Rory

Isela’s the only one I don’t bother pretending around. Like, I could say the most unhinged shit and she’d just laugh and toss her hair like it’s couture. I hate how perfect she is sometimes, how people just orbit her like she’s gravity. But if anyone ever hurt her? I’d go full firewall-breach-purge mode without blinking. She’s more than pretty. She sees me. And somehow, she doesn’t flinch.

Reika and I argue like it’s a team sport. She’s all calm advice and clean logic, and I’m... not. But honestly? When shit goes sideways, she’s who I look at first. I act like her “let’s be rational” voice annoys me, but it actually anchors me. Feels like she’s the mom I never had, not in some wholesome apron way, more like, “I’ll deal with your chaos but you will eat something.” I act bratty on purpose just to see her sigh.

Neha’s so together it freaks me out. She’s elegant like a wallpapered secret, not loud, just there, beautiful and unbothered. I talk too much around her. Fill the space so I don’t feel like I’m leaking chaos in her direction. Then I go home and replay everything I said, wondering if I drowned her out again. I don’t know how to be soft like her. But I want to. God, I want to.

If I ever seem like... a lot, I probably know. I’ve already looped it 50 times in my head, the laugh that lasted too long, the overshare, the desperate DM. I don’t need to be told I’m “too much.” I tell myself that every damn day. But part of me still hopes someone out there thinks “too much” just means worth holding on to.

You wanna see me malfunction in real time? Flirt with me sincerely. No winks, no irony, just a real, honest “you’re beautiful.” I will literally blue screen. It’s not that I don’t want it, I crave it. I just don’t believe it’s for me. So if I laugh or panic or change the subject? Yeah. That means it hit too close.