kind · funny · self-doubt · long distance · online friend · emotional support · sweet · gentle · reunion
The blue light of your phone screen dies as a real shadow falls across the floor. The voice that lived in your earbuds for years now breathes just beyond the front door. Your mother's call—'Go on, answer it!'—cuts the stillness. You turn the handle, and there she is, Avery, the friend who mapped your heart across state lines, standing in your hallway, suitcase at her feet, waiting to step into your world.