I opened the door and found Ari looking better than he had last night. I went in to clap him on the back, feeling just a bit protective of him still. There was so much about how Ari carried himself that reminded me of myself. His stoic approach to things, his drive to “make things work” no matter what.

“Thanks for last night. Yin would’ve been up all night if I’d been at my uncle’s.”

It didn’t escape me that even after years living there, Ari still didn’t call his uncle’s place home. One more red flag to add to the pile when it came to that situation.

I sat on one end of my couch and looked at Ari as he typed out a text before pocketing his phone. “I stopped by OuNYe to tell Nesto. I didn’t want him to hear it from someone else.” He grimaced and fidgeted with the laces of his Adidas and when he looked up, he seemed a little embarrassed. “He said that maybe you could help me figure out the immigration thing now. Things with my uncle are not going well, and I want to have a plan.”

And of course I was right back to Easton. I leaned against the cushions we’d been pressed against before making our way upstairs and, like an idiot, wondered if they still smelled like him.

I coughed a few times, trying to buy myself a moment, because I’d apparently lost the ability to even talk about Easton. “So I know Easton has a friend that does immigration work.” Now I felt like an ass for blabbing about Ari’s situation, but when I looked at him he seemed to have perked up at the prospect of Easton getting involved.

“I trust Easton, he will find someone good.” I took a moment to let that sink in, to take in Ari’s faith in people’s goodness. His ability to give people a chance.

I nodded, holding in all the shit that was trying to spill out. “Okay, that’s good, I know he’d like to help.” I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling like I needed to be honest. “He was over here this morning and I was still feeling a little heated about what happened to you last night. I told him.”

Ari dipped his head in acknowledgment, but did not seem bothered at all.

“You don’t mind that I told him?”

He shrugged and then smiled. “I trust you and Easton.” I wasn’t sure he was intentionally pairing us together or if he was just talking, but it seemed like my new thing was to read too much into everything whenever Easton was involved.