I swear the night had gone soft around the edges.

Most people had already drifted off—heels kicked aside, jackets slung over shoulders, laughter fading into the villas like echoes that didn't want to leave just yet. The music was lower now, slower, the kind that makes you feel like the night is exhaling.

We were the leftovers.

Me, Luke, Maya, Josh, Henry, Sophia—plus a couple of old high-school friends half-sunk into couches and lawn chairs, nursing drinks like they were memories.

Josh was standing, slightly swaying, one hand in his pocket, the other holding a glass he'd forgotten to drink from.

He squinted at us.

"You know what," he said slowly, ominously, "I just heard the funniest thing."

Maya didn't even look at him. "If this starts with 'you know what,' I already hate it."

Josh ignored her. Of course.

"It really took me back," he went on. "Like—full high school flashback. Lockers. Rumors. People whispering like they've cracked the Da Vinci Code."

I felt Luke shift beside me.

Josh's eyes landed on me first. Then Luke. Then back to me.

"I just heard," he said, drawing it out painfully, "that Maddie and Luke are dating."

Silence.

Not the comfortable kind.
The dead kind.

Even the crickets seemed to pause.

Josh frowned. "Okay. I don't like that."
He pointed between us. "I hate this silence. What does that mean?"

No one spoke.

His eyes widened.

"No. No, no, no." He turned to Maya like she was the adult in the room. "You—are you guys—"

Maya sighed dramatically and finally looked up.
"They're not really doing it," she said. "It's fake."

Josh blinked.

Once.
Twice.

Then he slowly looked around at all of us.

Henry stared at his shoes.
Sophia bit her lip.
Emre pretended to be very interested in his drink.
Luke said nothing.

Josh's gaze snapped back to Maya.

"...what did you do?"

I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop smiling.

Because—wow.
For once, it wasn't me.

Maya lifted her chin. "Okay, first of all, rude. Second of all, I did what any good best friend would do."

Josh's voice went up an octave. "You fake-dated them?"

"Correction," she said. "I suggested it. They agreed."

Josh looked at me. "You agreed?"

I shrugged. "I was emotionally compromised."

Luke added flatly, "It seemed logical at the time."

Josh dragged a hand down his face. "I leave you people alone for, what, five years? And this is what happens?"

Henry finally spoke. "There was... context."

"Of course there was," Josh muttered. "There's always context."

So we told him.

Dylan.
The breakup.
The sudden engagement announcement.
The panic.
The alcohol.
Maya's brilliant, terrible idea.

Josh listened in silence, eyes narrowing with every detail.

When we finished, he stared at the ground for a long second.

Then he laughed.

Like—full on, bending forward, hand-on-knees laughing.

"Oh my God," he said. "This is so on brand."

Maya squinted. "For who?"

"For all of you," he said, straightening. "But especially you." He pointed at me. "You accidentally fake-dating your way into emotional chaos? Classic Maddie."

"Hey."

"And you," he turned to Luke, "agreeing to this instead of, I don't know, saying no?"

Luke shrugged. "I didn't see a reason not to help."

Josh stared at him. "You're terrifying."

Then—quietly—he said, "So... where are we now?"

No one answered right away.

The night felt heavy again. Not bad. Just... honest.

Maya broke it first. "They're figuring it out."

Josh hummed. "Yeah. That tracks."

He looked at me then, softer. "You okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I think so."

He nodded back. Then smirked.
"High school really never lets go, huh?"

I glanced at Luke.

He was looking at the lights strung overhead, jaw relaxed, expression unreadable.

"Apparently not," I said.

Josh stretched his arms over his head. "Alright. I'm going to bed before one of you confesses something else."

Maya snorted. "Coward."

"Survivor," he corrected, already backing away.

Maya's "coward" hung in the air longer than it should have.

Josh had already started to walk away when she said it the first time. His shoulders stayed loose, his hands still in his pockets, like it hadn't even registered.

"No," Maya added, sharper now. "You're a coward."

Everyone froze.

We all waited for it—the turn, the joke, the loud comeback Josh was famous for. The grin, the deflection. Something.

Nothing came.

Maya snorted, bitter. "See? A fucking coward."

I leaned toward her instinctively, lowering my voice. "Maya... maybe you've had a little too much to drink. Or you're still drunk from earlier."

She didn't look at me. "No. I mean what I said."

She stood up.

