Isla was still grinning as she crouched to feed the stray, her mint chocolate chip cone long gone, hair damp from the rain. She didn't look like someone with a snake for a boyfriend. Didn't look like someone who'd just been the subject of the kind of locker room talk that makes you want to break noses.

Jake's voice still rattled in my head, each word sharper than the last. If she knew what he'd said — the way he'd said it — she'd drop him on the spot. But I couldn't just throw that at her here, now, in the middle of an evening that had been... good.

When she straightened and brushed her hands against her skirt, I took a bite of my strawberry cone. Sweet. Cold. Pointless. Strawberry wasn't my thing, but Luna had this way of pulling me into things I didn't plan on — into her moments, whether I wanted to or not.

She smiled at me as we started walking again, her cardigan-wrapped shoulders brushing mine. "See? Feeding whiskers was worth getting caught in the rain."

"Not arguing," I said, though my mouth twitched.

We cut through the quiet street toward her house, puddles glinting under the streetlights. I could still feel the ghost of her under my arm, the way we'd fit under my cardigan like we'd been doing it for years.

"So," she said, light but deliberate, "you going to tell me what really happened with Jake, or should I just assume it was about... I don't know... your strawberry ice cream slander?"

My jaw tightened. "It's nothing."

"That's not an answer."

"It's all you're getting tonight, Luna."

She gave me a sideways look, like she could see straight through me. She probably could.

And God, I hated this — hated lying by omission. But Luna's stubborn. The more you tell her to stay away from someone, the more she'll dig her heels in, convinced she's proving a point. Push too hard, and she'll run straight into the fire just to prove she won't get burned.

And Jake... Jake was a fire she'd have to feel for herself.
If I told her what he said, she'd doubt me, defend him, twist herself in knots trying to explain it away — and it would only make him seem more important in her head. She needs to see him for who he really is, without me colouring it.

I wasn't protecting Jake. I was protecting her. And that meant letting her get there on her own, no matter how much it killed me to wait.

Isla sighed, her frustration clear. "Fine. Keep your secrets, Dwyers. But I'm not stupid. I know something happened."

I stopped walking, turning to face her. "Isa, I—"

Before I could finish, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out, her expression softening as she looked at the screen.

"Jake," she muttered, almost to herself, then shot me a quick glance. "I should probably... you know."

I swallowed the sour taste in my mouth and nodded, fighting the urge to tell her to ignore him. To stay with me instead. But this wasn't my place. Not yet.

"Yeah," I said, stepping back. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

She hesitated for a second, like she was weighing something in her mind. Then, she nodded, her smile returning, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Yeah. Tomorrow."

She turned and walked away, phone in hand, already answering Jake's call. I watched her go, a tight knot of frustration and guilt tangling inside me.

As her figure disappeared around the corner, I shoved my hands in my pockets and headed toward home. Each step heavier than the last.

She deserves better, I reminded myself. And when the time came, I'd make sure she knew exactly what that looked like.

*****

The street was quiet except for the sound of my shoes on wet pavement, the air still damp from the rain. My phone buzzed in my pocket. Jake.

I hesitated before swiping to answer. "Hey."

"Hey, babe," he said, smooth but... off. Not the usual easy charm. "What're you up to?"

"Just heading home," I said, keeping my tone light. "I heard about you and Theo at practice. What happened?"

A pause, then a low, dismissive laugh. "Nothing. Just the usual. You know how Theo gets."

I frowned. "Theo seemed pretty upset when I saw him."

Jake sighed, irritation slipping in. "It's not a big deal, Isla. We're guys. We argue. End of story."

The answer was so casual it grated. Before I could push, a faint laugh echoed in the background — feminine, light, not the kind of sound you expect to hear during a casual call with your boyfriend.

"Jake?" My voice tightened. "Who's that?"

Another pause, then the sound of him muffling the phone. "Oh, that? My cousin. She's visiting."

Something in the way he said it — too casual, too quick — didn't sit right. "Your cousin?"

"Yeah, listen, I gotta go." He cut me off, fast. "I'll call you later, okay?"

The line went dead before I could respond.

I stared at the phone in my hand, my stomach coiling. Not proof. Not anything solid. Just that low, nagging hum in my chest that said something's off.

I shoved my phone into my pocket and walked the rest of the way home, the warm spill of light from my windows pulling me forward. Inside, the smell of Mum's cooking and the sound of Matteo's video game wrapped around me like a blanket I hadn't realised I needed.

"Matteo, you're going to fry your brain if you keep playing that," I teased, ruffling his hair as I passed.

"Don't care," he said without looking up. "Level twenty."

I rolled my eyes, slipping my shoes off in the hallway and heading for the kitchen. Mum was at the counter, humming under her breath as she chopped vegetables, each precise thud of the knife somehow easing the knot in my shoulders.

"Hey, Mum."

She smiled without looking up. "Hey, honey. You've got that look."

I groaned. "Do I really?"

"To a mother? Yes. Spill."

I leaned against the counter. "Jake and Theo had a fight at practice. Neither of them will tell me what actually happened. Jake says it's nothing, but Theo... I don't know. He feels... different. Like he's holding something back."

Mum paused, her brows pulling together. "That's Theo. Always trying to protect you."

"I know," I said, frustration tugging at me. "I just hate feeling like I'm the last person to know what's going on. And Jake's been .... " I hesitated, hearing that laugh again in my head. "....weird."

Her gaze softened. "Trust your instincts, Isla. They're usually right."

I nodded but didn't answer. She meant well, but trusting my instincts meant admitting something I wasn't ready to say out loud.

I went upstairs after that, my thoughts still circling. Jake's easy deflections. Theo's guarded silences. And the truth I wasn't sure I wanted — or was ready — to find.