With two quiet knocks, careful to not wake anyone, Rachel waited for Dani to answer the door. Instead, when it swung open, she was met with Simon staring at her from the other side.

“Hey,” her ex said. “Dani’s in the bathroom. She said you’d be here, though.”

Rachel wasn’t sure how to respond. She didn’t want to talk to Simon right then. Maybe never again.

I know he lives here but I thought he would be asleep or something. Come on, Dani, you could have warned me at least!

Despite what Simon had said, he still looked surprised to see her. As the two both stood dumbfounded in the doorway, Rachel noticed him transfixed on her hair and face.

“Can I come in?” Rachel asked. Her patience was already running thin. She knew why he was staring, and knew people would, but still hated it.

“Oh! Right, sure.” Simon stepped back and waved her inside.

Rachel removed her coat as soon as she felt the heating from their apartment wash over her. After hanging it on the rack, she instinctively reached to adjust her hair, only to miss and touch her shoulders.

“Sorry for staring,” Simon said. “You look different, that's all.” His comment sat in the air untouched, long enough for Rachel to regret going there at all. “Not in a bad way!”

“It’s just a haircut.” She tried to ignore Simon and remember why she was there. Dani was hurting and needed support from her friends.

It smells nice in here. They must have just eaten. Reminds me of when Simon used to–

She sighed and walked to the couch where she would wait for Dani.

“Right, your hair. Something else too, though.” Simon thankfully didn’t follow her to the couch, and instead headed to the kitchen. Soon the water was running and dishes were clanking.

He can tell that I’m not wearing makeup. I don’t know if I’ve ever let him really see me without it; it must be surprising. Whatever, he doesn’t need to know what it is.

Rachel was blessed with a minute of silence until Dani walked out from the bathroom and into the hall.

“You’re here!” She said, hurrying toward Rachel.

The poor girl’s eyes had a subtle red tint that only came from prolonged stretches of crying until dry. Rachel hoped the worst of it was over, and that she could imbue Dani with some positivity.

“Oh my god, your hair, I love it!” Dani gave Rachel a side-hug as she joined her on the couch.

Rachel looked at her own hair in the reflection of the blank television. It stopped where her ears did, not even going down to her chin. Her once long, golden hair was a short, messy crop. Still feminine, yet not hitting the same traditional length she had always felt pressured to maintain. At first she had loved the new look, but every time she noticed someone looking at her all she wanted was to undo it all, go back in time, buy a wig, anything but sit there and be examined.

“Thanks,” Rachel said as the hug broke off. “But I’m here for you, you know. My hair hardly matters right now.”

Dani’s face lost the little excitement that it had. Rachel winced, realizing that the conversation could have been a useful distraction from Ryan’s absence.

I’m supposed to make her feel better, why would I bring attention back to the thing she’s trying to stop freaking out over!

“Hey,” Rachel said in an overly cheery tone. “I had to deliver a meal for someone from this new restaurant that opened just last week. Some type of Japanese, fusion thing with crazy kinds of sushi. We should try it out soon!”

“Oh I heard about that.” Simon chimed in from the kitchen. “They have a roll you can get with–”

“I meant me and Dani.” Rachel didn’t even turn toward his direction to respond.

“That would be fun,” Dani said with a weak smile. “Sorry for having you come here so late. You really didn’t have to just for me.”

Rachel frowned.

Maybe focusing on a different topic won’t work. Might need to deal with the problem head on.

“Oh come on, you didn’t ask me to come over, I did it on my own.” Rachel shooed away a frown that almost showed when Simon entered the living room and sat on a chair near them. “You know, my sister had something like this happen to her.”

“Seriously?” Dani grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it in her lap while she inched closer.

Simon, who Rachel was trying to ignore, spoke up too. “Like the exact same thing? A guy disappeared into nothing?”

“If you’ll let me talk I could tell you,” Rachel said to him, then smiled at Dani. “She was dating a guy for over a year, then one day he up and vanishes. No texts, no calls. His friends and family can’t get a hold of him and have no idea where he is. She panics just like you are and thinks something awful has happened.”

Dani looked at her with big, waiting eyes. “And?”

“And then the next day, when she was sure it was over, that he wanted nothing to do with her ever again, he walked right through the front door and hugged her. It turned out he had gone out of town to secretly buy her an engagement ring, but had left his phone at the store. Then there was a blizzard and he had to pull over and stay at a hotel for the night, and couldn’t remember any phone numbers to tell anyone where he was.” Rachel hoped her embellished anecdote would put Dani at ease. The story was mostly true, though in reality her brother-in-law had only been missing for a few hours, and not an entire day.