That alone made my stomach twist.

She stared straight at Josh's back. No smile. No teasing edge. Just raw, unfiltered anger.

"You're a big fucking coward, Josh."

A sound broke the silence—quiet, almost swallowed by the night.

A laugh.

Josh stopped.

Slowly, he turned around.

His face wasn't angry. That somehow made it worse.

"Is this still about the college project that went wrong?" he asked, calm, almost careful.

Every head snapped between them.

My chest tightened.

I knew Maya got mad at Josh sometimes—annoyed, sarcastic, rolling her eyes—but this?
This wasn't that.

This was real.

Maya crossed her arms. "You know very well what this is about."

Josh nodded once. "Alright. You really want to talk about that?"

"I don't want to talk about anything that has to do with you," she shot back.

Luke leaned toward me, voice low. "Do you know what this is about?"

I shook my head. "Nope. First time hearing any of this."

"Same," he murmured.

The tension thickened, stretching between Maya and Josh like a wire pulled too tight.

Henry shifted uncomfortably. Sophia reached for his hand.

"Maybe," Sophia said gently, "we should separate them."

"Yeah," I agreed quickly, already moving.

Everything happened at once.

Henry and Luke stepped toward Josh, murmuring something I couldn't hear as they guided him away. Josh didn't resist. He didn't joke. He just let himself be steered, eyes still locked somewhere behind Maya, like he was already somewhere else.

I stayed with Maya, slipping an arm around her shoulders. Sophia mirrored me on the other side.

"Come on," I said softly. "Let's get you to your room."

She didn't fight us. That scared me more than if she had.

As we walked, she muttered under her breath—"stupid coward... always running... always"—the words tumbling out sharp and fractured, like they'd been waiting a long time.

Once inside her room, she dropped onto the bed face-first, the mattress absorbing her like she'd finally run out of strength.

"You can go," she said into the pillow. "I'll be fine."

I hesitated.

I looked at her. Then at Sophia.

Sophia shrugged, helpless. I don't know either.

I stepped closer. "Do you want to tell us something?"

"No."

Not angry. Just final.

I nodded. "Okay."

Sophia leaned in. "We're upstairs, alright? Big doors. If you need anything."

Maya gave a muffled, "Thanks."

We lingered a second longer—then quietly left.

As I closed the door behind us, I realized something unsettling.

Whatever had just surfaced between Maya and Josh?

It wasn't about tonight.

It was something old.

And it wasn't finished.

The door clicked shut behind Maya, and the sound felt louder than it should have.

Sophia and I stood there in the hallway for a second, just staring at the wood, like it might suddenly explain everything if we waited long enough.

"Well," Sophia finally said, exhaling, "that was... something."

"That's one word for it," I replied.

We started walking slowly down the hall, our footsteps soft against the stone floor. I kept replaying Maya's voice in my head. Coward. The way Josh had laughed. The way he hadn't defended himself. None of it made sense.

We'd been a good group. A solid one. Loud, messy, chaotic—but good.

Sure, life had happened. College. Careers. Distance. Fame, in Josh's case. Some of us talked more than others. I talked to Maya almost every day back then, Sophia nearly as much. Josh... Josh had always been harder to pin down. Luke had drifted the most, a quiet fade that no one had really questioned out loud.

But this?

This wasn't drifting. This was a crack that had been there for years, apparently, and none of us had noticed.

And that scared me more than the fight itself.

We turned the corner and almost collided with Ian and Dal, who were whispering aggressively to each other and stopped mid-sentence when they saw our faces.

"Everything okay?" Dal asked.

Sophia smiled automatically. "Yeah. Just... wedding chaos."

They nodded, accepting the half-lie easily, and moved on.

A few steps later, Luke and Henry appeared from the opposite end of the hall.

Luke looked tired. Not drunk-tired—emotionally tired. The kind that settles in your shoulders.

Henry was the first to speak. "You guys okay?"

Sophia and I nodded almost in sync.

"Yeah," she said. "Are you?"

Henry nodded too. "We got him to bed. Let's just hope he stays there."

I winced slightly. "And Maya's locked herself in her room. Doesn't look like she's coming out anytime soon."

Luke nodded slowly, jaw tight. "Figures."

There was a beat of silence. The kind that fills itself with things no one wants to say.

Henry broke it with a soft huff. "Well. That's a big revelation." He glanced between Luke and me. "I really thought you two were the only complicated ones."

