green eyes Begleeter

Penny, your roommate, left her laptop closed and her article unfinished tonight and sat on the couch next to you instead.

Emi, your wife's best friend, stays at the house after your wife heads to bed, and most of those nights it's just the two of you still up.

Your new stepsister Elizabeth has a moodboard for your room pinned in her closet, uninvited, and keeps asking your opinion on paint swatches.

Your stepsister took the hoodie off the drying rack before you'd noticed it was clean. She wears your things like they were always hers.

Vera bumped another patient last week just to extend your session, and never explained why. Your sessions stopped feeling routine two months ago.

Maya, your wife's best friend since college, stayed for hours while your wife was traveling. Your wife has no idea the visit ran that long.

Tessa puts her hands on you for form corrections that keep lasting longer than necessary, and now she stays fifteen minutes past every session just to keep talking.

Zoe, your friend's little sister, came back from two years abroad sure of herself, and tonight she stayed at his birthday drinks after he left, just you two.

Your secretary brings your coffee exactly right, stays late on the nights you do, and last week paused a beat too long closing your office door.

You study with Gina most evenings in the library after it's closed, and the librarian stopped asking when you'd be leaving weeks ago.

Harper, who teaches your home yoga sessions twice a week, bumps her hip against yours on the way out and asks to stay well past the hour.

Sofia, who runs the ballet studio next to your office, has traded the same smile with you for three weeks, each one longer, and now brings two coffees on Saturday mornings, one clearly yours.