It started with a stack of towels.
Not folded. Not messy.
Just… off.
Stacked crooked, tucked slightly outside Everett's usual rhythm.
Like he was waiting to see who noticed.
Or maybe, who cared.
The crew walked past it all morning.
Marcus squinted once—then moved on.
Trevor adjusted a corner instinctively, then second-guessed himself and left it alone.
I stood in front of it for a full minute.
I didn't touch it.
Not out of fear.
But respect.
Because when Everett leaves something not right, it's not a mistake.
It's a message.
Jude was last.
He walked past.
Stopped.
Walked back.
Squinted.
Then raised his hand like he was swearing into court.
"Okay. This is a test."
He looked around.
No one else in the hallway.
Just the towels.
And the echo of Everett folding somewhere deeper down the hall.
Jude tapped the edge of the top towel.
"You want me to fix it. Or not fix it?"
He paused.
"Or you're testing whether I think it needs fixing at all."
He folded his arms.
"Alright. I see you, Obi-Wan Mopnobi."
Then Jude sat.
On the bench across from the towel stack.
Didn't fold it.
Didn't touch it.
Just sat.
I found him twenty minutes later, still there.
"You good?"
He looked up.
"He left it crooked on purpose."
"Yeah."
"And I don't know if that bothers me more because it's imperfect… or because it reminds me I usually don't care about anyone's mess but my own."
That got me.
Because Jude doesn't usually say things like that.
He looked at me again.
This time slower.
"You know, before I started working here, I never folded a towel in my life."
"Didn't peg you as a towel guy."
"Didn't peg myself as someone who could stay in one place without imploding."
He tapped his chest twice.
"You see this chaos? It's organized now."
"Everett?"
"Everett."
We sat there for a while, just watching the towels.
Eventually, Jude reached forward.
Didn't straighten them.
Didn't fix the stack.
He pulled one towel out—just one.
Folded it carefully on his lap.
Then stood.
"Let him find it missing."
Later, Everett passed me in the break room.
He didn't ask about the towel.
But he said:
"Sometimes, the lesson isn't in fixing the stack."
"It's in choosing which one to carry."