“Odette, this smells amazing,” Camilo exclaimed as he brought out the gigantic bowl of soup. I was just remembering I’d promised Easton a photo when my pocket buzzed.

I still haven’t gotten any feast photos. You already forget about me, professor?

Why did my stomach have to dip like that whenever I saw a text from Easton?

I saw Camilo looking at me from the other side of the table and quickly shoved the phone in my pocket. I’d gotten enough from him about Easton last night when we had dinner at Juanpa’s.

We got our bowls of soup and sat around my mom’s dining table. It felt so good to be with my people. Nesto was missing though, and that hurt a little bit. Now that I was up in Ithaca, we’d reconnected again and it made me miss the times when it was the four of us against the world. When I’d finally found friends who looked at me and truly saw me.

I thought about Easton and the ease with which I could talk to him about my life. I couldn’t believe I told him about my dad. That was something I rarely ever discussed.

“Damn bruh, where’s your head right now?” I snapped my head up to see J looking at me with bemusement.

“Nothing. Just thinking about all the shit I need to do for my class.”

Neither of them looked like they believed me, but I didn’t want to get into Easton right now. I was still trying to figure out how I felt about him. I’d been struck by his honesty of being unsure of what to do about the stops and his desire to help. Of course it could all be lip service, but it seemed like he was at least trying.

Thankfully Camilo changed the subject.

“How’s it going with Ari? I forgot to ask about it when I saw you before. I’m so glad you’re going to be his mentor, P.” I smiled at that, because I was glad too.

“Honestly, I still haven’t gotten a chance to really sit down and talk with him.” I lifted a hand to appease Camilo’s stank face. “Chill, I made plans to meet him as soon as I get back to town.” I wasn’t going to drag my feet on this. I couldn’t control or fix some of the shit that was going on in Ithaca, but I could step up and support Ari.

“Between the move and his schedule, we haven’t been able to make time.” I sighed, remembering what Nesto told me the night I moved in. “It seems like his uncle’s making trouble for him about his immigration and—” I cringed thinking of his plans to come out “—things are getting pretty serious with him and Yin. Nesto’s worried if he comes out that will make things much worse.”