CHAPTER 97: HALF TRUTHS

Merlina blinked, the words hitting her like a splash of cold water.

"Where’s that coming from?" she asked, her voice low but tight, barely steady under the pressure of rising panic. "What... what do you mean?"

Phoebe shifted, leaning her hip against the desk, arms crossed loosely but her eyes sharp. "You and him. Earlier? What was that about? Because I kind of... heard something."

That got Merlina’s heart pounding. She straightened a little too quickly, her hands curling around the edge of her laptop.

"What did you hear?" she asked, trying to sound casual but her eyes were too wide, her voice too fragile to pull it off.

Phoebe hesitated, chewing the inside of her cheek like she was weighing how much to reveal. "I couldn’t even make sense of it. Just something about you and him going somewhere together. Someone’s room. Izzy? No—Lizzie. Yeah, Lizzie."

Merlina tilted her head. "Uh-huh?"

Phoebe nodded slowly. "And they were saying... that Craig’s protective over you."

"Protective?" Merlina repeated, her brows drawing together. "Wait. Where did you hear this?"

She couldn’t help but wonder how much Lizzie could’ve spilled, if Phoebe also heard about Craig coming into their dorm room on his birthday, then she’d be doomed.

How was she gonna defend that ?

Not mentioning that to either her or Megan? When this was their room as well.

"Just some girls," Phoebe said, trying to sound casual, but her voice carried a thread of tension. "At the restroom. According to them, at El Capitan, you and Craig were whispering sweet nothings to each other... in your tent."

Merlina let out a quiet breath, carefully measured. "And?" she asked, bracing herself.

A flood of memory hit her then, Craig’s hand over hers, the way his voice dipped low when he spoke, that was the first time they bonded after what felt like forever. Did they see all that?

Phoebe pushed off the desk, voice more direct now. "And? I’m confused. Like... what’s that all about?"

Merlina paused, waiting if she was going to say more. Then, slowly, she felt her shoulders loosen, just slightly. That was it? That’s all Phoebe had heard?

"So... is that it?" she asked carefully, still wary.

Phoebe squinted, like she was trying to read her face. "Uh-huh?"

Merlina gave a small shrug, pausing like she needed a second to breathe. "So... it’s gossip."

"I don’t know what you want me to say to that, Phoebe." She looked away briefly, then back. "It’s Craig. Everything about him is overemphasized, over analyzed."

Phoebe tilted her head. "So what, you’re saying it was made up or something?"

"I’m not saying it was entirely made up," Merlina said, her tone cautious but clear.

"I’m saying..." she drifted shortly, carefully picking her words, "Look, Craig and I did go over to someone’s room. Lizzie’s. Someone was sending me weird texts about the Lesnars, stuff I didn’t understand. Craig found out who it was, and we went to confront them. It turned out to be Lizzie. That’s it."

Phoebe blinked, letting that sink in.

Merlina went on, voice steadier now. "And at El Capitan, if we were whispering? We were probably talking about his brother. Or my mom. Of course we were going to speak to each other, we were in the same tent. Did you think we were gonna sit there in total silence or something?"

Phoebe crossed her arms again, tighter this time. "Okay. But why am I hearing about this for the first time? I mean, you didn’t exactly mention anything about you and Craig going to anyone’s room over a text. So yeah, sorry if I was caught off guard when I heard that."

Merlina swallowed hard. Her tone dropped, softer but firm. "Please Phoebe, don’t act like you’re fan of this topic. You’ve made it very clear how many times you didn’t want to be part of it. Forgive me, if I didn’t feel like dragging you into something you didn’t care about."

Phoebe opened her mouth, then paused. Her arms slowly lowered, the fight easing out of her stance.

"Yeah. Okay," she said finally, voice quiet. "Fair."

But her face... her face still held something. Not anger. Not disbelief. But not acceptance either.

She turned halfway, like she was going to drop the conversation, then hesitated again.

"It’s just..." Phoebe glanced down at the serum bottle in her hand like she’d forgotten she was holding it. "I don’t know. My thoughts probably just ran wild."

Merlina stayed silent, looking at Phoebe’s every move, every body language, wishing she could just drop this.

Phoebe exhaled. "Especially after hearing that Craig and Adriana broke up."

That pulled the breath right out of Merlina’s chest. Her heart skipped, thudded, and then raced.

"What?"

"Yeah," Phoebe nodded slowly, almost to herself. "Trust me I was shocked myself. New Year’s Day. Something like that." Her voice softened. "Keith said Craig kissed someone on his birthday."

Her pulse roared in her ears. She stared at Phoebe, not trusting her own voice, but the question came anyway, ragged and shaky.

"Do you... know who?"

She could barely get it out. Her throat felt like it was closing. She wasn’t sure she could breathe. It felt like she was getting no breaks today.

Phoebe gave a helpless shrug. "I don’t know. Someone at his party, maybe. Keith didn’t know either, or wouldn’t say."

Merlina nodded, but it wasn’t enough to calm her. Her whole body was suddenly too hot, too exposed. She could feel beads of sweat forming at her hairline, her palms damp where they clutched her phone.

She knew she had to talk to Craig, soon. Because if this got any messier, if people kept talking and she stayed silent, it would only get worse.

What if he spirals again, acts impulsively like he did earlier or says the wrong thing? She couldn’t risk that, at least not right now.

Not until she found a way she could get out of this without hurting Louis or losing her friends, especially Megan.

If the rumor about him and Adriana breaking up was true, then she knew Craig had nothing else to lose. Nothing to hide. Nothing to care about.

Without another word, she pulled her phone into her lap and typed quickly, to Craig.

’We need to talk.’

An hour later, long after the dorm had gone quiet, Merlina slipped out into the cold, pulling her jacket tighter as she crossed the street.

The night was still, almost unnaturally quiet. Not a single car passed as she walked to the edge of town, to the dead-end road that curved behind the old train yard, a spot nobody used since the tracks had been shut down a year ago.

There, tucked in the shadows beneath a half-lit streetlamp, was Craig’s car. Engine off. Windows fogged at the corners.

He was already inside, staring straight ahead like he’d been sitting in silence for a while.

Merlina opened the door and slipped in without a word, the quiet swallowing her whole.

His familiar scent hit her first, it wrapped around her like a memory, warm and disarming. It mixed with the clean, rich scent of the leather seats, a hint of cologne, and that smooth, cool air that came from something finely made and carefully kept.

She shut the door gently, the soft click sounding louder than it should’ve in the silence between them.

For a second, neither of them spoke. The only sound was the whisper of the wind through the crack in his window.

Then he looked at her, intensely, like he was trying to make up for every second he couldn’t, every moment he’d needed her and every breath he’d spent wanting her back.

Their arms rested on the center console, close enough for their sleeves to brush, close enough to feel the heat of each other. Close enough to touch, yet somehow still too far, the distance ached.

"Hey," she said, softly. Her voice barely there, but her eyes trembled with the weight of missing him.