Page 34 of Hidden

I look at her for a moment longer. Not because I'm deciding what to say, but because I want to see what she does in the silence.

Her chin lifts, just slightly. The apology is genuine, but she's not going to collapse under the weight of it. She holds my gaze, embarrassed but refusing to let it win.

"It's a T-shirt," I say.

She blinks. "I can… there's napkins, I can…"

"It's fine."

"It's really not, it's all over you…"

"It's fine," I say again, and this time she stops and tries to read something in my expression that she can't quite name. I’m good at hiding my emotions. She blinks. She wasn't expecting that to be my response.

"Your coffee," I say.

She looks at the empty cup in her hand.

"I'll get you another one."

"No, you really don't have to do that."

"You're out of coffee."

"Because I walked into you."

"I walked into you."

She opens her mouth, then closes it. The laugh she's been suppressing makes a brief attempt at the surface, and she catches it. "It's fine, honestly. I'll just…"

I turn to the counter and order her coffee. The barista looks between us and says nothing and starts making it straight away.

Her friends are at the table by the window, the one who talks all the time, is leaning forward saying something to one of the other girls. I catch the tail end of it.

“Just take the coffee, oh my god…”

Sadie turns back to me. Something in her face has shifted, not softer, exactly. "You didn't have to do that."

"It's a coffee."

"You're also covered in my coffee."

"I've had worse mornings." I pick up both cups when the barista sets them down, and I hold hers out which she takes. Our fingers don't touch, which saddens me, I’d have liked to touch her just this once. She looks at the cup and then up at me, and for one second, we’re close enough that I can see the color of her eyes and the faint line of concentration between them.

"Thank you," she says.

"Don't thank me, just watch where you're going next time."

The corner of her mouth turns upwards.

I turn back to where Mason and Declan have installed themselves at the nearest table. Mason with both elbows on the table, watching me with an expression I have no interest in engaging with right now. He knows who she is.

I pull out the chair across from him and sit down.

He opens his mouth.

"Don't," I say before he can say anything to me.

He closes it but smiles and picks up his coffee and looks out the window. The smile he's wearing does not go away.