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━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ❝ MONO, MY ASS. MAYBE HE'S JUST AVOIDINGYOU. ❞ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
TALIA SAT CROSS-LEGGED on Bella's bed, her fingers nervously twisting the hem of Embry's hoodie. The sunlight streaming through the window seemed too bright, too cheerful, for how anxious she felt. Bella emerged from the bathroom, towel-drying her hair as she perched on the edge of the bed, shooting Talia a curious glance.
"Alright," Bella said, dropping the towel and folding her arms. "You've been weirdly quiet all morning. Spill."
Talia hesitated, her cheeks flushing. She looked down at her hands, chewing on her bottom lip. "Okay, but promise you won't freak out."
Bella raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Okay."
Talia exhaled sharply and met Bella's gaze. "I kissed Embry last night."
Bella's eyes widened for a split second before a knowing smile spread across her face. "Oh my God. Finally. How was it?"
Talia's cheeks deepened in color, but a soft smile tugged at her lips. "It was... really hot," she admitted, her voice dropping to a near whisper. "The guy was groaning, Bella! Shit was really hot. I've never made a guy make sounds like that."
Bella shook her head trying to erase the image of Embry groaning. "Okay! That's not what I meant!"
Talia let out a little laugh, "It wasn't just a kiss—it felt like... I don't know, like it was him all along. You know? Like everything in that moment just made sense."
Bella leaned forward. "Okay, that sounds amazing. So why do you look like someone stole your puppy?"
Talia groaned, flopping back onto the bed and covering her face with her hands. "Because he's not answering my calls or texts. At all. It's like he just disappeared."
Bella frowned, the lightness in the room dimming slightly. "Wait, what? Since when?"
"Since he walked me home last night," Talia said, sitting up again. She hugged her knees to her chest, her voice tinged with frustration. "I've called him three times, Bella. I even sent a text this morning just asking if he was okay, and... nothing. Not even a read receipt."
Bella's brows furrowed in thought. "That's weird."
Talia shrugged, trying to hide the hurt creeping into her voice. "Maybe I'm just on some kind of high, you know? Maybe I'm reading too much into it. It's not like we've been anything more than... I don't know, friends until now."
