A message arrived through email, offering an invite.
Lucas Montgomery Aftermath Graduate Thesis Exhibition Reynolds Gallery Downtown Friday 7 PM. A note waits at the edge of the screen, scrawled like a secret. It says you're included. Not as a guest. But as someone who belongs. Signed with just an initial - L. For a full ten minutes, my eyes stayed fixed on that thing.
Eyes on the screen, Ella asked if I meant to leave.
"I don't know. Is it weird? To go to your ex-boyfriend's art show?"
"It's weird not to go. He invited you specifically. And you said you wanted to be friends. Friends support each other."
"What if his art is - what if it's about - "
"About you? Brooklyn, his thesis is called 'Aftermath.' It's definitely about you. The question is: are you brave enough to see how he processed what happened?"
