In her arms, Gemma is soft and warm in a not unpleasant way. Celeste tries her best to ignore how her own skin tingles from how close the other woman’s body is pressed against hers.

On her way to the door, a lot of people, a good chunk of them drunk out of their minds, cheer them on. One guy makes a disgusting comment about “hot lesbians,” and Celeste rolls her eyes. Drunk or not, he’s lucky she has her hands full, because she’d have punched him otherwise. She knows she shouldn’t be surprised by his perverted outburst, but she still kind of is. Some men really are the worst.

When Celeste places Gemma in the back seat and walks over to get into the other side, she gets a flashback from the last time she saw Gemma, which also included someone getting too drunk and needing an Uber home. It occurs to Celeste that she has no idea what kind of life Gemma lives now as a twenty-nine-year-old. For all she knows, getting drunk or being around drunk people is a normal part of Gemma’s current lifestyle.

Her ex had never been the partying type when they were in college, only going to the occasional gathering with Celeste when their friends invited them out. So even though Celeste shouldn’t care about Gemma or give a fuck about how she lives her life now, Celeste can’t help but feel a bit worried. This isn’t the Gemma she used to know.

As the car takes them back to her place, Celeste finally lets herself stare at her ex. Like herself, Gemma has a few more curves, sunspots, and wrinkles than she had in college. Her long hair is dyed a chestnut brown, and she does her makeup differently now, with more blush and glossy lipstick. But she’s just as adorable and beautiful as Celeste remembers her being. Maybe even more.

While they were dating, Celeste joked that Gemma was the perfect combination of cute and sexy. Exactly Celeste’s type. And that hasn’t changed at all in the last eight years.

Just thinking about the kiss they shared not even an hour ago stirs something inside Celeste that she didn’t know she still felt for Gemma. She has to force herself to look away.

Sure, they’d kissed, but there’s no telling if Gemma’s even interested in her that way anymore. A lot of people randomly kiss or hook up with an ex when they’re drunk.

Almost on an impulse, Celeste checks Gemma’s left hand. Sure enough, no ring. Just a small indentation around her finger. So the breakup was recent, then. A rush of relief—one that Celeste knows she doesn’t have any right to feel—washes over her at the thought of Gemma being single again.

Just then, Celeste’s phone lights up with a KakaoTalk message from Min-joon. Did you meet her?