“I really doubt that’s what’s going on,” Dani said. Her eyes were shimmering with held-back tears.

“No but the point I’m making,” Rachel said with enthusiasm, “is that we don’t know why Ryan is gone, why he isn’t responding, or anything. So for every awful reason you entertain in your head, you should come up with some good reasons he might be gone instead.”

A thoughtful silence filled the room as they all chewed on what Rachel had said.

“Maybe he is visiting family and ran over his phone by accident,” Simon said.

Ugh, the idea is for Dani to think about–

Dani giggled. “Yeah, or maybe he owes too much money to Elliot and went into hiding.”

All three laughed at that idea.

“Exactly!” Rachel put her arm around Dani, whose head was drooping onto the pillow she was clutching. “Nobody should blame themselves before we know all of the facts. Okay?”

With a nod, Dani rested her eyes shut and hunched over.

“You should go lie down for a little bit.” Rachel tried to usher Dani back into sitting up straight. “It’s late. Really late, and being sleep deprived will make you feel worse.”

“Okay, if you’re sure.” Dani stood up and staggered to the hallway. “I feel like you just got here, though.”

“It’s fine, really. I have a car now, it takes like no time to get here.” Rachel walked to the door for her jacket. “Sleep as much as you can, then I’ll be back over tomorrow after work. Though I’m sure you’ll have heard from Ryan by then.”

Hopefully… That guy can be a massive idiot some– All the time, really.

Dani headed off to bed. While Rachel slipped her arms into her coat sleeves, she noticed Simon, still seated on his chair, looking exhausted.

I’ve been snapping at him since I got here. I’m sure he’s worried about Ryan too… But what do I owe him? He should be less annoying.

She opened her mouth to say a half-hearted goodbye to Simon.

I can say goodbye and leave, it wouldn’t be rude! But, still. I suppose I should make sure he’s okay too.

“Hey,” Rachel said, her voice stern. “I meant what I said. I’m sure Ryan will reach out soon.”

Simon looked around, as if he wasn’t expecting Rachel to say anything and was shocked to hear a voice. “Oh, yeah, probably. I hope so. He can be so reckless sometimes, I hope it’s nothing serious. And I need to yell at him for all he’s putting Dani through.”

“You really care a lot about her, don’t you.” Rachel took her hand off the doorknob and moved closer to him.

“I do.”

“That’s good. You two have been close for a long time, right? Glad to know you care about someone.” Rachel heard how passive aggressive her comment was the moment she said it, and while she hadn’t intended to start an argument, she didn’t regret it.

Simon didn’t look shocked, just defeated. “I know. Rachel, I really am sorry for how I treated you. I should have told you from the beginning that–”

“That you didn’t want to date me. I knew that almost right away.” Rachel kept her voice quiet, to not disturb Dani or their neighbors, and also to hide any faltering in her speech. “But I still chased you, still pestered you, and when you eventually said yes I told myself you had changed your mind, but I knew the whole time you didn’t want to be there. To be with me.”

Simon stood up. “I still should have stood my ground more, or made myself clear from the start.”

“Then it’s both of our faults.” Rachel shrugged. “Doesn’t matter anymore. I’m sorry for dragging you into dating me, and I’m sorry I took it out on you when you didn’t fit the perfect vision in my head. And I’m sorry I got mad at you for eventually doing the right thing and breaking up with me. Thank you for finally fixing my terrible mistake and putting us out of our misery.” She wanted to rush outside after she finished talking but knew it would make the next time she saw him even more awkward. Anger was still at the forefront of her mind.

Why do I still hate looking at him? I know we’re both to blame, I accepted his apology…

After a deep breath, Simon walked over to Rachel. “I’m still glad I got to know you better, even if I didn’t appreciate it at the time. You… You’re cool.”

The two let out restrained laughs at how dumb of a compliment it was, though to Rachel it felt like one of the nicest things someone had ever said to her. His earnestness could make anything he said sound eloquent.

“And I really am a fan of your new look.” Simon pointed to her hair. “It suits you really well.”

Rachel, afraid if she spoke that she would spill out more of her heart than she wanted, gave Simon a limp thumbs up and opened the door. She took two steps out before stopping and poking her head back through to say one last thing.

“Thank you. For everything you just said. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

She closed the door before Simon could respond.