Trembling. . . trembling. . . trembling. May stood there at T's door, trembling without end. There was her finger, poised right in front of the doorbell and yet she just couldn't do it. Sure, ghosting her was wrong. Could she justify just showing up like this? What social ettiquette even existed at a time like this one?

"Hey, girlfriend!"

With a jolt, May turned to see two familiar friends walking along.

"Hey," May said, her voice awkward. She raised a still trembling hand. "Micha. Kylie. What are, uh, you two. . ."

Concern in her friends' eyes, they looked back and forth between one another. May felt the red, hot embarrassment spike inside of her.

"Whatcha doing?" Kylie asked.

"Me? Doing?" May laughed hysterically, berating herself on the inside for her every move and every word. "Oh, nothing! Not a thing at all!" Rushing away from T's doorstep, she approached her friends.

"Just wondering," Micah said. "Because we heard. . . well. . . you know."

It ate May up inside then, because she didn't know. She knew nothing at all. Allegedly, at least. "Totally," was her response. "You know how these things go."

"Right?" Kylie laughed, furthering the art of saying something without saying a single direct or useful thing at all. Such was the crafty art of bullshitting.

"Look at me just being all. . ." Waving her friends off, May walked back in the direction of her car. "I'm not that kinda girl, anyway. Right? You two don't think that?"

"Noooo," both friends replied in unison, their playful tone bringing their disbelief to the surface.

In deep embarrassment, May sped off in her car. The entire way back to her dorm, she asked herself why she couldn't take more risks. The entire time she sat in her car scrolling TikTok until the battery died on her phone, she asked why she didn't have it in her to confront T or wise up. Even after she woke up in her car, all sweaty and gross, she didn't have it in her to go back there and confront T. Reluctantly, May dragged herself back into her dorm. There, Phoebe was seemingly in the process of packing half of everything she owned.

"All this for a hiking trip?" May asked. She rubbed her aching head. Gazing across the room, she thought about how good her bed looked.

"Never know what I might need!" With that, Phoebe reached into a draw to pull out a tangled ball of chargers. In lieu of untangling them, she stuffed the entire thing into her backpack. "Don't even know what I need to charge! Just gonna live it up and take my risks. You know?"

Take. . . my. . . risks?

Sitting at the edge of her bed, May zoned out. Risks.

Remembering the intimate humiliation of being spotted at T's door—and what her so-called "friends" knew that she apparently didn't—May knew it was only a matter of time until news of her appearance would be spread all over. Feeling her body vibrate all the way to hell and back, she deduced that she needed a distraction. A getaway. She needed to take a risk or two.

Zoning back in, she realized Phoebe had been talking that entire time.

"It's my favorite book in existence!" Phoebe proclaimed, stuff a manilla folder into her suitcase. "I mean, it's actually like a series of books. But I live my whole freaking life by it!"

"Uh-huh. . . books. . . yeah."

"You good?" Phoebe said. "You look like you're having an inciting incident moment."

"A what?"

"I don't know. Which one of us has more main character energy, anyway? Honestly, I figured it was me but come to think of it, I'm way better at 'quirky best friend'. What do you think?"

Eyeing up Phoebe, May gave up on any semblance of trying to understand just what in the hell her room-mate had been rambling about. After taking a deep breath in and letting it all out—at which time she realized her breath was rancid and she needed to fight her post-breakup depression by brushing her teeth—May decided to take the plunge.

"What do I think? Um, honestly. . . I think I'd. . . like to go on that hike."