Parking's Brutal Anyway

Elena says she could call in sick, and the moment she says it Marcus understands tonight was supposed to be his — she watches him understand it. His hand lifts toward her bare shoulder and stops, close enough that she feels the warmth of not-being-touched. Both their phones buzz at once: tomorrow's lineup, neither name on it. He lowers his hand. She waits. "Parking's brutal anyway," he says, "and I've got — " and then he just stops finishing the sentence, which is somehow worse than any ending he could have given it.