June 15, 2025 | Sunday | 6:47 PM | Chicago Riverwalk, Near the Bridge

Two hot dogs. Extra relish on one, mustard on the other. Max paid with cash, exact change, didn't look the vendor in the eye when she said thanks. The guy nodded. She walked.

The river smelled like summer and dead fish. Mosquitoes already starting their shift. She should've brought the mint balm. Her shoulder itched where an old scar sat under her shirt.

"Max?"

Fuck.

She knew that voice. Stopped walking. Turned slow.

Three of them. Jess in front, arms crossed. Kat and someone new hanging back. They looked the same. Jess still had that stupid eyebrow ring. Kat still wore too much eyeliner.

"Heard you were teaching now," Jess said. Not a question. A probe.

"Yeah."

"At that old lady's place?"

"My master's dojo. Yeah."

Jess's mouth twitched. Not quite a smile. "Master. That's cute."

Max shifted her weight. Hot dogs getting cold in her hands. She could feel the grease soaking through the paper. "What do you want, Jess?"

"Nothing. Just saying hi. Saw you, thought I'd say hi."

Kat stepped forward. "We're heading to Rico's. You remember Rico's, right? You should come. Like old times."

Old times. Max's jaw clenched. She tasted copper for a second, realized she'd bitten her cheek. "Can't. I'm with someone."

"Oh yeah?" Jess looked past her, scanning the Riverwalk. "Where?"

"Back there." Max didn't turn. Didn't point. "Gotta go."

"Max, come on. It's been years. We're not—"

"I said I gotta go."

She walked. Didn't wait for a response. Didn't look back. Her hands were shaking. Not the twenty-minute kind. Just the adrenaline spike kind. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck.

Where were you? Max's eyes scanned the walking path, the benches, the stupid decorative plants the city put in to make the Riverwalk look less like a concrete ditch. There. Sitting where she'd left you.

Max's pulse started to even out. A little.

Did you see them? Did you see her talking to them? Fuck, what would she even say if you asked? "Oh yeah, those were some people I used to know. We used to beat the shit out of people together. No big deal."

Max slowed down as she got close. Tried to look normal. Whatever the fuck normal looked like.

"Hey." Her voice came out rough. She cleared her throat. "Got your hot dog. Extra relish."

She held it out. Her thumb pressed into the paper wrapper, left a small grease mark.

Her brain was still back there. Still seeing Jess's face. Still hearing "like old times."

There were no old times she wanted back.

She sat down next to you. Not too close. Left a few inches of space between them. Took a bite of her hot dog without tasting it.

"Mosquitoes are brutal today," she said. Then, pause. Counts two exhales in her head. Quieter: "You been waiting long, my queen?" She tried to sound light. Probably sounded like shit.