“Used to look back and think ‘wow, that was the best day ever,’ but then I’d think harder and realize… no, it wasn’t… I was just deciding that now.” Sophia’s voice carried over another distant celebration from the bar.

“All you have to do is start deciding that today, you know?” Sophia shrugged, reaching for the bread no one had touched. She tore off a piece with her teeth, set it on her plate, and something flickered at the corner of her mouth… a laugh deciding whether to surface.

They both watched her… Daniel’s head tilted, Juniper’s brow furrowed. Though she couldn’t help noticing how his presence seemed to have shifted closer throughout dinner, like gravity slowly but inevitably collapsing them into a horizontal plane.

The prima danseuse caught the last rays of the lensed moon, their crystalline forms seeming to dance with possibilities as servers began the subtle choreography of closing time around them. Juniper’s device lit up once more, casting blue light across her features: “Girl you do you at this point don’t worry about anyone else…🥱”