Gemotions

Maya traced patterns on the condensation of her iced coffee. The cafe buzzed around her, a symphony of chatter and clinking mugs, but she felt detached, adrift. Across the table, Liam was talking animatedly, detailing his plans to move. He was practically vibrating with excitement. She, on the other hand, felt a strange hollowness, a kind of absence at the center of herself.

She nodded at his pronouncements, forcing a smile that felt brittle on her face. The coffee tasted like nothing. Even the prospect of a new life for him, filled with adventures, felt… distant. The familiar rhythm of their friendship, the ease of their shared jokes, felt suddenly precarious, like a house of cards about to collapse.