Page 186 of Bad Prince
“I know.”
She looks at the ceiling.
Blinking slower now.
The adrenaline wearing off.
The reality settling in.
“I don’t want to go home,” she says suddenly.
I glance at her.
“You’re not going home.”
She swallows.
“I mean like… not just tonight. I don’t want to disappear. Sit out. Watch everyone else play.”
Something in my chest tightens.
Because I know that feeling.
Too well.
“You won’t,” I say.
She turns her head toward me.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
She studies me.
Like she’s measuring something.
“Okay, stay,” she says.
Quiet.
Not demanding.
Not dramatic.
Just… honest.
And this?—
This is the moment.
I think about leaving.
About walking out into the night.
About going back to the basketball house.
About pretending I don’t know exactly where my mind would go next.
