Previously…
– Bree and Marcus officially began dating, leaving Christian feeling like a third wheel as he struggled to come to terms with his sexuality.
– After Sophie caught Sabrina and Jason together and made a scene, Sabrina opted to go on a cruise with her parents for Christmas rather than stay in town with her boyfriend.
– Jason told Alex that he plans to take Sophie to therapy in hopes of smoothing things over between her and Sabrina.

“Guess we’re back, huh?”

Marcus Gray stands on the steps of the brick-fronted academic building from which he, his girlfriend, and their closest friend have just emerged. The trio looks out at the quad that sits at the center of King’s Bay University’s campus. Mere days ago, the place was as lifeless as a cemetery, but now that winter break has concluded, students cover the paved walkways and slightly muddy lawn.

“And that’s a good thing,” Christian Taylor says. “This break felt like it lasted a hundred years.”

Hands gripping the straps of his backpack, Marcus turns toward him. “For real? I could’ve used another week, or two, or three…”

“Yeah, I’m good being back, too,” Bree Halston comments as the three begin to walk back toward their dormitories. “It was nice to be able to skate without rushing back for class, but holidays in my family are so weird.”

“I told you, you could’ve come to Christmas at my parents’,” Marcus says.

She brushes a few strands of blonde hair back behind her ear. “I know. Thanks. But my mom insisted that I spend Christmas with her and Peter, which meant having dinner with Spencer‘s weirdo mom.”

“I’m gonna guess she didn’t admit having anything to do with taking my sister away from my parents?” Christian says.

Bree shakes her head. “No, but she did tell me I could call her ‘Mimi’ like Peter does, which was creepy AF. The chef she hired was pretty good, though.”

Marcus stops to look at a flyer for spring intramural sports tryouts posted on a wooden utility pole. Christian and Bree linger behind him.

“Was your Christmas really as bad as it sounded in your texts?” Bree asks.

“Beyond,” Christian tells her, widening his eyes for emphasis. “My mom and dad got into some kind of argument with Rosie and Travis, so they left, and then my Uncle Tim left with them, and it was super-awkward, so the rest of us just sat there and ate really fast and everyone went home.”

“Damn,” Marcus says as he turns back from the flyer. “Uncle Matt had told us we should come over, but my mom and dad thought it maybe wasn’t the best idea.”

“Your mom and dad were smart,” Christian says. They resume walking, stepping aside quickly to allow a pair of skateboarders to pass. “When do you guys wanna meet for dinner?”

Suddenly both Bree and Marcus fall silent. 

“Uh,” Marcus begins, “we kinda…”

“My dad got us a gift certificate for Windmills to use for a date night thing,” Bree explains, “so we made a reservation for tonight…”

“That’s cool. No worries,” Christian says, a little too quickly. “Windmills! That’s bougie.”

Bree giggles. “That’s what I told my dad.”

“C’mon. It’ll be fun to get dressed up,” Marcus says. “Don’t think they’ll let us order booze, do you?”

“No way,” Bree says. “Okay, I need to go to my room and shower and get dressed. And do my hair. Ugh.”

“Your hair looks great,” Marcus tells her, sliding an arm around her back. He punctuates the reassurance by planting a kiss on her cheek. 

“I need to get back to my room, too,” Christian says. “Have fun tonight, yeah? I’ll see you both tomorrow.” 

As they wave goodbye, he is already splitting off onto the path that leads back to his dorm. He reaches into his pocket, where his hand finds his AirPods, and he quickly slips them into his ears. As he continues walking, he takes out his phone, opens Spotify, and hits play on the Taylor Swift album that he was listening to before class.

He gazes out at the campus full of students as the atmospheric midtempo track “Maroon” plays:

And I chose you
The one I was dancin’ with
In New York…

Something about the yearning sound of the lyrics and the song causes him to take notice of what he sees all around him: couples. Pairs. A basketball player in his practice outfit and a sorority girl sit on a bench, sharing secrets. A pair of theatre boys, one with a septum piercing, walk along, letting their hands catch as they go.

Why is it so easy for them to be open? Christian thinks to himself.

Keeping his head down, he hurries back to his dorm.

—–

Elsewhere on campus, in a room filled with desktop computers sporting flatscreen monitors, a class is still trickling out. Sabrina Gage is stowing a flash drive in the front pocket of her black backpack when she senses someone standing beside her.

