Sammy wasn't sure why she agreed to come. Her mom had seemed unusually excited about the invitation from Lily's parents, and she'd insisted it would be "a nice change of pace." Sammy suspected it was more about her mom not wanting to show up to a family event alone.
Not that Sammy blamed her. These kinds of gatherings were always a little awkward when you didn't quite belong to any of the circles.
She hovered near the cooler for the first part of the afternoon, sipping lemonade and watching everyone fall into their rhythms. Lily laughing with her boyfriend.Kane brooding like some kind of misunderstood anti-hero from a show.
She'd seen him before, of course. He had that kind of presence. Quiet, rough, the type who probably didn't smile in photos unless someone made him.
She hadn't thought much of him until today.
When she saw him during that cornhole match—how tense his jaw was, how he tried not to look like he cared—she recognized it. That mix of pride and a little wounded, maybe. She'd felt that way herself before.
After Aaron won and Lily looked at him like he was the only person in the world, Sammy noticed Kane walk off toward the grill like he was trying not to think about it.
And something made her follow.
"Mind if I help?"
She surprised herself even as the words came out. She usually stayed in the background. But something about Kane's energy just attracted her like it alwayd does since she liked Kane before as well but never acted on her feelings because she was scared of rejection like how her mother often had to reject her.
He didn't glare or brush her off. Just moved aside and made a bacon joke. That alone was more than she expected.
As they worked, she found herself... comfortable.
He wasn't trying to impress anyone now. Not competing. Not posturing. Just flipping bacon, focused and present.
When she teased him about Aaron, she saw the tiniest eye-roll and a bit of a smirk. Progress.
And then she asked the question that had been hovering in her mind.
"So… is it weird for you? Seeing Lily with someone?"
She didn't ask it to poke at him. She just wanted to understand. The pause before his answer said a lot. More than the words did.
"Just… history, I guess. Things we never said out loud."
God, that hit home.
Sammy knew all about things unspoken. The way silence could hang between two people like a bridge you were both too scared to cross. The way timing, fear, or bad luck could twist something almost-real into a memory that never had a chance.
She wasn't sure if Kane saw her the way she was seeing him. Not yet.
But the way his shoulders eased around her, the way he let out a genuine laugh when she joked again—that told her something.
She was okay with tiny sparks.
As the sun started to go to sleep and the grill started to cool, Sammy found herself smiling without needing a reason. Kane turned to say something—something low and dumb—and she laughed again.
For once, she didn't feel like the background character.
She felt seen.
And maybe, just maybe, she wasn't the only one.