It was endless though. The house had to look perfect, she had to look perfect, son had to be perfect. She made sure that there was never a reason for someone to look down on her, if she could help it. Before they could focus on her black skin and make judgements, they’d see her lovely clothes and perfect makeup. They’d hear about her son the Cornell professor and her thriving business.

They’d see her immaculate home.

It was how she coped with everything we’d been through when we first got here. As long as she could shut people up by showing them who she was, she would do it. It was an exhausting way to live and one I still struggled not to fall into.

“Yo, where did you go to, man?”

I snapped my head back and saw Nesto, Ari and Yin looking at me.

“Sorry, Nes. I just started thinking. My mom did get me a lot of stuff,” I said, running my hands over my head.

Nesto, whose own mom was not subtle in her protectiveness of her son, was unfazed. “She’s just trying to take care of her baby. So speaking of people that do too much. How’s it going with your landlord?”

I knew that was coming. Nesto was still pretty invested in being matchmaker and it was still annoying.

“If you mean Easton, he’s fine.”

Yin nodded from the kitchen, an impish look on his face. “He sure is.”

Both Nesto and I busted up at that while Yin looked over at Ari with a sassy grin on his face. Ari was trying hard to scowl, but he couldn’t resist for long and after a second bent down to give Yin a quick kiss on the lips. Yin didn’t waste any time and wrapped his skinny arms around Ari’s neck.

They were fucking adorable, and so into each other. Nesto said they’d only started dating over the summer after a year of walking around each other like lovesick puppies. Nesto looked at them, and then at me and smiled.

Were we ever that young?

It made my heart happy to see those two able to kiss and show their affection for each other freely. Here, at least. Things were not easy at home for Ari, his uncle was very traditional and would not be ok with Ari having a boyfriend. Yin, whose sisters were fiercely protective, thankfully didn’t have the same problem. They had people who were supportive of them and their relationship.

Nesto came over to stand by me and help get books into shelves as Ari and Yin resumed unpacking boxes in the kitchen.

“Should we wipe these down before we put them up?”

I grabbed a couple of old T-shirts I’d been using for cleaning and handed him one.