Page 95 of A Solid Guide to Surviving a Situationship

But then the next story shattered the calm I had settled into.

In the middle of the frame, I saw Victor… with someone who had their arms wrapped around him.

The guy stood too close.

My chest tightened.

I turned my phone toward him.

“Who’s this?” I asked, my voice calm.

Victor glanced at the screen, unfazed.

“Friend of a friend,” he said casually.

I waited.

“That’s it?”

“He has a crush on me,” Victor added, like it didn’t matter. “He asked for a hug.”

Something in me shifted.

“And you let him?”

Victor looked at me then.

And I saw it—that flicker of offense, like I said something blasphemous to a devout.

“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.

And in my head, the words came immediately.

But it hurt me.

It was right there, at the tip of my tongue. Clear. Simple. Honest. All I had to do was say those four words.

But I didn’t.

“I’m not saying you did,” I said instead.

And before I could even finish, he cut me off.

“Hugging doesn’t mean anything,” Victor said, his tone sharper now. “I’m literally telling you the truth so you’d know who he is and what happened.”

“I said I wasn’t⁠—”

“Then what’s the problem?”

I stopped.

Because suddenly, it felt like there was a problem.

And it was me.

“…Okay,” I just said.

Victor stared at me for a second longer, like he was still irritated.