Page 60 of The Prime-Time Experiment

Disconfirmation

Riley

The apartment was quiet when Riley stepped inside. Not the kind of quiet she had grown up with, the strained, unstable kind that made her hyper-aware of every sound underneath it, waiting for the shift in atmosphere that meant something was about to go wrong.

This quiet was always different when it was with Dee. Something she could now define as safe. She paused just inside the doorway, hand resting lightly against the handle as the silence settled around her without demanding anything in return. It didn’t press against her nervous system like it might have years ago. It was always a relief to walk in the door, to know this was the one place she truly had where she knew irrevocably she was okay.

Her bag slipped from her shoulder onto the floor with a muted thud. She nudged her shoes off near the door, leaving them slightly uneven against the wall.

Riley noticed. And, unexpectedly, didn’t correct them.

“Is that you, Ri?”

Dee’s voice carried from the kitchen. Riley turned toward it, moving slower than usual, like something in her hadn’t quite settled yet. Dee was leaning against the counter, but the second she saw Riley, she straightened.

“You’re later than I thought you’d be,” she said, lighter at first, and then her eyes narrowed slightly. “Is everything okay? How’d it go?”

Riley stopped a few steps into the room. “It was…” she started, then paused, her brow pulling slightly. “Different.”

Dee folded her arms loosely. “Different how?”

Riley exhaled, but it wasn’t quite steady. “They were very consistent,” she said. “In their behaviour. There were no observable shifts in tone or escalation.”

Dee blinked. “Okay, that was very clinical. Try again. Did you like them?”

Riley hesitated. “Yes,” she said, quieter. “I did.”

That alone made Dee’s expression change. “Okay... So why do you look like you’re confused?”

Riley’s gaze dropped briefly, then lifted again. “I answered a question,” she said.

Dee straightened. “Okay,” she repeated. “I love you Ri, but I need more information than that. What kind of question?”

“Ebony asked how I manage when environments become overwhelming,” Riley said.

Dee’s brows shot up. “And you just… what? Gave her a grounding technique?”

Riley shook her head once. “No.” A beat. “I explained why I prefer controlled environments.”

Dee went still. “Riley,” she said carefully, “what does that mean, exactly?”

Riley didn’t look away this time. “I told them about my father.” The silence that followed was deafening. Dee stared at her.

“You… told them?” she said, softer now, like she wasn’t sure she’d heard right.

Riley nodded once. “Yes.”

“Like actually told them? Not vague, not deflecting. Like, told them told them about your childhood?”

“I didn’t go into detail about the abuse I lived with, but I mentioned it, yes.”

Dee let out a slow breath, one hand coming up to her forehead. “Oh wow, Ri,” she said, half to herself. “That’s massive.” She dropped her hand, looking back at Riley properly now. “Are you okay? How did they react?”

Riley paused. That was the part that didn’t fit. “They didn’t react as I expected.”

Dee frowned slightly. “Did they judge you?”

Riley’s fingers shifted against the counter. “No, not at all. The opposite, Declan’s mother understood,” she said. “She didn’t question it or attempt to redirect the conversation.”