"Thanks," I muttered.

Luke snorted. "Yeah, man. Much appreciated."

Henry smiled faintly. "You're welcome."

Sophia checked the time on her phone, then looked up at him. "Maybe we should go. Tomorrow's a big day."

Henry nodded instantly. "Yeah. Definitely."

Sophia turned to us. "If anything happens—anything at all—call us, okay?"

I nodded. "Go enjoy being married. Forget our... tantrums."

She smiled, a little sad but warm. "They'll be fine."

"I hope so," I said honestly.

Henry squeezed Luke's shoulder on the way past, then gave me a quick hug. "Night, Miller."

"Night, husband," I replied.

They disappeared down the hall together, quiet and solid and in love, and for a second I envied the simplicity of that.

When they were gone, the villa felt different. Smaller. Heavier.

Luke and I stood there, neither of us moving.

"Well," I said finally, crossing my arms, "this reunion is going great."

He let out a breath that almost sounded like a laugh. "Yeah. Five stars. Would recommend."

I glanced down the hall toward Maya's room, then in the opposite direction, where Josh was sleeping—two closed doors, two silences, and a whole lot of history trapped behind both

I leaned my shoulder against the wall, arms crossed, still hearing Maya's voice echoing in my head.

"Do you think," I asked quietly, "do you have any idea what that was about?"

Luke didn't answer right away. He looked down the hallway, like Josh might suddenly reappear with an explanation neatly packaged and ready to go.

"I doubt it," I continued, filling the silence myself. "It's Josh. He's never like this."

Luke nodded slowly. "Yeah."

We stood there a moment longer, the quiet stretching, uncomfortable but familiar.

"It kind of looks like..." I hesitated, then finished anyway, "...us."

Luke huffed. "I wasn't going to say it, but—"

"But you thought it," I cut in, glancing at him.

"That's not the same thing."

I raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night."

That earned me a small smile. Progress.

We started walking again, slow and aimless, like neither of us actually wanted to go to our rooms yet. The villa was quieter now—just soft lights, distant laughter somewhere outside, the echo of footsteps on stone.

"I just don't know what to do," I admitted. "It feels wrong to pick a side when we don't even know what the fight is about."

Luke nodded. "Maya wouldn't explode like that for nothing."

"And Josh wouldn't shut down like that unless it really hit," I added.

We both sighed at the same time.

"Great," I muttered. "So they're both probably right and both probably wrong."

Luke tilted his head. "Want to bet?"

I shot him a look. "We are not betting on our friends' emotional trauma."

He smirked. "Fair."

We stopped near the staircase. Luke leaned on the railing, thinking, then said casually, "If we were going to solve it, though... I'd say Maya's right."

"Oh?" I turned toward him. "You're siding with Maya?"

"I didn't say siding," he replied. "I said she's probably right. Josh has a habit of running when things get real."

I scoffed. "That's rich, coming from you."

He blinked. "Hey. Low blow."

"You literally just described yourself," I said, pointing at him.

He opened his mouth, closed it, then sighed. "Okay. That's... fair."

I smiled, victorious for half a second, before the heaviness crept back in.

"So what now?" I asked. "We're adults. Supposedly. We don't exactly ground them or confiscate phones."

Luke thought for a second, then said, completely straight-faced, "We could settle it with a game."

I laughed. "That's not how adults solve things."

He nodded immediately. "Yeah, you're probably right."

I relaxed—until he added, "But there is a snooker table downstairs."

I stared at him.

"No."

He shrugged. "Just saying."

"I'm not doing that."

"Didn't say you had to."

I took one step toward the stairs. Then stopped. Groaned. Rubbed my face.

"I hate you," I muttered.

Luke grinned. "I know ."

We ended up downstairs anyway.

The snooker room was dim, warm light pooling over the green felt table. It smelled faintly of wood and old whiskey—like time had slowed down there. Luke grabbed two cues from the rack and handed me one.

"This doesn't mean anything," I warned.

"Of course not," he said. "Just a game."

I chalked the cue, lining up my first shot. "So team Josh and Team Maya?"

Luke leaned against the table. "Sticking with Maya."

I took the shot. The ball rolled smoothly, sank cleanly into the corner pocket.

Luke raised his eyebrows. "Beginner's luck."

I smirked. "Josh might be right, that's a first."