Thursday's breakfast was considerably less eventful than the previous day's: nobody announced a cook-off or accused anyone else of being a danger to the kitchen. There were still arguments, jokes, and the usual amount of noise around the table, but compared to Wednesday morning, it was almost peaceful.
By the time the meal was winding down, the conversation had turned toward the plans for the day.
"Party's tomorrow," Sofia said, around a mouthful of toast. "Which means today's for supplies. Who's coming into town?"
A rough headcount sorted itself out: some of the people who had stayed in the house or gone to the beach on Tuesday and a few of those who'd already gone shopping the other day but still wanted an excuse to leave the house. Most of the remaining people decided the beach was calling and headed that way not long after breakfast wrapped up.
Magnus had initially intended to join the beach group. He'd made it as far as the porch, towel over one shoulder, when Tony intercepted him.
"Training!" the raccoon had announced.
Which was how, not long after everyone else had left, Magnus found himself outside the house, blindfold in hand, staring at a section of the exterior wall while Tony sat several feet away, looking at him expectantly.
Magnus looked down at the blindfold in his hand, then up at the wall, then back to Tony. "No!"
"What do you mean 'no?'" Tony asked.
"What do I mean 'no?!' Tony, climbing a wall while blindfolded sounds exactly like how I'll end up with a broken neck or worse!"
"I've been watching you train, kid. You're disastrously bad at practically everything, yes. But you've gotten a variety of skills." He paused for what Magnus suspected was dramatic effect, then finished with: "This is the next step, young wanderer. A dangerous and important step."
"How?"
The raccoon simply stared at him and refused to elaborate.
"I'm serious, Tony! What if I lose my grip and fall down?"
"You've been losing your grip and falling down even without being blindfolded."
"Exactly! So this is even more dangerous."
"It is not. You can float. Deeply suspicious since you're definitely not a bird. But useful here, nonetheless."
"That's your brilliant plan? If I fail wall-climbing while blindfolded, I use Telekinesis to save myself from falling down and breaking my neck? Even if that works, why do I need to be blindfolded?"
"So you can train your sense of hearing and smell as well. Also, it is to test your awareness of your surroundings before you tie the blindfold. This is the culmination of all your training thus far, kid!"
Magnus stared at him. "You could have just said that."
"I did say it," Tony intoned. "Not in those exact words, but the idea was inferred." He sniffed the air. "Also, someone has been eating tuna."
Magnus stared at the raccoon, his face twitching, then sighed. There was no point arguing with Tony once he'd made up his mind. So he took a good look around himself before tying the blindfold, and started climbing the wall, following — or at least trying to follow — the sound of Tony's voice for direction.
***
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the house, Katie stopped in front of Priya's room for what was the third time in the past fifteen minutes. She raised her hand toward the door, preparing to knock, when it opened.
"Just get in." Priya was leaning against the frame, rolling her eyes. "You've been pacing in front of my room debating whether to knock or not for the past ten minutes or something already."
Katie blushed faintly. "I was wondering if we could finish our conversation from last night."
Priya smiled softly. "You mean the part where everyone suddenly decided we should take turns exposing our emotional problems around a bonfire?"
Katie sat down on the bed, opened her notebook, then thought better of it and set it aside. "I've been thinking about what you said."
"About your crush?"
Katie nodded, then hesitated for a moment. "I think you're right that I've been waiting too long. I keep telling myself I'm just trying to figure out whether he likes me, but I don't think that's entirely true."
"What do you think it is?"
Katie looked down at her hands. "I like knowing what he thinks without having to find out what he thinks about me."
Priya's expression softened. "That makes sense."
"I can watch him. I can notice things. I can convince myself that this means something or that means something. And if I'm wrong, it doesn't really matter because I never actually asked. But if I say something, that's it. There's no more watching from a safe distance. Whatever happens, happens, and I don't get to just observe it and write it down afterward like I do with everything else." She picked at the edge of her sleeve. "That's the actual scary part. Not that he'll say no. That I won't be able to just… process it from outside anymore."
Priya was quiet for a second, considering this before nodding slowly.
"That's a really specific fear," she said finally. "Most people are just scared of rejection. You're scared of losing your vantage point."
"Is that worse?"
"It's definitely more you."
Katie huffed something like a laugh. "Thanks, I think."
"But… it also kinda sounded like you're more comfortable with the version of him that exists in your head rather than the real him."
"That's not fair."
"No, but is it wrong?"
Katie thought about it. "Maybe not."
She leaned back on the bed. "I don't want to spend another six months doing the same thing. I just don't know how to stop being me long enough to actually do something."
"You don't have to stop being you. You just have to figure out how to be you while still actually talking to your crush."
Then Priya's phone buzzed. She glanced at it, typed something quickly, stared at it, deleted part of it, typed again, sent it, then set the phone back down harder than necessary with a huff.
"Okay," Katie said, raising an eyebrow. "Your turn. What was that all about?"
"Nothing."
"That definitely didn't look like nothing."
Priya was quiet for a moment, glancing at her phone and debating something in her head.
"Maybe an outside perspective would help," Katie offered. "Or maybe just… saying it out loud. Hearing yourself talk about it. Sometimes that's how you figure out what you actually want and work through your problems."
Priya exhaled slowly and set the phone all the way down on the nightstand, out of easy reach, like putting distance between herself and the problem might help her actually look at it.
"Okay," she said. "So. You may not know this because I've hidden it so well, but I've been texting my ex all week."
"Uh huh." Katie snorted. "Didn't peg you for the self-deprecating type."
