Notes: It's been a few years, hasn't it? When I first outlined this story, I realized I wasn't happy at all with the direction and struggled to figure out where exactly I wanted this to go. I finally reworked the story into something I'm much happier with, so... with that said, three years later, here's an update!

Chapter 2: Crush

The house that Judy graciously sponsored for the BBA Revolution during the season was fairly small. It was two stories tall with four bedrooms upstairs that fit hardly more than a full-sized mattress and a dresser; and the kitchen, restrooms, office, and living room weren't much larger in comparison. Since there were five team members, Daichi had built himself a blanket fort in the corner of the living room as a makeshift bedroom. The real lucky ones were Hitoshi, Hiromi, and Kyoujyu, who occupied temporary studio apartments three blocks down.

While the house itself wasn't that impressive, it was still a house. The real value was in the backyard. It was a miniature outdoor beyblading gym with a series of basic beyblading dishes on one end of the yard, then two larger dishes with customizable terrains on the other side. They may not have had the production value of a BBA World League stadium with replicas of extravagant cities, but from Kyoujyu's computer they could manipulate the terrain to create obstacles and even bodies of water. The center of the yard was cleared out for drills and physical training. It had been a shame that the BBA World League didn't have them traveling all around the world this year, but traveling costs were becoming a barrier to entry for qualifying competitive teams over the past few seasons. Fortunately, the permanence in Los Angeles did give them a consistently reliable center for training. They would only have to travel to Washington, D.C. for the championship match.

Hitoshi had arrived to the team house early the next morning to review the previous day's matches with Kai, Rei, and Max. As the team captain, Kai was obligated to participate in all three reviews and provide his feedback in addition to the coach's. His morning routine before practice consisted of waking up at 5:00 a.m., jogging for five miles, returning home for a shower, heading back out to pick up a coffee and a breakfast sandwich, and making it back home by 8:30 a.m. for video reviews with Hitoshi.

First, they had reviewed Rei's victorious match against Raul. Rei was the only undefeated member of the team besides Kai; and unlike Kai, he had participated in every single game throughout the season, meaning he had a solid chance at the title of MVP for the league. Hitoshi and Kai scrutinized his gameplay for the smallest mistakes to ensure a perfect record after his final match with Neoborg.

Their following review of Max's match against Julia was easier since his mistakes were more obvious. While Kai and Max occupied the couch that squeezed against Hitoshi's wooden desk, Hitoshi rolled around in his desk chair to point at errant positioning and behaviors on the wall-mounted monitor, which hooked up to his laptop via HDMI cable. Coffee haphazardly flew out of his mug as he jerked around. It was no wonder he had to keep refilling his mug from the coffee maker that occupied too much space on his desk.

"Here." Hitoshi paused the gameplay footage. "This is another opening where you could have poked. Normally it works when you turtle up against aggressive players and let them wear themselves out, but she's actually playing really patiently here. She's bursting you with damage, building up her stamina, and then bursting you down again."

Max sighed with mild frustration and rubbed his face. "It just seemed like she was in complete control of the match the whole time. There's no way I would have recognized this," he gestured to the screen, "as an opening."

"She's recovering from the strike she landed on you," Kai said. His voice seemed to surprise them. It was the first time he had spoken during their session, and they were reaching the end of their half-hour. In contrast, he had contributed much more during their review of Rei's game. "You could've landed a quick counter-poke while she's recovering and repositioning. Even a weak hit might've thrown her off rhythm and given you control of the game."

Max ran his fingers through his messy blond hair and shook his head in both defeat and admiration. His takeaway was clear: he needed to look for opportunities to sneak in quick, surprise pokes against smart players who knew how to play against his stonewalling strategy. Once the footage finished playing, Hitoshi closed the window and dictated specific tips for Max to work on throughout the day's practice. Kai used the opportunity to tune out and close his eyes. He didn't have anything to add when asked.

And it didn't surprise him when Hitoshi remarked upon his unusual lack of comment. The team knew Kai to be frustratingly observant, which was part of what made him an excellent captain. After Max left the room, Hitoshi refilled his mug and swiveled in his chair to face him.

"I was afraid you weren't going to say anything at all."

"Sorry," Kai said, "not feeling well today."

"You sure about that?" Hitoshi leaned back. "You had a lot more to say about Rei's match. You actually faced Julia and even struggled against her, but you came out on top. I just think it would've been helpful to Max if you had talked about your experience."

