this don't even feel like falling

"Really, Scott, is it necessary to—"

Kirstie cuts herself off at the knock on Scott's hotel room door.

"What?" Scott asks.

She shakes her head, and waves toward the door. Frowning a little, Scott goes to answer it. He's pretty sure he knows who it is, at least, though he's got no idea what she was gonna to say. He was just telling her about where Mitch is, it's not like he was talking about something complicated and irrelevant like—well, like how to run for political office, or how to play the stock market, or bingo strategy at a senior's center.

He gets the door open, and it's exactly who Scott thought it would be, on the other side.

"Hey, sorry, I was on the phone," Kevin says, coming in and taking the door out of Scott's hands to shut it behind himself so Scott doesn't have to. "Didn't see your text until just a minute ago. Sup?"

Scott says, "I just thought we should hang out! The three of us!"

Kevin blinks. He looks around, obviously spots Kirstie on the bed, but then he—keeps looking? It confuses Scott, for all five seconds it takes before Kevin asks, "Mitch isn't here?"

He sounds surprised. Then a beat later he looks more surprised, somehow, even though Scott hasn't answered yet. Kevin's not even looking at Scott, though, he's looking past him, and his eyes have gone a little wide.

Scott turns, trying to see what's caught Kevin's attention and is making him look like that, but all he sees is Kirstie, sitting on the bed, where she was when he went to answer the door. She's reaching up to fix her hair, even; perfectly normal.

"What?" Scott asks, looking back at Kevin.

"Uh," Kevin says, eyes still wide. He shrugs, short and awkward. "Nothing?"

Scott narrows his eyes. "No, you definitely—"

"Mitch is on a date," Kirstie says, her voice coming blunt and without inflection from behind Scott.

"Oh," says Kevin.

"A second date," Kirstie says, in the same voice.

"Oh," Kevin says. He winces.

"So I thought we could hang out," Scott cuts in, making his voice cheerful even though for some reason that also makes it come out too-loud for the room. Not like it's the first time that's ever happened. "The three of us!"

Kevin looks past him again, like he's meeting Kirstie's eyes. "Just—the three of us? What about—"

"Esther told me earlier that she and Avi have a cousin who lives here in San Fran, or something," Kirstie says, before Scott can. "So they escaped to meet up with her."

"Oh," Kevin says, and really, he knows more words than that, he should use some of them. He sighs. "Fun."

It's not the best word he could have picked, but whatever, Scott's just glad it's not 'oh' by itself again. He'd be gladder, if Kevin actually sounded like he meant it. Obviously he sounded like he wanted to sound like he meant it, but—Kevin is a terrible liar, okay, and Scott is not an idiot.

"You don't think we're fun?" Scott asks. He's aiming for teasing. He's totally fun, see, he'll even prove it.

Behind him, Kirstie groans.

"Usually, sure," Kevin says, looking like he's walking into a trap and knows it. "But, uh."

"But, what?" Scott asks.