Beneath Her Smile

It happened on one of those random outings, one we hadn't even planned. Katie had texted me late in the afternoon with, Meet me at the café in ten? I'm craving a milkshake, and you're buying.

I knew it was half a joke, but I went anyway, happy to indulge her and needing the break from a long study session. When I got there, she was already sitting at our usual table, that relaxed, easy smile on her face as she waved me over.

As we sipped on milkshakes and laughed about our day, Katie seemed quieter than usual. She'd drift off mid-sentence, then shake her head and laugh, like she was trying to get herself back on track. But something was clearly on her mind, a sort of hesitation in her eyes that made me feel like she was holding something back.

Finally, after a long pause, she looked at me and took a deep breath, setting down her milkshake with a little more force than intended. "Jason," she started, her tone suddenly serious. "I… I've been meaning to tell you something."

My heart skipped a beat, and I tried to keep my expression casual, though internally, I was a mess of nervous anticipation.

She laughed, looking down at her hands as if embarrassed. "I know this might sound stupid, but… I like you. I mean, I really like you."

The words hung in the air, and for a split second, I was sure I was dreaming. But she was sitting there, staring at me with those bright eyes, waiting for a response. I swallowed, feeling my heart pounding in my chest.

"I… wow, Katie. I… I like you, too," I managed, my voice barely above a whisper.

Her face lit up, and she reached across the table, grabbing my hand with a smile that seemed to brighten the whole café. "Good. Because I was really hoping you'd say that."

We both laughed, and in that moment, it felt like the world had opened up, like I'd just taken my first step into a new chapter I didn't even know I was waiting for.

From that day on, everything changed. Katie and I were officially together, and for the first time in my life, I felt like I was living in a story I actually wanted to be part of. My friends cheered me on, especially Brad and Liam, who gave me endless high-fives and told me how "the NPC finally scored." Even her friends seemed genuinely happy for us, welcoming me into their group like I'd always been there.

The next few months with Katie were like something out of a dream, a hazy, perfect reality where everything seemed to just fall into place. We quickly became inseparable, spending our days drifting through campus, sharing inside jokes, and making new memories that seemed to fill the gaps of every day.

Every morning, we'd meet for coffee before classes, huddled over cups of steaming caffeine as we groggily swapped stories about our terrible professors or the strange things we'd seen on campus. She'd tease me about my hoodie addiction and laugh when I'd complain about the weather, even though I secretly loved those chilly mornings with her by my side.

My friends were still a big part of my life, too. Brad and Liam were nothing short of thrilled, constantly teasing me but also looking out for me in their own way. We'd hang out at the café or the campus rec center, talking about everything from the latest games to the weekend's plans. Katie would sometimes tag along, fitting in effortlessly, like she'd always been part of our circle. And my friends accepted her, even cheering me on when they saw how happy she made me.

There were a lot of double dates with Brad and his new girlfriend, Maddie, who was just as sarcastic and quick-witted as him. It was strange but nice, our mismatched group of friends somehow feeling like the most natural thing in the world. On weekends, we'd all pile into someone's car and drive out to some random spot off-campus—an old diner, a weird vintage shop, even an apple orchard one time—just for the fun of getting out of the campus bubble.

Katie and I had our little routines. We'd grab late-night pizza when we couldn't sleep, binge-watch horror movies on the tiny TV in her dorm, and study in the library, though "studying" was often just an excuse to sit close to each other and chat in hushed voices. She was warm, funny, and genuinely kind, always listening to me, always there when I needed someone to talk to.

In classes, Katie and I had fallen into an unspoken rule of sitting together, even if it was just during the rare boring lecture we both happened to be in. In IT, our professor started pairing us for everything, half-jokingly referring to us as the "dynamic duo." It was a label that I wore with a strange sort of pride, especially because it was true—we did make a good team, both in and outside of class.

The months rolled on, and things just felt… right. My life had found this rhythm, and I'd settled into it with a kind of contentment I'd never experienced before. We'd gone from those awkward early days to something deeper, a comfortable connection where I knew I could say anything to her, where we could just be. For the first time, I felt like I was in a relationship where both of us were equally invested, where I could relax and actually enjoy it.

And then, slowly, subtly, things started to shift.

It was small things at first, nothing unusual, just little quirks of our relationship that I didn't think much about. Like how Katie always seemed to know exactly where I'd be, even when I hadn't told her. At first, I chalked it up to coincidence, maybe just an instinct she had from spending so much time with me. If I was at the library late at night, she'd show up with a coffee, saying she'd guessed I'd be there. If I stopped at the café between classes, she'd walk in like she'd planned to grab a drink anyway.

I joked about it one day, calling her my "personal GPS." She laughed it off, saying she just knew my schedule so well by now. And it made sense, I guess. After all, we were in the same classes and hung out all the time. But sometimes, it felt like she didn't just know where I was—she knew when I'd be alone, or when I might need company.

Then there was the night she showed up at my dorm with my jacket. I hadn't even realized I'd left it at her place, but there she was, standing at my door, holding it with a smile.

"Thought you might be missing this," she said, handing it over.

I took it, thanking her, but I couldn't shake the weird feeling I'd had all evening, wondering how I'd forgotten it when I'd been wearing it earlier that day. I brushed it off as my own forgetfulness, but it still left me wondering.

Another time, I was out with Brad and Liam, just a random Saturday hanging out at a bar off-campus. It had been a long week, and I needed the break, the chance to just unwind and joke around without any expectations. But just as I was really starting to relax, Katie walked in, spotting me almost immediately and weaving her way through the crowd to get to our table.

