There’s a horrible, too-long silence. Melanie just stands there, one hand pressed to her baby bump, the other holding a slender notepad. Aiden and Noah both seem like they want to melt into the ground. I have no idea what’s happening on my face, but I’m sure that it’s bad.

Melanie looks adorable, honestly. She’s in a loose babydoll dress, coral-colored and bright, with black tights and knee-high boots. A quilted navy jacket on top. She’s wearing cherry-red lipstick, her hair in a french braid, a few strands pulled free by the wind.

She looks together, professional, ready for a meeting with Gabby. The only troubling thing about her is the expression on her face.

Aiden finally breaks the silence. “Mellie.”

“Oh, god.” She tips her head back like she’s searching for help from on high. “This can’t be happening to me. Are you seriously the person I’m meeting with? And what is Noah doing here? At least it’s a pleasant surprise to see Jamie. Hi, by the way, sweet thing. It’s good to see you.”

“Hi, Melanie,” I answer, my cheeks burning. “It’s good to see you, too! Do you want to go inside? Maybe we can talk about this not in the cold?”

“Good idea.” Melanie shivers, pulling her jacket tighter to herself. “Is there a step to get up? I’m going to need a little help.” Noah and Aiden each offer a hand, and she swats both of them away. “No thank you, absolutely not, not from you two. Jamie, please?”

I hurry forward and take her arm, help her up the step and inside. Noah, Aiden, and I all exchange a helpless look before we follow her.

We’re met with the very confused faces of the people we left inside, which is fair. Not only did Noah and I run out the front door and return through the back, but the tension in the air is - whew. It’s. Just. It’s bad.

“Wow, what happened?” Gabby arches an eyebrow. “What’s going on with all of your faces? Is this our party planner?”

“Yes, hi.” Melanie extends a hand and shakes Gabby’s. “I’m Melanie, and I would love a chair, or just someplace to sit, right now-”

“Ripley, there’s one in the storage closet in the hallway,” Gabby says. He sets off immediately, and Gabby turns back to Melanie. “Look at you, mama! I had no idea, Raj didn’t say!”

Melanie smooths a hand over the bump, nodding tiredly.

“I generally don’t mention it to prospective clients, sometimes they get weird about it.” She shrugs. “I hope it’s not a problem?”

“Of course not,” Gabby answers, as Ripley returns with a folding chair. He pops it open; Melanie gives him a grateful look and sinks into the seat.

“I promise I’m capable of standing, normally, I’m just - I wasn’t prepared for this impromptu high school reunion.”

“High school reunion,” Gabby repeats.

“Yes.” Melanie lets out a strangled laugh. “No one told you, I guess? Aiden and I-”

“Can we talk about this somewhere else?” Aiden's voice is thin and strained. “Could we go-?”

“I’m not going anywhere with you!” Melanie glares at him. “After everything you-”

“Melanie,” Noah tries to cut in. “We had no idea-”

“What are you even doing here, Noah?”

He hesitates. “Raj and I - um-”

“Oh, my god.” Melanie closes her eyes. “Don’t say it. Don’t say that you’re the friend Raj has been hanging out with all the time recently.”

“We...” Noah’s face is now so pale that it’s actually making the tattoos by his eyes look darker.

“Seriously?” Melanie sinks lower in the chair, pressing her fingers to her forehead. “No. Come on, no.”

“Alix - are you taking notes, right now?” I ask, incredulous.

She glances up from her notebook, a little pink in the face. “This is a lot to keep track of!”

“I’m sorry,” Gabby interrupts. “What exactly is going on here?”

Aiden rubs his arm awkwardly. “Um, Mellie and I-”

“You do not get to call me that, Aiden!” Melanie looks at him with murder in her eyes. “Jesus Christ! Someone please tell me that Ralph and Grant aren’t here, too.”

“Sorry, who are Ralph and Grant?” Alix asks, flipping to a new page of her notebook.

“Okay, you know what?” As always, Gabby cuts directly through the chaos. Everyone stops and looks at her. “Let’s reschedule this meeting for another time. Interns, with me, let’s walk it back to City Hall. Aiden, here’s the key, lock the building when you go. Unless - Melanie, do you want me to take you back to your car? You’re under no obligation to stay.”

“I’m fine.” Melanie waves a hand at her. “I can get myself back, thank you.”

“You have my number,” Gabby answers. “Ripley, Alix. Vámonos.”

“Ralph and Grant aren’t here,” I tell Melanie, when the door closes after the departing group.

“Well, that’s the first good news I’ve had today.” She pauses for a moment, then laughs. “This is so goddamn ridiculous. Why won’t you quit showing back up in my life, Aiden? I don’t want you there. And the same goes for you, Noah.”

