Still in a daze, I scoop my bag up off the floor and do my final rounds of the studio, making sure everything is put away, then close and lock up on my way out. Somehow, I’m aware that it takes me way longer than usual to walk back to my apartment, but as I slide the key into the lock on the front door, I slide back into the moment and realize that I don’t remember a single second of the entire walk home. One second, I was stepping away from the studio, and the next I was home.

Inside, I set my bag down on the counter and jump when my phone starts ringing inside it. My heart hammers in my chest as I dig through my bag for my phone because some part of me is sure that it’s Declan calling, but as my fingers find it and flip the screen over, my heart sinks like a stone at the name on the screen.

“Hi, Aaron,” I answer, keeping my voice carefully neutral. I already know why he’s calling, but that doesn’t make this any easier.

“Hey! I’m kind of surprised you picked up. I figured you’d be busy with something.”

“You caught me at the right time. I just got home from the studio. What’s up?”

“Well, since our date ended so abruptly the other night, I was calling to see if you’d want to go out again sometime soon.”

I almost say yes before thinking about it, just like I normally would, but something stops me short. My heart flutters nervously in my chest and my stomach twists just from thinking about shooting him down, but this discomfort is nothing compared to what it would be like to sit through another dinner with him where he talks about nothing other than himself—and talks over me in the process.

“No, I don’t think so,” I say slowly.

“What? Why not?” Disappointment is clear in his voice, along with a hint of shock.

“I just… I don’t think I have the time for a relationship right now between school and everything else I have going on.”

Even as the words leave my mouth, I know they’re a lie… because my mind drifts immediately to Declan.

“Oh. Alright. Well, I guess you have my number if you change your mind. I, uh, I’ll talk to you later,” he says and ends the call without giving me the time to say goodbye. But that’s okay with me. I wasn’t really in the right headspace to talk to him in the first place, and I probably shouldn’t have answered the call.