Kai sipped the last of his coffee, which was cold by now, and set the empty paper cup on the coffee table in front of him. "Fine. I'll review it again with him later."

Truthfully, he thought it was a bad matchup. Max and his former teammate, Rick, may have beat the twins a couple years ago, but F-Sangre was hardly the same team as they were then. They were the type of players that had an answer for everything. They were, in fact, the team that sports casters favored to win in their game against the BBA Revolution. Kai had only decided to play Max because he was a better bet than Takao and Daichi, who favored their instincts and had demonstrable difficulty against cerebral players.

"Right," Hitoshi said doubtfully. "Do you even want to go over your match with Julia?"

Well, since you're giving me the option, Kai thought. Julia had lived in his head rent-free for long enough. Watching cartoons would have been more productive than watching another match with her in it. "Let's look at the Neoborg-Majestics match. They usually play Sergei first, then Boris, then Ivan, and then Yuriy if the match isn't decided. I want Rei on Boris, so let's start with Sergei." Kai scratched his head and added hopefully, "I think we can get Max in good shape for him."

"Aye-aye, captain."

And finally, for the first time in about fifteen hours, Kai wasn't inundated with thoughts or videos of Julia beyblading, talking, smiling. He leaned toward the monitor and watched Sergei's match with undivided focus. His former teammate had a more predictable playstyle than the twins. He was a brute in comparison. But he was smarter than he appeared, Kai knew for sure. While the fan-favorite Majestics played with passion and cunning, their players simply made more micro-mistakes that added up just enough to cost them all three matches against Neoborg.

"He's more patient than I remember," Kai said.

Hitoshi paused the footage. "Are you worried?"

Kai wouldn't say so in front of his teammates, but he nodded affirmative in privacy with their coach.

"They didn't beat us with luck last year," Kai said, which was exactly why he had hung up his pride and asked Hitoshi to coach their team this year. "Losing again isn't an option. But here we are, still telling Max he needs to take more risks. And I don't even know what's going on with Takao these days."

"Really?" Hitoshi chortled in disbelief.

"Well," Kai said, "I know he still isn't over losing the deciding match last year."

"And he's freaked out the season's coming to an end. You know he prefers playing on a team."

Kai grimaced. "We all knew from the beginning this would be our last season before joining the solo division. Now is a really bad time to be freaking out about it."

"You're his captain. You need to figure out how to get him out of his funk."

"Yeah, I know." Kai rubbed his face. If only it were as easy as slapping the nerves out of him. "Let's keep going," he said. "I need to see how Salamalyon got blasted to smithereens."

Hitoshi and Kai emerged out of the office close to 10:30. The review went longer than they both expected, which meant the Neoborg-Majestics match gave them a lot to think about. While rinsing out his mug in the kitchen, Hitoshi announced he had to run a few errands and passed on notes for Kai to relay to the team.

Meanwhile, Kyoujyu had been head-down in a project at the kitchen table with beyblade parts sprawled in organized chaos. He was too focused to notice Kai and Hitoshi, who had both greeted him upon entering. His nimble fingers expertly tweaked the beyblade in his hands with the help of a magnifying headpiece that looked like an invention of a futuristic sci-fi story.

After Hitoshi excused himself, Kai sated his curiosity and made a passing glance at the beyblade in Kyoujyu's hands. It was a light shade of purple; too light to be Daichi's, but he couldn't place who else on the team it would have belonged to. "Is that a new prototype for Strata Dragoon?"

Kyoujyu jumped in his seat and dropped what he was doing. "Kai!" He removed his goggles and cleared his throat. His messy bangs obscured his eyes, but his tense mouth and shoulders betrayed his nerves. "I didn't hear you come in. No, this is…"

Kai raised an eyebrow. What was there to be so nervous about?

Kyoujyu cleared his throat again. "Well, I offered to fix Thunder Pegasus after you… broke it."

"Julia's here?" Kai asked too quickly. His shoulders stiffened, matching Kyoujyu's in a display of tension. "And Raul?"

"Yup. They're, uh, both in the backyard. I hope you don't mind?"

"I don't mind!" Kai said combatively. "Why would I mind?"

Without giving a speechless Kyoujyu a chance to respond, Kai stormed over to the sliding door in the kitchen and exited onto the wooden backyard deck.

