[FEAR STREET X OCS]
"The more that you say, the less I know. Wherever you stray, I follow."
All Reyes ever wanted was simple; defeat Sunnyvale, reunite her two best friends who had been torn apart by misunderstandings, and maybe, just maybe, convinc...
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VI. fireball
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As the group scattered to complete their assigned tasks, Reyes found herself paired with Simon to set up the bottles of gasoline, just her luck. She silently cursed whoever had decided to team them up, knowing the conversation that was about to happen.
"So." Simon began casually, though his tone was tinged with something else. "You and Kate, huh?"
Reyes focused on the task at hand, her hands fumbling slightly as she positioned a bottle on the opposite side of the room. She avoided looking at him. "Yeah, uh, it just sort of happened. Sorry."
"Sorry?" Simon's voice sharpened, and she could hear the sting behind his words even though he tried to mask it with a laugh. "No, no, no. Nothing to be sorry for. What happened earlier was a blip. A lapse of judgment." He paused, his words rushing out too fast. "It didn't mean anything. It wasn't anything."
Reyes winced. She hadn't meant to hurt him; she hadn't even been sure of what she was feeling herself. But hearing Simon brush it off like that stung in a way she hadn't expected. Still, she wasn't sure what to say.
"Yeah, exactly." Her voice came out flat, empty, and she hated herself for it. She didn't want to make it worse, didn't want to seem like she was minimising what had happened, even though Simon's tone suggested he wanted her to.
The air between them grew thick with unspoken tension as they continued setting up the gasoline bottles in silence. Reyes felt the weight of Simon's presence behind her, and her mind was a chaotic swirl of conflicting thoughts, about Simon, about Kate, and about the dangerous situation they were all in. She wasn't sure how to balance any of it.
"Anyway." Simon said abruptly after a while, his voice sounding forced. "We're done here. We should get back to the others."
As he passed her, Simon gave her a nudge on the shoulder, the gesture playful but with an edge to it. Reyes flinched slightly at the contact, but Simon didn't notice. He kept walking, not waiting for her to follow.
Reyes stood there for a moment, staring at the rows of bottles they had lined up. She didn't know what to feel. She cared about Simon, she always had. But what happened with Kate was different, intense, and more real than anything she'd experienced before. And now she was caught in the middle, unsure of how to navigate the wreckage of both relationships.