“Hey,” a male voice says, and she glances up to see a tall, thin man, with dark brown hair parted on one side and around her age, standing there. 

“Hi,” she replies uncertainly. She doesn’t know that she can place him — he isn’t the professor, and there didn’t seem to be a T.A.

“I’m Robbie. I’m in the class, too,” he adds quickly. “I know I look like…”

“Like me?” She laughs. “We non-traditional students have to stick together.”

Robbie grins. “Feels great being surrounded by 18- and 19-year-olds all the time, doesn’t it?”

“The best. I definitely never feel like an old lady or anything.” Sabrina picks up her backpack and slides her arms through the straps. “Are you a full-time student?”

He shakes his head. “Part-time. I work mornings for a delivery company and then take courses when I can. Slowly chipping away at that bachelor’s. How about you?”

“I had finished all my core classes a long time ago, at another… Well, it doesn’t matter. I’m finishing up a major in Photography and Digital Art. I only have a few credits left, so I work as a barista, too.”

“Nice,” he says with a genial grin. “Those photos of the cars that the professor put up — those were yours, right?”

“They were. Good memory.”

“I loved what you did with the perspective. It made the tires seem like the driving force, and the cars were an afterthought. Different way of looking at road shots.”

“That’s what I was aiming for, so thank you. Which ones were yours?”

“The prof didn’t get to my portfolio today. Maybe next time. I could show you some of it, if you’d like — I mean, if you don’t have anywhere to be right away.”

“I’d love to see them,” she says. “I’m Sabrina, by the way.”

“Sabrina,” he repeats, turning the word over in his mouth curiously and then reaching out his hand for a shake. “It’s nice to meet you.”

She accepts his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

—–

The silence in the office is painfully dense, with not even the steady ticking of a wall clock to soften it. 

“So an hour here is only 50 minutes, right?” Sophie Fisher asks. Her legs dangle off the edge of the deep, navy blue sofa, not quite reaching the ground.

“Fifty minutes is plenty of time to make some progress,” her father says from his seat one cushion over on the same sofa. The pair are positioned across from Dr. Janice Wiggins, who sits in a lighter blue chair with lilies printed on it. 

“Or not,” Sophie replies. “We can meditate.”

“Do you want to meditate?” the graying doctor asks in a soft voice. She wears purple-framed glasses and has her hands folded in her lap.

Sophie shrugs. “Not really. But if it means we don’t have to talk…”

“You don’t have to do anything,” Dr. Wiggins says. “But your father invited you here today–“

“He made me come.”

“I didn’t make you,” Jason interjects. 

“Dad, let’s let Sophie have the floor,” Dr. Wiggins tells him, striking a tone that is the perfect balance between instructive and gentle. “Sophie, do you feel like you had to come here today?”

“Yes.” The young teenager stares down at her fingers and twiddles with her thumbs. “It felt like I didn’t have a choice.”

Jason immediately says, “Sophie–“

“I’d like to hear Sophie speak,” the doctor says, locking eyes with Jason for just a moment to make it clear that this is all part of her plan to get his daughter to open up. “Why did it feel that way, Sophie?”

“I don’t know.”

The doctor allows that comment to linger in the air for several seconds. Jason’s leg bounces anxiously; as much as he wants to get to the meat of this therapy session, he knows that the doctor has a plan, and if Sophie is going to be an active participant, some finesse will be necessary.

“Because he wants you to make me like Sabrina,” Sophie says. “That’s his girlfriend.” 

“And you don’t like Sabrina?” Dr. Wiggins asks.

Sophie’s eyes venture a single glance up, flashing briefly at the doctor and then at Jason, before dropping back to her hands. “I don’t not like her. Like, as a person. She’s fine. But I hate her name.”

“That gut reaction is understandable,” Jason says. “I get it.”

“What’s the matter with the name Sabrina?” the doctor inquires.

“It’s her full name. Sabrina Gage.” Sophie spits out the moniker with the same level of disgust she’d use for a piece of rotten food. “That’s the woman who killed my mother.”

Dr. Wiggins looks at them over the top of her glasses. “You think your father’s girlfriend killed your mother?”

“No,” Sophie says. “Not like that.”

“It’s a really complicated story,” Jason says, “but the woman who murdered my late wife — Courtney, that’s Sophie’s mother — had stolen the identity of a woman named Sabrina Gage. When the real Sabrina found out and came to King’s Bay, we got to know each other, and…”

“I see.” Dr. Wiggins draws in a deep breath and sits back in her chair. “What you’re saying, Sophie, is that Sabrina’s name triggers you because of the association you have with it.”