As predicted, not one of his teammates was practicing. Instead, they were relaxing on the stairs and railing of the deck, basking under the clear, sunny sky and happily catching up with the F-Sangre twins. Both were out of the flashy costumes he was used to seeing them in, but nonetheless dressed in fashionable athletic wear that made him feel dumpy in his T-shirt and gym shorts. Julia, who donned a red top knotted at her waist, slimming navy blue joggers, and clean white sneakers, stole his attention immediately.

"What are you guys doing?" Kai snapped, forcing his gaze away from Julia and onto his team. With the way butterflies fluttered in unwelcome excitement in his chest, he had to make a concerted effort to sound more authoritative than flustered. "You're supposed to be running drills."

"Uh, hello!" Hiromi, who was sitting on the railing next to where Julia leaned, gestured to the twins with a snap of her wrist. "Can't you at least greet your guests before you launch into one of your tirades?"

Kai sneered. He had a soft spot for Hiromi and wouldn't dream of raising his voice directly at her, and everybody on the team knew it. Their cheeky expressions said so. He settled for a low growl that prompted his teammates onto their feet. Talking amongst themselves, they dispersed into backyard where they set up cones. As for Hiromi, she grumpily excused herself to the kitchen to start preparing lunch.

Once satisfied, Kai turned his attention to a visibly amused set of twins. "Hi," he greeted curtly, making a point to look at both of them. The way Raul's green eyes identically matched Julia's was low-key unsettling. "Kyoujyu said he's fixing Thunder Pegasus."

"Yup," Julia said comfortably. "Hiromi texted me after our match saying Kyoujyu wanted to help."

Kai found it hard to believe F-Sangre didn't have their own mechanic, but he wasn't about to argue about it. His subconscious was too pleasantly surprised to chase her away. Still, he stubbornly folded his arms across his chest and turned his attention towards his team. "That's fine, but we're practicing right now."

"Right, for the grand championship," Julia said. He detected the slightest hint of jealousy in her tone. Raul quietly groaned.

"Sorry," he said on her behalf, "she's just sore about the loss."

Julia frowned. "What? I'm not sore." With a glimpse of soreness in her expression, she added, "I'll be sore if you lose to Neoborg after beating us."

Impatience welled in Kai's chest. There was enough pressure surrounding preparations for the grand championship, and having Julia here only made things worse. Maybe he needed to chase her away, after all.

"Look," he said, "you can't distract us if you're going to stay. You can either watch quietly or come back for Thunder Pegasus later."

Julia straightened her back. "You gave notes to Max about our match, right? Give me a spare blade. I'll work with him on your corrections. Raul will help, too."

Raul nodded in agreement. "I did bring Torch Pegasus in case you wanted to scrim. I know I lost to Rei yesterday, but…," he trailed off self-consciously.

"You made him work for the win," Kai said matter-of-factly. It wasn't so much that he wanted to give Raul warm-and-fuzzy reassurances as much as he was desperate not to rest on laurels. He then waved dismissively at Julia. "Fine. Go ask Kyoujyu for a spare. I'll let Max know you're scrimming after drills. Raul…," he paused to think. "You can play Rei again."

Julia exchanged a satisfied look with her brother. Raul joined the BBA Revolution players in drills; and before Julia would go ask Kyoujyu for a spare blade, she caught Kai's attention with the long extension of a pointer finger. Caught off-guard, Kai looked at her fingertip, and then her perceptive smile.

"By the way," she said, "I didn't recognize you without the paint at first."

She was, of course, referring to his bare cheeks. Starting this season, Kai had taken to only wearing his signature blue triangles during official matches. He wished he was wearing them now, as they could have covered up the hint of a blush he felt forming.

"Oh," was all he could think to say.

"It's a nice look."

Kai looked away and mumbled, "Yeah. Thanks."

Julia inhaled like she wanted to say something else, but decided against it, and wordlessly sauntered to the kitchen where Kyoujyu was still laboring over her broken beyblade.

To Kai's surprise, practice sailed without any egregious disruption. He was even able to enjoy lunch without incident; he stationed himself on the floor at one end of the deck and pretended not to notice the charming way Julia, who was sitting on the highest step of the deck stairs, engaged with his teammates. She was the center of their attention as she shared what she and Raul had planned for the off season, which mainly surrounded their circus performance schedule. Daichi, especially, appeared completely enamored while his sandwich sat in his lap uncharacteristically ignored (except by Takao, who helped himself to a few bites since he wasn't paying attention). Despite himself, Kai noticed the way she spoke with her hands and how her skin flushed as a result of participating in their practice. He looked away whenever she made eye contact with him, but inevitably her voice drew him back into watching her speak.

