I stop walking, moving, breathing.

Because, of course, it’s Jack.

He swallows hard. “Hey.” His face, red from the storm, goes slack. His eyes are a vicious storm themselves, swirling vortexes that pull me into their centers.

I don’t know what to say. So I walk past him to get to my friends. They see me, and Chloe starts to wave me over before she sees him, too, which just makes his presence realer and more inescapable.

“I came out to my parents yesterday morning,” he shouts.

The entire lodge goes silent. All heads turn toward us like we’re the eye of the storm.

My feet are rooted to the weatherproof vinyl floor, but I don’t turn around.

“I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know how. That’s why I’m here. Back. On campus. Well, not on campus now, but you know.” He’s rambling. “I thought you’d be happy.”

“Happy? Why would I be happy about that?”

I don’t turn around. My gaze is transfixed on the fire in front of Chloe and Sofía, who both slowly rise to their feet and tiptoe toward me.

“I just thought …” He goes silent. I’m perched on the edge of his words, dangling off a cliff, suspended midair. Then I realize he’s not going to say anything. He’s going to leave me hanging. Again.

“No, you didn’t think. Not about me,” I say, turning around to face him, not willing to let him have the final word and walk away. Not this time. “I’m happy you came out to your parents, and I hope it was for you, not me. Because I never needed you to come out to them. I needed you to fight for me. Not to toss me away in the trash like words that don’t fit your poems. I understand why you didn’t say anything in front of your parents because, believe me, I know it’s so fucking hard to come out. And I know how much it ate at you. You let Callum say that awful shit about me, and I still would’ve stood by you while you figured everything out, in private. But you didn’t even give me a chance. You walked away from me.”

I’m screaming now, and Chloe and Sofía each grab an arm. “I deserve better than that. I’m not asking for grand romantic gestures and a knight in shining armor because you were already all those things on your own.”

I’m shaking. My head is hot and heavy on my shoulders.

Jack’s eyes are wide and wet.

People have gathered around us. Chloe says something that sounds like my name, but I shake her off.

“I was all those things?” His face scrunches like he’s about to cry. “Past tense?”

I shake my head no, but my mouth says, “Yeah.”