"Anyway, remember what Tori asked last night—about what I was texting him all week?" Priya cleared her throat. "Well, he's apparently interested in someone. Or at least he says he is. And he's been asking me for advice."
"Wait, what?" Katie asked, surprised. "Like, how to pursue her?"
"Yeah."
"And you've been helping him?"
"Yeah."
"Okay, but why?"
Priya was quiet for a long moment.
"I don't know," she admitted finally. "That's the actual problem. I don't know why I keep doing it. Every time he texts me something new about her, I could just… not respond. Or respond with, like, two words. But I don't. I write him whole paragraphs. I think about it. I actually think about how to help him."
Katie frowned slightly. "Do you think he's actually interested in her?"
Priya looked at her. "I don't know."
"That seems important."
"It is."
She sighed. "That's the problem. I don't know whether he's genuinely asking me for advice because he likes this girl, or whether this is some elaborate way of trying to get me to talk about our relationship again."
"Has he said anything that makes you think he's trying to get back together?"
"Nothing directly."
"But?"
"But sometimes it feels like he's saying things specifically because he knows they'll make me react."
Katie considered that. "Do you think he wants you back?"
"I don't know."
"And do you want him back?"
Priya looked down. "I don't know. I don't think so."
She gave a frustrated little laugh. "That's the part I hate."
Katie waited.
"Because if he really does want me back, part of me is happy about that. And if he's actually moving on and I'm helping him do it, I don't know how I feel about that either."
Katie stayed quiet.
"I can't tell if I actually want him back," Priya continued. "Or if I just don't want to lose the possibility that I could have him back."
"That sounds like an important distinction."
"I know."
"And if he told you tomorrow that he's completely moved on?"
Priya's mouth tightened. "I'd tell him I'm happy for him."
Katie raised an eyebrow. "And?"
Priya sighed. "And then I'd probably feel terrible about it."
"Because you'd still want him? Or because you'd know you don't get to go back anymore?"
Priya looked at her.
Katie immediately lifted both hands. "Sorry. That sounded harsher than I meant it."
"No." Priya shook her head. "It's probably fair."
She leaned back and stared toward the windows. "I ended the relationship. That's the stupid part. I had reasons. Good reasons. I still think ending it was probably the right thing."
"But you miss him."
"Sometimes."
"And you're still talking to him."
"Every day."
"And you're helping him pursue someone else."
"Apparently."
Katie tilted her head. "Do you actually want to help him? Or do you want him to not get her?"
Priya opened her mouth. Closed it.
"I genuinely don't know," she said, quieter now. "And I can't tell if that's because some part of me still wants him, or because some part of me just wants to still matter to him even if it's not romantic anymore. And I can't figure out which one it is, because every time I try to figure it out, I just end up more confused, so I just… keep responding. Because responding is easier than sitting with not knowing."
"I keep thinking that if I just figure out what he's doing, I'll know what I'm supposed to do," she added after a long moment. "If he's trying to get back with me, then I can decide whether I want that. If he's genuinely interested in someone else, then I can decide how I feel about that."
Katie nodded. "But maybe you're trying to answer his question because you're avoiding answering your own."
Priya looked at her. "You mean whether I want him back?"
"Yeah."
Priya was quiet. "That would be easier if I knew."
"You don't have to know immediately."
"I feel like I should."
"Why?"
Priya shrugged. "Because I ended it."
Katie thought about that. "That's logical. But unfortunately for us, feelings don't usually follow logic."
Priya smiled faintly. "That's your professional take on this as an observer of love affairs?"
"Maybe." Katie laughed. "But I think you should figure out what you'd want even if he wasn't asking you anything. Then whatever he's doing becomes a separate problem."
Priya nodded slowly. "That's probably true."
Then they heard sounds coming from somewhere outside. It was faint at first, then louder. Something scraped against the exterior wall, followed by chittering and scratching at the window.
Katie looked up. "What was that?"
"I don't know." Priya moved toward her window.
Another scrape. She opened it, and nearly jumped when Tony's head popped into view.
Katie was right behind her. "Wait, is that Tony?"
The girls looked out the window, and sure enough, Magnus was hanging on the wall about a foot or two below Priya's window, blindfolded.
"Tony, where did you lead me?" he chittered when he heard the girls' voices. Then, he lifted one hand from the wall to lift the blindfold, saw where he was, and lost his grip.
Luckily, the girls caught his arms in time and pulled him into the room through the window.
For a while, Magnus was on his hands and knees on the ground, the girls sat on either side of him, and they were all panting.
Then, after his heart slowed down to a reasonable rate, he stood up and immediately apologized:
"Sorry. I didn't mean to intrude. Tony dragged me here. I'll be out of your hair. You two can get back to… whatever it is you're discussing."
"Wait!" Priya was somehow already at the door, blocking his way out. "Did you overhear us talking?"
"No. No, I didn't. I definitely didn't. Otherwise, I wouldn't have even gone anywhere near here."
Tony chittered.
"That's not helping!" Magnus chittered back, glaring at the raccoon.
Tony chittered again.
Magnus turned to the girls, pointing at Tony. "He said he heard most of your conversation. I didn't, though."
"Either way, stay," Priya said. "We can use an outside perspective."
"You sure? I'm really not good at the advice stuff. And I really didn't mean to intrude on your girls' talk."
"No, she's right." Katie nodded. "We could use your perspective."
Tony hopped from the floor to his shoulder and tapped his cheek with a paw. "Good use of our break time! My wisdom is needed here."
Magnus pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright. I guess we're staying."