Raul, on the other hand, barely spoke. He was the soft-spoken sibling for sure, but he would noticeably lose himself in solemn thought. At least, Kai recognized the expression, as it was one he wore so often, himself. At one point, Julia had nudged him while someone else was talking to privately ask if he was doing okay, to which Raul assured her unconvincingly that he was just hot.

When their conversation reached a lull, Kai announced it was time to clean up and get back to training. They completed an hour of afternoon drills and exercise before launching into another hour of round robin sudden death matches, which Hitoshi had made it back in time for. It was then a good opportunity to group up in the center of the yard and discuss the upcoming match against Neoborg. Julia and Raul helped themselves to a water break, situating themselves on the deck stairs within earshot, but had clearly excused themselves from the conversation.

"First things first," Hitoshi began. "Max, I know I wasn't here most of the day, but I saw you applied our notes in the round robins. You took more risks in your matchups against Julia and Daichi. Sure, sometimes you got punished for it, but it's better to push your limits now and then rein it in. We have a couple weeks to find that sweet spot of aggression that still suits your defensive strategy."

Pleased with the shout-out, Max beamed appreciatively.

Hitoshi continued, "As a team, I think you could all tighten up just a little bit. Make every move deliberate. Kai and I watched the Neoborg-Majestics match this morning, and I'll be honest. Neoborg looks clean."

"But they're so robotic," Takao groaned. "That's what's so frustrating about them. How did they beat us last year when it doesn't even seem like they care as much as we do?"

"They do care," Kai said in defense of his former teammates. They weren't childhood besties who called each other to catch up on Friday nights; they didn't even text each other happy birthday. But they were kin, in a way. He folded his arms tightly and addressed Takao directly. "You can't just skate by on your beyblade spirit like when we were kids. That's the problem. They have spirit, too, and they play smart as hell."

Takao winced like Kai had dealt a physical blow. "Skate by? Like, what, I never really earned any of my wins?"

"He didn't mean that you didn't earn them." Rei jumped into his helpful role as mediator whenever Kai and Takao miscommunicated, which was often. He carefully chose his next words. "You have a lot of natural talent, and you've always had an exceptionally strong bond with Dragoon. It's just that other players have started catching up to your level of natural talent, and you -"

"You're stagnating," Daichi interjected.

Rei facepalmed and muttered, "Tactfully put."

It was damage control time. Max waved his hands as if trying to erase spoken words out of the air. "You're not stagnating! It's just, when you're really good, it's harder to get better than when you're really average. So the people who were really average just got really good, which means you had to get better to stay ahead of them, which is a hard thing to do."

"When did I ever say it was easy?" Takao gestured incredulously. "What kind of championship game pep talk is this? All I said was it sucks to lose to people who don't seem to care as much as we do."

"They do -" Kai huffed and started over. "Look, we're not here to nurse egos or discuss what the championship means to anybody. Suffice it to say, this match means everything to every single one of us. It's our last year playing as a team before we start competing in solos. And if we don't want sponsors questioning whether we've already peaked, we need to win our matches. So, I've decided who we're submitting as the competing four."

Takao scowled down at his shoes, and obviously, Hitoshi's concerns about his mental wouldn't be laid to rest after today. Hitoshi's grim expression certainly said as much. I'll fix that later, Kai mentally noted. But now, the roster.

This year's rules dictated that each team needed to submit a roster of up to four players each match, meaning someone on their team of five was always benched for the day. During the first half of the season, Kai typically benched himself. Daichi would still be too young to compete in the solo division of the BBA World League the following year, so Kai made a point of keeping him warm in the competitive scene to ensure he would be scouted to a great future team. Daichi's participation was less consistent during the second half of the season as the competition grew stiffer, which Kai made up for by keeping him engaged in team practices and preparing him for local tournaments throughout the season.

"This match is going to be first-to-three," Kai explained, as opposed to a normal game's best-out-of-three format. In a normal game, the fourth player on the roster was registered in case any of those three matches ended in a draw. For teams like F-Sangre, the two registered players alternated matches until a winner was decided. It was a test of endurance most people wouldn't have willingly signed up for. "We'll play Max, Rei, and Takao, in that order. I'll play fourth if a fourth game becomes necessary."

"Figures," Daichi sighed.

Kai bit his tongue. The kid insisted on playing with them this year, even if it meant warming the bench. If he fooled himself into thinking that wouldn't happen, then that was a Daichi problem.