Sophie nods.

“Then maybe, just maybe,” the doctor continues, “there’s a way that we can reprogram that association. Would it be okay if we worked on that?”

“Fine,” Sophie says, half-under her breath, but then she looks sharply at Jason. “I don’t get why she’s so important to you.”

He recoils a bit, stunned, before managing to answer, “Because she’s a nice person and someone whose company I really enjoy. She’s also kind and has values I respect. I think you could really like her–“

“Why do I have to like her?” Sophie asks, her voice pitching up. “Why are you putting her ahead of me? I’m your daughter.”

“That’s not what I’m doing,” Jason says. 

“Then if you really want to put me first,” Sophie says, “do something for me and dump your girlfriend.”

—–

The gray sky floats above the KBU campus as Sabrina and Robbie step out of the building where their class was held.

“I’ve definitely been to that coffee shop before,” he says. 

“Well, say hi if you come in again,” Sabrina replies. “I’m there a lot. At least for the time being. I would love to transition into more of, I don’t know, a career at some point.”

“Getting your degree is a great step in that direction.” 

“I hope so.”

“So…” The word tails off into the air as they walk a few more steps. “There’s that revolving exhibit at the gallery downtown — the one that’s all about King’s Bay history. I’d have to look up whose work is showing when, but… would you want to go check it out with me?”

The invitation takes Sabrina by surprise; something about his tone tells her that this is more than a friendly suggestion. She stops walking, feeling a hot rush of awkwardness. 

“I, um,” she says, not sure how to state this and fearful that she is completely misjudging his intentions. “I’d love to see the exhibit. Really.”

“Great!”

“But I do think I should, um, tell you… I’m seeing somebody.”

“Oh.” Robbie stiffens, and his cheeks flush slightly. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked–“

“No, it’s okay. I’m glad you did. I needed to be upfront about it, that’s all.”

“Okay. It’s cool. See you in class, then?”

“Yeah.” But as he turns to go, Sabrina finds herself saying, “Robbie, wait.”

He stops, pivoting back toward her.

—–

Feeling like he can’t get any privacy with Caleb and Jasmine hanging out in the dorm room, Christian steps outside back into the cool winter air. The temperature has definitely dropped since he got back to the dorm, he realizes, as he shivers a little against the cold.

He feels his phone vibrate and pulls it out of his pocket, only to find that it is a notification from TikTok about a new post from someone he follows. Not exactly what he was hoping for, even though he knows it is probably too soon for any responses.

Using his hands to cover the phone slightly, he navigates over to the Grindr icon and opens the app. He hasn’t even had a chance to post photos on his profile yet — he didn’t want to do that with his brother and Jasmine hovering — but he figures that he can find a private spot in a quiet corner of the dining hall and set up the rest of his profile while he eats dinner.

As he sticks his phone back into the pocket of his jeans, he lifts his head and registers the site of a familiar woman several yards away: his Uncle Jason’s girlfriend. 

Christian watches with surprise as Sabrina finishes typing something into an iPhone and then hands it back to the tall, reasonably handsome guy she is standing with. The guy smiles as she passes him the phone.

“WTF?” he mutters aloud before quickly hooking left so that he won’t run into Sabrina. It will require him to take a few extra turns to get to the dining hall, but that’s better than… what? Running into Sabrina while she’s giving another guy her number?

Do I have to tell Uncle Jason about this? he wonders as he picks up the pace of his walking.

—–

“There,” Sabrina says as she gives Robbie his phone back. “You have my number now. I’d be happy to go to the exhibit as friends.”

“That sounds great,” Robbie replies. “Like you said, we non-traditional students have to stick together.”

“Give me a call later this week and we can make a plan,” she says. “I really need to go, though. I have an evening shift at the coffee shop.”

With a quick goodbye and a pair of waves, they part ways. Despite her wool coat, Sabrina folds her arms against the cold air, pleased to have a new friend — one who is roughly her contemporary — on a campus full of strangers much younger than she is.

END OF EPISODE 1166

How should Jason respond to Sophie’s demand?
Will Christian report to Jason about what he saw?
Is Robbie really okay keeping things platonic?
Talk about all this and more in the comments below!

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