Slayed240225alinalopezandryanreidalina

Names folded into echo, names that would call each other home whenever the neon faded.

Alina Lopez and Ryan Reid — Alina.

By sunrise, they had not fixed each other’s problems, only burned bright enough to see them. He left a poem folded into her palm. She left a business card stamped with a phone number and a winking emoji. slayed240225alinalopezandryanreidalina

“Alina,” he said, tasting the name like it might be the last word of a secret. She laughed and corrected him: “Alina Lopez. And tonight, I slayed the stage.” Names folded into echo, names that would call