response came faster this time.

The way you kept looking at me.

I exhaled slowly.

You noticed.

It was hard not to.

A pause. Then:

It felt intense.

The word sat there, heavy.

I didn’t mean for it to.

A beat.

I think you did.

Silence stretched before the next message.

It didn’t feel accidental.

My jaw tightened. I typed before I could reconsider.

It wasn’t.

“Seen”. No immediate reply. Then:

What were you thinking?

I stared at the ceiling before answering.

That you knew.

The typing bubble appeared and lingered.

I did.

Another message followed.

I didn’t look away because I didn’t want to.

I ran a hand over my face. The room felt smaller somehow.

That felt reckless.

My heart raced as she immediately responded:

It felt honest.

I swallowed.

I wasn’t thinking about anything physical. It wasn’t that. It was just… being seen like that.

The vulnerability in that landed harder than anything else she’d said.

I did see you.

I know.

A pause.

It’s been a long time since someone looked at me like that.

I hesitated before replying.

It’s been a long time since I wanted to look at someone like that.

The air between messages felt charged now.

That’s dangerous territory.

I know.

A beat passed before she asked the question that mattered.

Do you regret it?

I stared into the dark.

No.

“Seen”. A long pause; then:

Me neither.

No emojis. No softening. Just that. A quiet agreement that something had shifted.

We should probably sleep.

Yeah…

But neither of us ended the conversation first.

The chat stayed open for almost a full minute after the last message, as if we were both waiting for something else to be said. The screen eventually dimmed in my hand.

I set the phone face down and stared at the ceiling. Nothing had happened. And yet something absolutely had.

A sudden feeling of worry ran through me. I thought it would be best to delete the message thread, I wouldn’t want Hannah to see it, she’d be furious. So I did. And that’s how it started… the secretive exchange between Elena and I, one that I did not want to end anytime soon.