My Romance Life System

Thea had been at the dining table for three hours. Kofi knew because he'd been counting—not on purpose, but the way you notice someone coughing in the next room. Draw. Erase. Draw. Erase. The soft scratch of pencil on paper had become the soundtrack to their mornings.

He stood in the kitchen, staring at the pancake box like it held the secrets of the universe. Add water. Mix. Pour. How hard could it be?

The doorbell rang.

Thea's pencil rolled off the table. They looked at each other.

"You expecting someone?" he asked.

She shook her head.

The doorbell rang again, followed by what sounded distinctly like Nina's voice saying, "I know you're in there, I can smell the sadness."

Kofi groaned and went to the door. Through the peephole: Nina, holding what looked like enough food for a small army. Ruby, half-hidden behind her. Jake, examining the hallway ceiling like it was fascinating.

He opened the door.

"Finally," Nina said, pushing past him. "Do you know how heavy waffles are? Like, collectively? As a unit?"

"Why are you here?"

"Because it's Saturday, you're probably eating cereal for breakfast again, and I made too many waffles." She set the bag on the counter. "Also, Ruby wanted to see Thea's drawings but was too polite to invite herself."

Ruby's face went pink. "Nina!"

"What? It's true."

Jake shuffled in last, hands in his pockets. "I was just... they made me come."

"Nobody made you do anything," Nina said, already opening cabinets. "You literally asked three times if Kofi would think it was weird."

"Okay, but—"

"Where do you keep your plates? Never mind, found them."

Thea hadn't moved from the table, her sketchbook now pressed against her chest like armor. Ruby offered her a small container.

"I brought strawberries," she said quietly. "Nina mentioned you liked them."

"I..." Thea looked at the strawberries like she'd never seen fruit before. "Thanks."

The kitchen erupted into controlled chaos. Nina commanded everyone like she was running a restaurant—Jake on coffee duty ("The filters are literally right there, Jake, they're see-through"), Ruby slicing strawberries with surgical precision, Kofi relegated to toaster supervision after Nina saw his pancake attempt.

"Is that supposed to be batter?" she asked, peering into his bowl.

"The box said add water."

"How much water?"

"It... didn't specify?"

"Oh my god, you're hopeless."

Through it all, Thea watched from her spot at the table. Not participating, but not fleeing either. Just... watching. Like she was trying to figure out if this was real.

Twenty minutes later, they were all crammed around the table. Jake had somehow made coffee that tasted like burnt water. The waffles were slightly soggy in the middle. Ruby kept apologizing for the strawberries being "too tart."

It was perfect.

"So there's this documentary about birds," Jake started, then stopped. "Actually, it's about migration patterns. But like, interesting migration patterns."

"All migration patterns are interesting," Ruby said, then looked mortified at her own statement.

"No, she's right," Jake said, suddenly animated. "Like, arctic terns? They basically live in eternal summer. They fly from Arctic to Antarctic and back every year."

"That's exhausting," Nina said through a mouthful of waffle.

"Twenty-five thousand miles," Thea said quietly.

Everyone turned to look at her.

"The arctic tern," she clarified, her voice barely above a whisper. "Their migration. It's like... twenty-five thousand miles."

Jake's face lit up. "You watched the documentary?"

"I... I like birds."

And just like that, Jake launched into a detailed explanation of bird navigation, with Ruby adding corrections and Nina making increasingly ridiculous theories about bird GPS systems. Kofi caught Thea's eye and saw something he hadn't seen in weeks—the tiniest hint of a smile.

After breakfast, they migrated to the living room like it was the most natural thing in the world. Jake and Ruby ended up on the floor with one of Kofi's manga. Nina grabbed Thea's sketchbook before anyone could stop her.

"Nina, don't—" Kofi started.

"Relax, I'm not going to eat it." She flipped through the pages, then stopped. "Oh."

The room went quiet.

"Thea, these are..." Nina turned the page. "How are you making the feathers look like that?"

"It's just... crosshatching," Thea mumbled.

"Can I see?" Ruby asked.

Nina turned the book around. A hawk stared back from the page, so detailed you could see individual feathers, the fierce intelligence in its eyes.

"You should enter the art show," Ruby said softly. "At school."

Thea's whole body tensed. "I can't."

"Why not?" Jake asked. "These are better than anything I've seen in there."

"Jessica," Thea said, the name like a stone dropped in water.

The room shifted. Nina's jaw tightened. Ruby looked down at her hands. Jake opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again.

"Jessica's an idiot," he finally said.

"Jake," Ruby warned.

"What? She is. She's an idiot and everyone knows it."

"That doesn't help," Nina said, but her voice was softer than usual. She looked at Thea. "But you know what? He's not wrong. And hiding your art because of her? That's letting her win."

Thea pulled her knees up to her chest. "You don't understand."

"Maybe not," Nina admitted. "But I understand being scared. We all do."

"I threw up before my first piano recital," Ruby offered. "Twice."

"I failed my driver's test three times," Jake added. "The third time, I cried. In front of the instructor."

"I used to hide in the bathroom during lunch," Nina said quietly. "All of freshman year."

Kofi looked at his friends—this weird, messy collection of people who had somehow decided he was worth keeping around. Who had somehow decided Thea was worth fighting for.

"We could help," he said. "With the art show. Make sure nothing happens."

"Like bodyguards?" Jake asked, perking up.

"Oh my god, please don't call it that," Nina said. "We're moral support. Aggressive moral support."

"Aggressively supportive," Ruby corrected.

"That's worse," Jake said.

They dissolved into arguing about terminology, but Kofi watched Thea. She was still curled up, still scared. But she was also still there, still listening. Not running. Not hiding.

It was a start.

Later, after everyone had left and the apartment was quiet again, Thea sat at the table with her sketchbook. She picked up her pencil, put it down, picked it up again.

"They're weird," she said finally.

"Yeah," Kofi agreed.

"But like... good weird?"

"The best weird."

She nodded slowly, then started drawing. Not erasing this time. Just drawing.

Outside, the world was still complicated and mean and full of Jessicas. But inside their small apartment, with the smell of burnt coffee still lingering and strawberry juice staining the table, something had shifted.

They weren't alone anymore.