Riot Act (Crooked Sinners)

by Callie Hart

It's still very hard for him to vocalize his emotions. Often, he shows me how he feels instead: a single, lone wildflower waiting for me on my pillow. A shared meatball sub. A hand on my leg under the table, fingers drawing small circles on my skin; threatening grimaces whenever Wren or Dash say something I might not like when I’m in their presence. That is, after all, the biggest way that he’s shown me what I mean to him—he spends as much time with me and his friends as possible. It’s as if he’s proving to me that I’m important to him. That he isn’t ashamed of me.