He laughed, winced at the stab behind his eyes, and took a long, bitter sip of coffee. The Walk of Shame, he decided, wasn’t the end of the night. It was the first honest step of the morning. And sometimes, the most humiliating walk leads to the best story—or the start of something real.
The fluorescent lights of the 24-hour grocery buzzed like a hive of judgmental bees. Liam, still in last night’s velvet blazer—missing two buttons, speckled with what he hoped was chocolate sauce—squinted at the egg section.
He stopped at a corner café. Bought a black coffee. Sat down. And texted the unknown number: “Keep the shoe. It’s a relic. Also—Chaz says hi. But Liam would like to buy you a real breakfast. No wolves this time.”
It came in the form of a jogger. A crisp, ponytailed woman in expensive leggings, who didn’t even glance at his shame-shoe. She was too busy listening to a podcast about productivity. Liam realized: no one actually cared. They were all too busy starring in their own quiet disasters.
Because, child, Liam thought, I tried to impress a woman by drinking an entire bottle of mezcal and claiming I could ‘speak fluent wolf.’