He hadn't been in the small crowd before things started, and Eileen had decided to feel relieved about it in the back of her mind. She could tell Jake about it later. She could ease over some of the sharper points. She could let it be a small, quiet thing that didn't dig under his skin the way it would dig under hers.

But she couldn't help seeing him there in turning from Elisha to Rachel. Her eyes had such a funny trick of finding Jake whenever he was in the room, after all; a very particular focus on keeping her boyfriend in her sights, half-protective and half self-preservation.

Her hair had been pulled down from its bun by the time she drifted properly over to Jake. It helped, being able to fidget slightly with pushing it back behind her ears, getting it tossed back over her shoulder, before her hands had to simply drop into the uncomfortable wringing behind her back that always came with uncertainty. Most people had looked pleased, after all. Most people had at least looked proud in the hard, silent way Clubs so often did.

Jake just looked uneasy.

She meant to thank him for coming first. Really, she did. But something had been disconnected in her brain between the end of the bout and the quick swipe of a cloth to get the blood off her hands that made it difficult to formulate the words.

"It's..."

It's good to see him. It's over now. It's the way things are done here and she's terrified that going a different way will make the road she's on impossible.

Her gaze stayed stuck to the ground near Jake's feet. "...we're-- okay?"