"We're going to watch the Neoborg-Majestics match as a team first thing in the morning," Kai continued. "I'd encourage you to watch it on your own later tonight, but that's up to you. Anything to add, coach?"

"No. Thanks, Kai." Hitoshi checked his watch. "All right. We have another hour, so let's get some good scrims in. Are Raul and Julia still here?"

"We're here," Julia chimed from where she and Raul sat on the deck stairs, a reminder that she and Raul were within earshot this whole time. Raul looked relieved to have been interrupted from their quiet conversation.

"And you're staying?" Hitoshi clarified. "Glad to know our dysfunctional family dynamics haven't scared you away."

Julia wrapped an arm around Raul's shoulders. "We're circus twin orphans. We have dysfunctional family dynamics in spades, coach."

"All right, then!" In better spirits now, Hitoshi placed a hand on Kai's shoulder and said, "Kai, let's have you play against Julia this afternoon since you didn't feel up to watching yesterday's match."

"Wait, did I hear that right?" To Kai's horror, Julia seemed to pick up on subtext that drifted dangerously close to exposing the way he regarded her. Her curious tone piqued the interest of Rei, Max, Daichi, and begrudgingly, Takao, as they all seemed to fixate on the unfamiliar discomfort written on Kai's face. Julia appeared pleased with herself as she approached them, now with Thunder Pegasus in her hand. Kyoujyu must have come out and given it to her during their team meeting.

"Why didn't you want to watch our match?" she pressed.

"What, does Julia make you sick or something?" Daichi asked in earnest, this time eliciting a facepalming reaction out of Kai.

"Rei, you're with Max," Kai barked. "Takao, play Raul. Daichi, you can start putting away the drill equipment. And you," he regarded Julia, whose eyes lit up disarmingly when addressed. "Follow me."

With Kyoujyu taking a much needed break, Kai opted not to bug him for modified terrain and instead led Julia and Hitoshi towards one of the basic dishes. If it had been up to him, he would have refused the impromptu rematch and paired himself up with Takao, at least try to loosen him up again. Not that he had a great track record of making anyone, let alone Takao, feel better.

He could hear Hitoshi explaining his observations of the previous day's match to Julia, giving her ways to strategize against him. Something about forcing him to play reactively, ways to obscure spacing to bait mistakes. Tips that would have helped her in their matchup, but certainly wouldn't have affected the outcome. Kai scoffed.

Then, his heart skipped a beat when he faced her across the beydish. Washed in the soft glow of the beginnings of a sunsetting sky, she was fixing her hair into a ponytail as she absorbed the last of Hitoshi's comments. Her bright green eyes regarded Kai with relaxed assuredness, as if she hadn't suffered a heartbreaking loss and a shattered Thunder Pegasus to him the day before. She seemed to carry herself around him the same way she carried herself around anyone, yet he wondered if her presence penetrated anyone else the same way she seemed to invade him.

Just by standing there.

Determined to maintain control over her effect on him, Kai frowned back at her while readying Dranzer in his launcher. She's just a pretty girl, he reminded himself. It wasn't like she was the first girl he'd ever thought was pretty. And she's not even that good. Well, that was a lie, and one he couldn't fool himself into honestly believing. But he needed to believe it now.

For the second time within the last twenty-four hours, Dranzer and Thunder Pegasus were colliding. Thunder Pegasus immediately went on the aggressive in close pursuit of Dranzer. Though Julia stood idly with a hand on her hip, her expression was as intensely focused as Kai had remembered. He saw fire and determination. It wasn't that she wanted it more today than in their last match; she just had a clearer picture of how to win.

Kai didn't believe in phoning in practice games. He did believe in experimenting techniques and testing new strategies that might lead to a loss, but every single game was a step towards something greater. Always. And if Julia intended to play this out like a real match, then Kai intended the same.

But normally, he didn't have to tell himself to treat it like a real game. He didn't have to scream inwardly at himself to stay focused. He'd been impressed by opponents before, even driven to self-destructive lengths in his obsession to beat them; but he wanted to simply be around Julia, learn why she poured her heart and soul into a beyblade match in the same terrifying way that he did. He wanted her to claw a victory out of his hands like he knew, deep down, that she could, and he wanted to claw it back from her. And he wanted to make her smile and experience something new with her. Anything new.

