5
Grace.
I started talking to Nate because I needed a distraction.
He was cute and nice enough. Twenty-eight, with a crooked smile and easy conversation. We matched on an app I hadn’t opened in months, mostly out of curiosity. Maybe spite. Maybe boredom. Maybe because pretending I wasn’t unraveling inside Daniel’s house became too exhausting.
Nate didn’t ask much. He flirted, complimented my freckles, and said things like you have the kind of smile that makes people lean in. I smiled politely at that. And when he invited me out for drinks, I said yes before I could change my mind.
It felt good to be touched lightly. To have someone laugh at my jokes and not look at me like a ticking bomb. With Nate, there were no power plays, no silences so thick they made me feel like I was losing m
