45 passenger seat interrogation
The drive back starts before I'm ready for it.
Not because of the drive itself-five hours in a car with Jess and Riley is normal at this point-but because of what it means. Leaving the hotel feels like closing a door I'm not sure I fully understand yet, and the second I slide into the passenger seat, I know I'm not getting through this quietly.
Jess waits exactly forty-three seconds.
I know because I'm counting.
"Okay," she says, twisting in her seat so fast her seatbelt locks for a second. "I've been respectful. I've been patient. I've given you space-"
"You've done none of those things," I cut in.
"-and now," she continues like I didn't speak, "you're going to tell me everything."
Riley starts the car without looking at either of us, calm, focused, like she's about to perform a procedure instead of drive five hours home. "You don't have to tell her everything," she says, pulling out of the parking lot smoothly. "Just enough."
"Wrong," Jess says. "Everything."
I sink deeper into the seat. "You're both exhausting."
Jess ignores that. "Did you kiss?"
I don't answer.
And that's answer enough.
Her eyes widen. "Oh my God. You did."
I exhale slowly. "Yeah."
Jess makes a sound like she might combust. Riley just nods once, like she's confirming something already obvious.
"It wasn't fake," I add before I can stop myself.
That shifts the energy.
Jess freezes.
Riley's grip on the wheel tightens just slightly.
"Not fake," Jess repeats.
"Not fake."
There's a beat of silence, heavier than anything so far, and then Jess leans in again, eyes sharp, curious in a way that feels dangerous.
"Okay," she says slowly. "Next question."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
Her gaze flicks over my face, reading me too easily. "Did you... go further than that?"
I still. Completely.
My hands tighten in my lap without me meaning to, and I press my lips together, staring straight ahead like if I don't move, maybe the moment will pass.
It doesn't.
Jess inhales sharply. "Oh my God."
I don't say anything, I don't need to.
"That's a yes," she says, voice climbing. "That is so a yes."
"Jess-"
"You didn't even deny it," she cuts in, half laughing, half losing her mind. "You literally just-Madi-"
"Stop talking."
"I can't stop talking," she says, already spiraling. "This is insane. This is insane."
Riley glances at me briefly, something softer in her expression now, more careful. "You don't have to say anything else."
"Thank you," I mutter.
Jess is not done. Not even close.
"Wait," she says, grabbing the dashboard like she needs something to hold onto. "So you guys went from fake dating to-what, exactly? Because that is not casual behavior."
"It just-happened," I say, quieter now.
Jess makes another noise. "No. No, that doesn't just happen."
Riley hums under her breath. "Sometimes it does."
Jess points at her. "You are not helping."
Riley smiles faintly. "I'm being accurate."
Jess turns back to me, eyes wide, almost glowing with how invested she is. "Okay, but like-are you okay?"
It's the first time she's asked that. Not what happened, not how far it went, just... that.
And the answer comes easier than anything else.
"Yeah," I say.
Jess studies me for a second, really studies me, like she's trying to find the part where I'm pretending.
She doesn't find it. Her expression softens for half a second before it snaps right back into chaos.
"Okay but I need to process this," she says. "Because this is not small. This is not casual. This is-this is a plot twist."
"Please never call my life that again."
"Too late."
Riley exhales quietly. "You like him."
It's not a question.
I don't hesitate this time. "Yeah."
Jess's head snaps toward me so fast it's almost concerning. "You said it so easily."
"I know."
"That's worse," she says immediately. "That's so much worse."
Riley nods again, like she's filing it away. "Yeah. That tracks."
Jess throws her hands up. "I need you to react more!"
"I am reacting," Riley says.
"You're barely reacting!"
"I'm reacting internally."
Jess looks back at me, eyes narrowing again, but there's something different in it now. Less interrogation, more... understanding.
"You're not fighting it," she says.
"I don't want to."
That lands, fully.
Jess leans back in her seat slowly, shaking her head like she's still trying to catch up. "I knew this was going to happen," she mutters. "I literally knew."
"You think everything is going to happen."
"And I was right."
Riley smiles slightly. "You were."
Jess points at her again. "Thank you."
The car settles after that.
Not quiet-Jess is physically incapable of that-but different. Lighter. Less like I'm being interrogated and more like... something has shifted, and we all know it.
I look out the window, watching the road stretch ahead of us, the city long gone now.
And for the first time since all of this started-
I don't feel like I have to explain it.
Or downplay it.
Or pretend it's anything other than what it is.
Jess is still muttering about "this being insane" under her breath.
Riley's focused on the road, steady, grounded like always.
And me-
I just sit there, quiet, letting it settle into something real.
Something I'm not trying to push away anymore.