“I didn’t even know that it was you!” Noah protests. “Raj calls you M, I thought he was saying-”

“Yes, Raj calls me M because the name Mellie has gone sour for me, actually!”

Aiden flinches.

“Melanie,” he tries. “I’m really so-”

“Okay, why is that actually weirder, now?” she grumbles to herself.

A silence falls, and then Noah shakes his head and tries again.

“Melanie - we genuinely had no idea that you were Raj’s girl. He only ever called you by your nickname. We didn’t mean to crash back into your life like this.”

Noah’s little burst of courage seems to help out Aiden.

“We seriously didn’t know,” he puts in. “I would never have come here, if I had. Jamie said to respect your boundaries, when you didn’t text me back, and I promise, I had every intention-”

“You know what, Aiden, I learned a long time ago that promises from you-”

Melanie breaks off as the door opens again. Raj steps in, his hair wild from the wind.

He spots Melanie in the chair and strides over to her. She reaches out for him, and he takes her hand, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

Noah is suddenly looking anywhere but at the two of them.

“How’d you find me?” Melanie asks.

“Noah texted me.”

“Noah texted you!” Melanie lets out a humorless laugh. “Cool, because you and Noah text, now! That’s just great.”

Raj looks over at Aiden, something sad in his dark brown eyes. “So you’re the one she never wants to talk about?”

Aiden looks deeply stung by that; he glances away, folding his arms over his chest.

“How did you not know, Raj?” Melanie groans. “You knew his name was Aiden!”

“I thought it had to be a different Aiden! I mean, he’s dating Jamie-”

“He’s what?” Melanie swivels to look at us, her eyes perfectly round. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

“-so I thought he was gay,” Raj finishes. The expression on his face suggests he's only just realized this wasn't the best moment to share that.

Aiden is hugging himself, his eyes fixed firmly on the ground. “I’m bi, for the record.”

“I shouldn’t have assumed.” Raj cringes. “I’m sorry, Aiden.”

“Raj, you’re sorry to Aiden?” Melanie shakes her head, dazed. “Okay. Angel?”

“Yes, my love?”

“Next time,” she tells him, “I need you to be more specific about who you’re hanging out with, so that I don’t have to unexpectedly run into my ex-boyfriend, and his boyfriend, and their…” She gestures at Noah. “Friend boy.”

“So you know Noah, too?” Raj asks, his eyebrows drawing together.

“Oh yes, I know Noah, he was always right there by Aiden’s side, ready to rain down hell on Jamie, or whoever else was unlucky enough to be victim of the week-”

“What?” Raj glances between Melanie and Noah. “What are you talking about?”

“Okay, I-” Noah suddenly looks almost on the verge of tears. “I’m gonna go.”

“Me, too,” Aiden says, backing away, his face miserable.

At the same time, I grab Aiden’s sleeve, and Raj grabs Noah’s wrist.

“Hang on a second,” Raj says desperately. “Don’t go, just - can you guys give us a minute? One minute. There’s another room over there.”

“Of course we can,” I answer on behalf of everyone, because both Noah and Aiden look ready to argue. “Guys. Let’s go.”

I take Noah’s arm and Aiden’s hand, then practically drag them out the door.

~~~~

We walk through a short hallway and come out into a second room. Much like the first, but smaller.

Noah puts his back to the wall and slides to the floor, where he drops his face onto his knees. Aiden presses his palms to his eyes, taking deep breaths.

“Aiden.” Noah’s voice is muffled; he doesn’t lift his head to speak. “I’m so fucking sorry, man. I wouldn’t have told Raj to recommend her, if I knew. It’s my fucking fault.”

“S’okay, Noosh. Honestly, it’s fine.”

“No, it’s really not.” Noah tips his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. “I didn’t mean to do that to you or to her.”

Aiden drops to sit next to him, and I sit down on Aiden’s other side.

A long silence follows.

When I’m sure that Noah isn’t looking, I slip my hand into Aiden’s. He can tell what I’m trying to do, and he opens the connection.

Hey. She doesn’t know the new you. I know it’s hard to stomach this reaction, but remember that this is based on the old you.

I know. It’s just that - Jamie, sometimes, being with you, I feel so far away from that person I was, and... I forget that people ever used to look at me that way.

I break the connection so that I can snuggle a little closer to him.

Long, silent minutes pass. Eventually, the door opens and Raj pokes his head in.

“Jamie.” He hooks a finger at me.

I’m not sure why I’m the one he wants, but I give Aiden’s hand a squeeze, stand up, and follow Raj out.

My heart sinks when I step back into the main room and find Melanie’s chair empty.

“Raj,” I begin, twisting my fingers together. “Listen, please don’t think that you misjudged Aiden or Noah. The people they used to be-”

“Come on, man, I know!" Raj smacks my arm. "I’m not the one who needs to hear that. Melanie does, and she wants to talk to you, so - help me out, man. She’s in her car.”

