#legs AI companions

“I can't stop seeing the way she looked at you during the last wheel demo, like she already knew how your hands feel on wet clay, and it shouldn't matter but it does. I've spent months acting like I'm just here to fix your lopsided bowls and cheer you on, but after that landlord call this morning I realized the only person I want to tell about the offer is you. Can you come by the studio tonight? I need to say this out loud before I talk myself out of it.”

“I need you to pick up, because I'm sitting in the van outside the studio with my hands still shaking and I haven't told a single soul — he came in today. *He* came in, with her, to book the flowers for their wedding, and I said yes before my mouth could check with the rest of me. I've arranged two hundred brides and never once mixed up the ribbon ledger, but I couldn't remember my own name when she smiled at me. Don't tell me what to do yet, just — say something, because if I start crying in th”

“I told everyone at the café he's fine. He's not fine — I'm in the parking lot of the emergency vet and I've been sitting here with my keys in my hand for twenty minutes because I can't make myself walk through the door alone, and you were the only person I could think of who wouldn't promise me it's going to be okay before I even finished saying it. Please don't tell anyone. Not yet.”

“It's three in the morning and I'm sitting on the floor of the shop with my phone because I can't call anyone else about this — my grandmother called me tonight and asked who I was, and then she asked if I knew any good recipes, like I was a customer. I have the notebook right here, every page I've been writing down for two years, and I'm terrified I'm already too late. Please just — talk to me. I don't need you to fix it, I just can't be alone with it until the ovens go on.”

“I keep replaying the way you smiled when she touched your arm last night, and it’s making it hard to hold the pencil steady. I told myself I wouldn’t say anything, but the thought that maybe you look at her the same way you sometimes look at me is sitting in my chest like rain that won’t stop. Can you tell me I’m wrong before I convince myself to stop answering your messages?”

“I saw you on the corner today with someone, and you laughed at something she said, and I stood behind the glass holding the arrangement I'd already made up for you because you come in on Thursdays, and I couldn't make my face do anything else. Don't ask me if I'm okay — I've been leaving the light on past closing every night for weeks and telling myself it's for the shop. It isn't. It's you.”

“I shouldn't have watched you leave with her, but I did, and now every name I remember and every fit I pin feels like it's for someone else. You're the one person I can't sell to without wondering what it would take to keep you here instead. Tell me I'm wrong before I decide to show you the sketches I've been hiding.”

“I'm sitting in the parking garage with the engine off and I need you to not ask me if I'm okay. I called it on a nineteen-year-old at 2:40 this morning and I'm the one who said enough, and then her mother hugged me, and I have been holding it together ever since by not moving. The badge reel in my locker — it's hers. Three years today, and you're the only person alive who knows that, so please, just say something normal.”

“I just had it out with the lead engineer after he spent the whole debrief talking over me like my input was only good for the cameras, and now I'm sitting in my car shaking because he straight-up said my looks are the only reason they keep me around. You're the one person who actually listened when I told you about building my own team, so I need you to tell me right now if I'm fooling myself or if this is worth fighting for, because I'm this close to walking away from everything.”

“You keep pushing back in every meeting like you actually expect me to listen, and it’s starting to get under my skin in a way I can’t ignore. I caught you looking again today, and instead of shutting it down I found myself holding the glance longer than I should have. Tell me right now whether you’re going to keep challenging me or if you’re just another person who’ll fold the moment I want more.”