She knew they’d come back. That was the deal. But for now, she pulled on a sleeveless dress, walked outside, and let the sun touch the vulnerable, unswollen skin beneath her arms. For now, that was enough.
For months, she learned the rhythms of her own betrayal. Flares came with stress, with sugar, with the cheap deodorant she’d used since high school. She switched to fragrance-free. She bought loose cotton shirts. She canceled a date when a flare made shaving impossible. sweat glands swollen under armpits
“That doesn’t mean it doesn’t suck,” her friend said. She knew they’d come back
Lena nodded, but her mind snagged on the word sometimes . The uncertainty of it. she pulled on a sleeveless dress