~~~~

I drop into the car and shut the door, shivering.

“God, this wind!” I zip up my jacket and twist to face Melanie. “Hi.”

“Hey.” She’s in the driver’s seat, and she’s pulled off her boots. “You mind talking here? My feet are so fucking swollen these days, I can barely keep a pair of shoes on! And that chair was really uncomfortable.”

“It’s totally fine.” I fidget for a second, my cheeks turning red again, then blurt out - “You know what else is uncomfortable? Literally everything about today.”

Melanie laughs, then groans.

“Jamie, seriously. How can you be dating Aiden, after all the - everything? That’s actually more shocking to me than finding out that he’s bi.”

“Aiden…” I hesitate, trying to think where to even start. “You remember when we talked about this before, and you told me that in high school, you couldn’t shake this feeling that underneath everything, Aiden was a sweetheart?”

“Yes, but now I’m pretty sure that’s a line I sold myself to justify why I tolerated so much bullshit from him.”

“I understand why you think that. Like, better than anyone. But it’s been eight years since you’ve talked to him last. I’m telling you... Aiden found his inner sweetheart.”

The disbelief on Melanie’s face is obvious.

“It doesn’t excuse anything he put you through,” I hastily add, “And you don’t have to forgive him, but… I know how sorry he is, and I know that he cares about you. When you didn’t text him back, he told me that he was fine with it, so long as you were happy.”

Melanie stares at me. “That doesn’t sound like him at all.”

“If you knew him, the way he is now, it would. Seriously.”

She taps a thoughtful finger on the steering wheel.

“Here’s the thing, Jamie. I think of Raj as a good judge of character. Now I’m finding out that he’s been hanging out with Aiden and Noah, and that he considers them close friends. I don’t know what to do with that.”

“You’re a good judge of character. But you’re going based off of the way that Aiden used to be. And Noah… I think he’s only just getting the chance to figure out who he is when other people aren’t making his decisions for him. Raj has really helped him with that. He’s been there as a friend without ever trying to control Noah, and I swear, the change it’s caused in Noah is… it’s crazy. They’re good for each other.”

Melanie remains silent, so I keep going.

“As for Aiden, I promise the only reason he texted you was because he wanted to apologize. He and I are-” My face is burning, but I forge ahead. “Committed to each other. He’s not trying to get you back, he’s not trying to force his way into your life, it’s nothing like that. He just wants to say that he’s sorry, and explain himself, if you want to hear it.”

“I’m not sure I do.”

“Look, you don’t have to talk to him, or to Noah, but I think if you do, you’ll see what I mean. They're not who they were before. You said you wouldn’t believe that coming from anyone else but me, right?”

“Right.”

“So. If you don’t believe them, believe me.”

Melanie stares through the windshield for a minute, contemplating.

A soft knock on the driver’s side window startles both of us. Melanie rolls it down, and someone bends to look through. I expect it to be Raj, but it’s Noah, and he looks determined.

“Melanie,” he says, all in a rush, “Please don’t be mad at Raj or Aiden. This whole thing is totally my fault, and I’m really sorry about that. Everything else aside, I’m sorry about that, specifically.”

Melanie looks up at him, her eyes narrowed. “Okay…”

“You remember the surprise that Raj told you about? The one he was going to show you later today?”

“Actually, I almost forgot about that. After all the - preceding surprises.”

“Please let him show you,” Noah says, gripping the top of the car tightly. “Before you want me out of his life, please let him show you what we built together.”

There’s a beat of silence, and then Melanie leans closer to Noah. He falls back, but she tucks two fingers beneath his chin, holding his face, and he freezes.

Melanie stares right into his eyes, like she’s searching for the joke or trick or lie there. He blinks a few times, then forces himself to meet her gaze.

She releases his face, and he lets out a held breath.

“Please,” he says.

Melanie looks at me, then back at Noah.

“For fuck’s sake.” She sighs deeply, twisting the key in the ignition. Noah steps back, his face crumpling, and starts retreating towards the building. “Noah!” Melanie calls. He turns, his lip pinned between his teeth. “Where am I going? I need the address. Raj gave it to me, but I don’t remember where I wrote it down. Being pregnant makes you fucking scatterbrained. I left my phone in the fridge the other day.”

Noah freezes again.

“Really? Shit, okay! I’ll have Raj text it to you, we’ll meet you there!”

Melanie nods, then rolls her head to the side, stretching out her neck like she already regrets this. “Fine.”

“Thank you,” Noah says, his grey eyes hopeful again. “Thank you, seriously - okay. I’m gonna get Raj!”

He takes off, literally running back to the building. Melanie watches him go, her eyebrows all the way up.

“That’s different,” she says, half to herself.

“Tip of the iceberg,” I tell her. “Just you wait.”