HIS POV
The circle settled in like it had been waiting all along. Damian leaned forward on the floor, grin stretched across his face, while Emily tugged a pillow into her lap. Luke sprawled with his usual laziness on the other end of the couch, but his eyes betrayed amusement.
I stayed in the armchair, angled slightly toward the group, though I wasn't exactly eager to play.
"Okay," Damian announced, his voice brimming with mischief. "House rules: if you choose truth, you have to answer honestly. No skipping. If you choose dare, you have to do it, or…" He paused dramatically, "…eat one of Luke's mystery snacks from the fridge."
Luke sat up straighter. "Hey, my snacks are perfectly fine."
Emily laughed. "Your snacks are terrifying. Who keeps pickles and marshmallows in the same jar?"
Luke only shrugged, smirking. "A genius."
The group groaned, and I almost let out a laugh, though it came out instead as a quiet exhale.
Damian clapped his hands together. "First victim...Emily. Truth or dare?"
Emily tapped her chin, pretending to deliberate. "Truth."
"Boring," Damian muttered, though his eyes lit up. "All right, tell us...what's your most embarrassing moment in class?"
Emily flushed but answered with gusto, describing how she once tripped while walking to the front during a presentation and spilled water all over the professor's notes. The room erupted in laughter, Amara's soft chuckle mixing with Damian's booming one.
Then Emily leaned forward, pointing at Amara. "Your turn. Truth or dare?"
Amara hesitated, her lips pursing in thought. I found myself waiting for her choice more intently than I should.
"Truth," she said finally.
Emily grinned. "Hmm… okay. If you had to choose one late-night movies or early-morning walks?"
Amara tilted her head, smiling. "Late-night movies. Definitely. Mornings and I don't get along."
The group murmured approval, and the questions continued, light and teasing. Damian admitted his guilty pleasure was singing loudly in the shower. Luke confessed he once failed a test because he misread the instructions. The mood was easy, laughter carrying across the room like it belonged there.
I stayed quiet, content to watch. To notice.
Notice how Amara's eyes brightened when she laughed, how she tucked her legs beneath her on the couch, how her voice lingered a fraction longer in the air than the others'.
I was fine with observing until Luke stretched, cracked his knuckles, and turned toward me with a smirk.
"Your turn, Adrian. Truth or dare?"
The spotlight landed on me like a weight. For a moment, silence pressed in.
"Truth," I said flatly.
Damian whooped. "Finally! The man speaks."
Luke's smirk widened, and I should've known then he wouldn't keep it harmless. "All right, Adrian. Since you're so mysterious, here's a simple one are you seeing anyone right now? Like… in a relationship."
The question hung in the air, heavier than the rest.
Emily's eyes widened, amused. Damian leaned forward, grinning like a wolf. Even Amara shifted slightly, her hand tightening around her pillow.
I could've dismissed it with one word. "No." That would've been enough.
But for reasons I didn't fully understand, I didn't stop there.
"No," I said, then paused, glancing just briefly toward Amara before looking back at Luke. "Not right now."
It was subtle, almost nothing. A glance, a moment stretched thinner than thread.
But I saw the way Emily's brows shot up, the way Damian's grin sharpened, the way Amara's lips parted just slightly before she looked away.
Luke smirked knowingly. "Interesting."
"Next," I said, my tone sharper than intended.
Damian chuckled. "Touchy, aren't we? All right, all right, I'll spare you...for now."
The game rolled on, but something in the air had shifted.
When Emily was dared to balance a spoon on her nose, the laughter felt lighter, louder almost too loud, like everyone was compensating for the moment that had passed. When Damian asked Amara if she could survive without her phone for a week, I caught her answering with a smile, though her eyes flickered once in my direction.
I leaned back, arms folded across my chest, my expression carefully blank.
Inside, though, I replayed the glance I'd given her. Why I'd done it. Why it mattered.
And why, for the first time in a long while, I found myself wishing the question had been harder so I could've said more.
AMARA POV
The laughter didn't sound the same anymore.
I laughed along with everyone else at Emily's attempt to balance the spoon on her nose, at Damian's ridiculous dare to make Luke eat two marshmallows dipped in hot sauce but every sound that left my mouth felt a little forced, a little too light.
Because my mind was stuck on a single moment.
A glance.
His glance.
When Luke had asked him if he was in a relationship, I'd braced myself for Adrian's reply. I thought he'd answer with one word like always, cold and clipped, the way he did with most questions. And he had at first.
"No."
But then he had glanced at me. So quick, so brief I almost wondered if I imagined it. Almost.
And then he added, "Not right now."
Two extra words, but they rewrote everything.
My chest had tightened, and I hadn't been able to look at him for the rest of the game without feeling the echo of it.
Not right now.
What did that mean? Why glance at me?
My thoughts circled while the others carried on. Luke teased him mercilessly for being "touchy." Emily teased me, too, when she noticed I'd gone quieter. "You okay?" she whispered once, nudging my arm.
"Yeah," I'd whispered back, managing a smile. "Just tired."
But tired wasn't the word. My mind was buzzing, too awake, too restless.
By the time Damian declared the game over and suggested everyone call it a night, I felt relief and disappointment tangled together. Relief that the spotlight had shifted away, disappointment that it was ending before I could make sense of… whatever that had been.
We drifted upstairs. I trailed behind Emily, clutching my pillow, my thoughts pressing closer with each step. My room was directly across from his. I knew that already, but tonight, the knowledge seemed louder.
Emily disappeared into our room with a yawn. "Goodnight, Amara."
"Goodnight."
I stepped inside, closing the door softly behind me.
But sleep was impossible.
I changed into my pajamas and lay down, the ceiling looming above me. I turned once, then again, pulling the blanket up to my chin. My eyes wouldn't stay still. Every time I closed them, I saw his face again. Or rather, the way his eyes had flickered toward me steady, sharp, almost unreadable.
Not right now.
Did that mean there could be someone? Did that mean he wasn't interested? Or was it just… words?
I pressed a hand to my chest, frustrated at myself. Why did it matter so much? We'd only just started speaking more like normal people, and here I was dissecting every syllable.
From across the hall came a faint sound...a floorboard creaking, maybe, or him moving about in his room. My heart jumped.
He was there. Just a few steps away.
I sat up, my blanket pooling in my lap, the silence suddenly louder than before. I thought about what it would be like to knock on his door, to ask if he was awake. But the thought itself made my palms sweat, so I buried it quickly.
Instead, I got up and crossed to the window. The night outside stretched wide, the trees swaying lightly in the dark. Somewhere downstairs, the refrigerator hummed. The whole house felt suspended, waiting.
My reflection in the glass showed my own uncertainty. The Amara who was supposed to be confident, steady, always prepared, was biting her lip like a girl who didn't know where she stood.
I shook my head, pulling away from the window, and climbed back into bed.
Still, even as my eyelids grew heavy, the thought wouldn't let me go.
Not right now.
Maybe tomorrow I'd laugh at myself. Maybe it had meant nothing at all.
But tonight, alone in the dark, it felt like everything.