Ashlyn told herself she wasn't going to stay long. She said it out loud in the car like that made it binding.
"Just fries," she muttered. "Then leave."
The bell above the burger joint door chimed when she stepped inside. The place smelled like grease and salt and something sweet underneath it. The fryer hissed constantly. Music played low behind the counter.
Toby stood at the register, hat backwards, apron tied slightly crooked, wrist still wrapped from the skatepark disaster.
He looked up.
His face changed immediately.
"You're back."
Not surprised. Not startled. Just pleased.
Ashlyn slid into the booth by the window. "I was hungry."
"Sure you were." He grabbed a cup automatically. "Fries?"
"You're assuming."
"I'm right."
He rang in an order, took someone's cash, handed back change. Efficient. Fast. No performance in it. Just work. When he leaned toward her across the counter, it was only for a second.
"How's your day?" he asked quietly.
"Normal."
He studied her face, not pushing, just reading. "Normal good or normal bad?"
She hesitated. "Normal quiet."
He nodded once. "Quiet's not the worst."
A customer cleared their throat and he straightened immediately. "Welcome to Riverside Grill. What can I get you?"
Ashlyn watched him move. He wasn't flashy. He wasn't trying to impress anyone. He just worked. When he messed up an order, he laughed at himself instead of snapping at the cook. He thanked an old woman twice. Every few minutes, his eyes flicked toward her booth—not checking, not hovering—just making sure she was still there.
When he brought her fries, he set them down carefully. "Hot."
"I'm aware."
"You say that every time."
"You warn me every time."
"Consistency builds trust."
That almost made her smile.
A group of kids pushed through the door, loud and hungry. Toby moved back behind the counter. Ashlyn opened her notebook but didn't read. Her mind drifted somewhere she didn't want it to go.
A different restaurant.
A different voice.
You're mine.
Her stomach tightened.
She straightened the napkin holder on the table because it was crooked.
"You redecorating?" Toby called.
"It was uneven."
"It's plastic."
"It was uneven."
He looked at her longer than the joke required. Then he simply nodded. "Okay."
When the rush thinned, he slid into the booth across from her without asking.
"You eat yet?" he asked.
She lifted a fry.
"That's not eating."
"You're very opinionated for someone who hit concrete."
"I landed with commitment."
"You made a sound."
"Impact adds drama."
She shook her head, but her chest felt lighter than it had in days.
His expression shifted slightly. "You good?"
There it was again. No weight attached. No demand.
"I don't know," she admitted.
He didn't fill the silence.
"I don't really know how to do this," she said after a moment.
"Do what?"
"This." She gestured between them. "Show up. Sit here. Not mess it up."
He leaned back, considering her like she'd said something important instead of dramatic.
"I'm not grading you," he said.
She blinked.
"I'm not waiting for you to fail," he added. "I'm not keeping score."
The words landed harder than she expected.
"I don't need you to be impressive," he said. "You can just be here."
Just be here.
The phrase pressed against something tender inside her.
Before she could answer, someone shouted his name from behind the counter.
He stood but paused. "You staying?"
She looked down at the fries.
"Maybe."
He held her gaze for a second, then nodded. "Okay."
No tightening. No insistence.
He went back to work.
Ashlyn stayed.
She watched the rhythm of it. Orders called. Burgers flipped. The bell chimed. Toby moved through it like he belonged there. When he passed her table, he brushed his fingers lightly along the edge. Not claiming. Not asking. Just acknowledging.
When the place emptied, he slid into the booth again, tired but steady.
"You stayed," he said.
"So did you."
He smiled at that.
Her chest felt strange. Not tight. Just full.
"I don't know what I'm doing," she said quietly.
"Me neither," he replied. "I just know I like when you're here."
No urgency. No promise. No possession.
Just like.
She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Okay."
Outside, the sky had darkened without her noticing. When she finally left, the air felt cooler.
At home, her mom looked up from the couch. "You were out late."
"Yeah."
Her mom studied her face carefully.
"You okay?"
The question didn't feel like an accusation.
Ashlyn paused.
"I think so," she said.
Her mom nodded once. "Okay."
No interrogation. No edge.
Ashlyn went to her room and sat on the edge of her bed. The regret was still there. The memory hadn't disappeared. But tonight it didn't swallow the whole room.
She lay back and stared at the ceiling.
For the first time in a while, she wasn't bracing for the shift. Wasn't waiting for something to be taken from her.
She had walked into a place.
She had stayed.
And nothing had tightened around her for it.
That felt like progress.