So as much as he would've liked to handle this game like any other game, he was woefully unfocused, and Thunder Pegasus was spanking Dranzer around the dish because of it. He hated, most of all, that Dranzer was always the one who suffered whenever Kai struggled to play.

With a decisive motion of his hand, he called Dranzer back into his palm. "I forfeit," he said, avoiding eye contact with Julia and Hitoshi. He could feel the weight of both of their shocked stares.

"Okay?" Hitoshi rubbed his temples. "Did you at least hear anything I was telling you while you played?"

Kai decidedly said nothing, because he'd heard nothing.

Thunder Pegasus retreated into Julia's palm. "What the hell was that?" she demanded, ignoring that Hitoshi might have wanted any kind of dialogue with his strangely behaving team captain. "Did you just blow me off?"

What? No. Kai folded into himself. This wasn't something he could explain, not even to himself.

"I'm sorry, Julia," Hitoshi said on his behalf. "Kai, why don't you go take five?"

Kai couldn't bring himself to move his feet. He at least wanted to look at Julia and apologize. She deserved that much. For all the thoughts swimming in his head, he projected the appearance of someone who was waiting for his guest to leave. Not the other way around.

Since he was taking too long to move or say anything, Julia sighed, "Fine," and looked at her watch. "I'm going to go watch Raul, and then we should probably go. Thanks for having us, Hitoshi."

Hitoshi frowned. "No, thank you for all your help today. We're in better shape already because of you guys."

Kai felt a pang in his chest when she turned to say goodbye to the rest of the team. He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd messed up badly. And this, he realized, might have been the last time he would see her again until they concluded the season in D.C.

Kai showered and shut himself in his bedroom shortly after dinner, again with the excuse that he wasn't feeling well. At this point, it was somewhat true. A knot had tied itself in his stomach ever since he forfeit his game against Julia, who had only appeared eager to play against him again. Even for a backyard game. Not a lot of people actively wanted to spend time with him.

But surely, barring any more surprise visits, tomorrow would be better. He could go back to giving the championship game his undivided attention and be the captain the team needed. An early bedtime would certainly help get him back to form.

After taking a melatonin and turning out the lights, he scrolled through his social media accounts on his phone to wind down. His feeds were, predictably, peppered with his peers in the young adult world league, team division, announcing they'd been picked up by a sponsor to join the adult league's solo division, or at least announcing plans to pursue such a route. More and more announcements were posted each day, but none yet from the top four teams in the young adult league. Only after the championships were the biggest sponsors going to start reaching out.

He paused over an update from the F-Sangre account, which called out the BBA Revolution for a great game in the finals and challenged the Majestics to bring their best for the third-place match. Despite his discomfort, he allowed himself to linger on the picture of Julia and Raul waving to the audience after their loss to the BBA. Hard to believe that had happened just yesterday.

After much internal debate, he tapped on Julia's tagged name. He wasn't a follower, but her profile was public. Even so, a part of him felt like he was doing something wrong. He straightened his back against his pillows and scrolled through her posts, anyway. Most were about her matches throughout the season, but a fair amount were also dedicated to advertising upcoming circus shows and sharing behind-the-scenes pictures of the performers during practice. There was, apparently, even a circus performance coming up nearby in L.A. that they had been preparing for between their games this whole time.

Before he knew it, twenty minutes had passed, and Kai had scrolled down to posts from the previous year. He paused on one in which she had shared a mirror selfie post-circus show performance. Half her face was decorated with gaudy performance makeup, and the other half was freshly washed. He hovered his thumb to hide the half with makeup and quietly admired how she looked. Then he covered that half and admired the side with makeup. It was stage makeup, designed to accentuate features from far away. Even though the makeup was too bold and almost frightening up close, it also raised more questions about an entire side of her life he knew nothing about. He tried to imagine what it might be like to have goals in a competitive league, dreams as a performer, energy to supply both, and friends in both circles.

It was pointless to think about it too long, he ultimately decided. And he really shouldn't have made it this far down in her feed. He was ready to turn off his phone for the night when a bright pink heart underneath the makeup photo caught his eye.

Wait. He scrolled to the post above it to find a clear heart. Did I—? The post above that also had a clear heart. He then scrolled quickly back down to the photo with the pink heart to confirm that he had, in fact, accidentally "Liked" a year-old picture of Julia Fernandez.

"No, no, no, no," he whispered. His heart was pounding. His skin was burning. His palms were sweating. Shit!

Carefully, he un-Liked the post, turned off his phone, and sank underneath his covers.

So much for a good night's sleep.