Fake it with me
Mariaa don't act like i'm averagedont act like im averagefalling again but not into your arms
This was the first crack, though he had not named it that at the time, had not named it anything, had simply noticed that something she had said had found a way in through the usual structure and was still there weeks later in a way that no one else's words had managed to be, and he had filed it under *Ava Bennett is annoying* and moved on, except that he had not moved on, not really, because moving on would have required not caring what she thought, and he was beginning to understand, with the slow, reluctant recognition of someone arriving at a conclusion they had been avoiding, that he cared what she thought considerably more than he had ever intended to.
His phone buzzed.
He picked it up