"Jason!" she said, grinning as she slid into the empty seat beside me. "Didn't know you were here."

I couldn't help but laugh, leaning back in my seat. "Did you follow me?"

She laughed, shrugging. "Maybe. Or maybe I just have really good timing."

Brad and Liam exchanged a quick look, both of them hiding smiles. They didn't mind her joining us, and honestly, I didn't either. Katie was easy to be around, even with my friends, so I told myself it was just a coincidence that she'd shown up right when I'd needed a break. Just another of those strange, serendipitous things that happened sometimes.

But as the months passed, these little coincidences seemed to pile up. She had this way of showing up whenever I least expected it—at the rec center, the library, even at the grocery store once, where she popped up behind me with a laugh, holding up a carton of milk like she'd planned on bumping into me all along. I joked about it, making light of the whole thing, but a small part of me started to feel… watched, like I was never quite alone.

One night, after a late study session at her dorm, I headed back to my place, exhausted but happy. I'd barely been asleep an hour when a faint noise outside my window stirred me awake. I squinted at the dark, my heart pounding as I thought I saw a shadow shifting outside. It was probably just a trick of the light or a branch moving in the wind, but for a second, it almost looked like someone had been standing there, watching.

The next morning, I laughed it off as a bad dream. After all, why would anyone be watching my window? It was the middle of the night, and I was too tired to trust my own senses.

But then, other things started happening. I noticed my notes were going missing from my dorm, only to turn up at her place. I'd find my textbooks on her desk, pens and notebooks that I'd left in my bag suddenly lying out on her floor. When I asked her about it, she just shrugged, saying I must have brought them over and forgotten, but there was something about the way she said it, almost like she was waiting for me to accept it without question.

Around that time, my friends started making comments. Brad, in particular, seemed to notice the way Katie always managed to insert herself into our plans, sometimes without an invitation.

"Not that I mind," he said one day, nudging me as we sat on the quad, "but, like, do you ever get a break?"

"A break from what?" I asked, feigning ignorance.

He gave me a look, his brow furrowing slightly. "From Katie. Don't get me wrong, dude, she's great and all, but… it's like she's everywhere. Doesn't she have her own friends?"

I laughed it off, trying to ignore the strange knot in my stomach. I didn't want to admit that, deep down, I'd noticed it too, that sometimes it felt like she couldn't bear me to be out of her sight. But I told myself that I was overthinking it, that she was just excited to be with me, that this was what a normal relationship was supposed to feel like.

The truth was, I still cared about her. Despite the small, unsettling things that had started to creep in, she was still the girl who'd made me feel seen, who'd pulled me out of my own shadow and into a life I'd only dreamed of. She was the one who'd brought me out of the background and made me feel like I mattered.

But as much as I tried to hold onto that feeling, something was lurking beneath it all, a faint but growing sense of unease. It was like a tiny crack in the perfect picture we'd built together, a crack that kept widening, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it.

And as the days wore on, I couldn't shake the feeling that maybe, just maybe, the girl I'd fallen for was hiding something I didn't understand.

The unease I felt around Katie lingered, an invisible thread that stretched taut between us even during our happiest moments. I'd try to dismiss it, to drown it out in the laughter we shared or the way her hand felt in mine, but it was always there, lurking in the back of my mind. Life with her had once felt like a dream, a miracle that I couldn't believe was real. Now, that same feeling was shifting, like I was walking a tightrope, never quite sure where I'd land.

Katie's presence became even more constant. She'd started showing up to places I hadn't even told her I'd be. If I decided last minute to hit the library for a late study session, she'd appear, coffee in hand, smiling like she'd known I'd need it. If I was out with Brad and Liam, just grabbing food at the diner near campus, she'd suddenly walk in, claiming she was in the area. She had a knack for appearing at exactly the right moment, like she was somehow reading my mind.

It wasn't just me who noticed, either. Brad and Liam had started making more comments, their usual banter now tinged with a cautious edge.

One Saturday, we were at the diner, sharing a plate of fries and joking around about the end-of-semester stress. Katie wasn't with us, and for the first time in a while, I felt like I could actually relax.

"She's everywhere, man," Brad said suddenly, dipping a fry in ketchup and waving it in the air for emphasis. "Don't you feel like she's just… I don't know, following you?"

"Dude, chill," I laughed, though I felt my stomach twist. "She's just around a lot, that's all."

"Is she, though?" Liam cut in, his voice quieter, more serious. "I mean, no offense, but she's been showing up even when it's, like, just supposed to be us."

I wanted to defend her, to brush it off, but something held me back. They weren't wrong; it was something I'd felt too, but voicing it felt like admitting that something really was off. So I just shrugged, mumbling a vague answer before changing the subject. The conversation shifted, but the weight of it lingered, like a shadow following me even after I'd left the diner.

The following week, things took an even stranger turn. I'd stayed up late in my dorm, working on a paper due the next day. I must've passed out around 3 a.m., only to wake up to that same, faint rustling sound outside my window. I sat up, squinting into the darkness, my eyes barely adjusting in the dim light. And for a split second, I saw it—a shadow shifting just outside, moving away as if it had been watching me.

My heart pounded, and I rushed to the window, staring out into the empty campus. I told myself it was probably just another late-night student passing by, maybe even a trick of the light. But deep down, I couldn't shake the feeling that it was something else.