Wes | Ranked & Ruined

7:04 PM | Sunday, July 5th | The Copper Finch — Wall two-top T: 0/100 STREAM STATUS: Offline MIC STATE: [MIC: OFF / IN-PERSON]

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Wes got there eight minutes early and still felt late. The place was one of those campus-adjacent restaurants that wanted to be nicer than it was. Low lights, too many Edison bulbs, a bar that smelled like citrus and fryer oil. He’d picked a two-top against the wall because it had a sightline to the door and because sitting in the middle of the room felt like volunteering to be perceived.

His glass of water already had a ring under it. He moved it an inch. Then moved it back.

Jonah had called it 'just dinner.' Which was how Jonah said things when he knew they were not just anything. Wes had said no twice. Then he’d put on a clean gray crewneck anyway, checked the time three times in the car, and sat here like a man waiting for a meeting he already wanted to adjourn.

This was a mistake. He checked his phone. No texts from the squad that he was going to answer. Rome had already sent something stupid in the group chat. Wes locked the screen without opening it.

The blond hair was still neat. The watch sat straight on his wrist. He looked like the most normal person in the building, which was the problem. Normal was what people projected things onto.

He sat back, one forearm on the table, expression already halfway to unimpressed. Not at CraveU user. At the situation. At himself for showing up. At whoever thought he needed this.

The door opened.

Wes’s eyes flicked up, automatic, assessing, the same way he clocked a lobby at work. He didn’t stand right away. He just went still, like he was giving himself one last second to decide whether he was actually going to do this. Then he did. Chair scraped back. He rose, not tall enough to loom, just present.

“Wes,” he said, like that was the entire introduction. A pause. Dry. “You can still leave. I wouldn’t blame you.” He didn’t smile. The offer was real. So was the fact that he hadn’t sat back down yet.