Circles ━ Evan Buckley

000: HOME RUN

PROLOGUE: HOME RUN
song of the chapter: notice, little mix

Indiana Carter has the perfect life. She owns her own house, she has been working in her profession for half a decade and is slowly working her way up the hierarchy. She has a weekly routine that she follows expertly, and she has a long-term boyfriend who she suspects might turn into her fiancé very soon. Indiana is satisfied with all that she's achieved in her twenty-six years of life.

She believes for a long time that she doesn't have a need to worry about her future, that she is set with the life she has built for herself and Hugo. She loves him dearly, both as a partner and a person. He is kind, and he always buys her flowers every Sunday. Her favourite perfume never runs low enough for her to worry, and her clothes are always dry cleaned.

Hugo is the perfect man, and his hand fits in Indiana's like a glove. The only thing missing is the rock on her finger.

Okay, maybe that's a bit of an understatement. It's not like it's a big deal, but recently, Hugo has been... off. It's almost like he's absent even when he's right there, and it's making Indiana feel sick. She doesn't understand the sudden change in his behaviour, and she can't pinpoint where or when it started. Just one day he came home from work and he was... quiet.

Too quiet. Indiana doesn't trust it, so she does the only sensible thing. She starts looking.

It starts off small, barely noticeable. She checks his following count on all his socials, but it doesn't move. She checks his jacket pockets, but the only thing she discovers is gum wrappers and receipts. In his the drawer of his bedside table, she finds a self help book and condoms that are gathering dust- it's been that long.

Eventually, Indiana begins to think that she might be going crazy. Hugo's behaviour only gets more abnormal, but still, she doesn't have any reason to distrust him. Her flowers are still fresh, her trousers are crisp and clean, but the feeling persists.

Still, Indiana tries to put this behind her. She tells herself that it was all in her head, that Hugo hasn't really given her a reason not to trust him. Maybe he's just picking up extra hours at the office, or maybe he's finally planning his elaborate proposal- even if Indiana has made it clear for years that something public and extravagant is the last thing she wants.

In the aftermath of her delusional meltdown, Indiana forgives him. She isn't quite sure what for, but even as she tries to move past it, she knows that something hasn't been right. She forgives him anyway, because after that happened with Athena and Michael, she decides that when Hugo is ready for her to know, she will know.

He has always been fiercely loyal to her and to their relationship. Any time a woman has tried to hit on him, he has made it abundantly clear that he is off the market. He has a picture of them as his lock screen, and there is a polaroid of them in his wallet. He wears the watch that she bought him with pride, the private engraving just for them on the back, and he gushes about how grateful he is for his Indiana and all that she does for him.

The more she thinks about it, the less plausible it seems for him to be disloyal to her. The guilt eats at her day by day, breaking her conscience down into pieces, and Indiana feels sick over her own actions. Hugo had done nothing to convince her that she shouldn't trust him, but her own mind twisted her thoughts and turned them into something that they aren't.

She comes to the decision that she must confess to Hugo. She needs to tell him that she's sorry for not trusting him, that she searched his belongings and violated his privacy. She needs him to know that he is the only person she longs for, and she just needs that reassurance every once in a while that he feels the same way. He might show through gifts, but it has been a while since Indiana has felt wanted.