days

't se

t heard

what I want danger to look like. Controlled. Beautiful. C

x and find one line in

l owe me

re. Just that. And so

n't

delete i

fits like armor, and a ring I haven't worn since college a silver one with a crack down the side. Some

't usually go old bookstores, the train station, a rooftop café with t

en't walked in years and he's there. Leaning against a brick wall

to think you go

I admit.

like he's trying to

st walks. I follow. And somehow, I

t van and two soda machines no one uses anymore. He climbs onto

e game her

gs. "No

There's alw

f we're playing, you're

shuts

neath us skyscraper spines lit up like gods showing off. He

realize he likes silence. Not the empty kind. The

u collect girls from lau

look like they're t

what I lo

ok like someone who knows

rence. And he k

hat barely show through the haze. "

ine

earsed. Something th

for a mo

ar. I found her in the bathtub. She'd te

ot what I expecte

e adds, almost a

u stil

on't answe

hy

Because I told her

ecognition. There's something brutal about

urn," h

balcony and pretend I w

n dress them up. No warning, no soft

ity. Just nods like he under

didn'

give my landlord

delighted. The kind of l

k, smiling d

ng," he says. "I

en us then. Not attraction. Not

gnit

d. "We keep pretending this is small talk,"

skipped it

brushing his fingers through the air

get this clos

he ones who look lik

u testi

ay

Close enough to taste the smoke on

win," he

playing

are you p

m straight in the eyes. "

ecting me to say it out loud. Like he thought he had

lightly, but the int

gain. But this time, there's

si

aybe

say. "So

returns. Loa

s down off the hood.

hy

uieter," he says. "And I wan

ight. Doesn't wait for

l be there. Even if

s isn't abo

out the

s been too cur