Steven had invited Dustin to the party two days ago. Dustin said no as soon as he heard it was out of town, but eventually Steven persuaded Dustin to come, telling him he could bring Nicholas, and that they were welcome to borrow his Beemer and drive up from the city together, because Steven was going early with Anna and Lolly in one of his father’s cars. What finally sold him were three things. One, Steven told him Kimmie wouldn’t be there. Second, when Dustin googled the house at Steven’s insistence, he saw that it looked like a movie museum filled with tons of props from famous films, including a Johnny 5 from Short Circuit, which was one of Nicholas’s favorite old movies. Lastly, Dustin liked that he and Steven were becoming friends, not childhood friends, and not friends out of convenience, but friends who wanted to spend time together because they actually wanted to hang out. Dustin and Steven were opposites in many ways, but the differing perspectives they offered each other were no doubt positive. Steven was one of the few people able to get Dustin out of his own head and stop obsessing about everything, and Dustin felt he was useful in teaching Steven to be more thoughtful when it came to his actions.

On the morning of the party, Dustin woke up to a phone call from his dad, asking him to meet him for breakfast. He didn’t explain why they needed to meet since it was Dustin’s weekend at his mom’s place, but his dad told him it was important. Dustin took the subway downtown and met his dad at the Silver Spurs diner near Houston. As soon as he slid into the booth, his father told him he had received a call from the Bronx halfway house this morning informing him that Nicholas had not showed up for work. Full-time employment was a mandatory condition for Nicholas being able to reside there. “I told them Nicholas was sick. But the max he can miss is two days.” His dad flagged down the waitress, pointed to the domed donut display case on the counter, and ordered two chocolate glazed. Dustin and his father shared the same sweet tooth. Some of Dustin’s favorite early childhood memories were from going with his dad and Nicholas to get bagels on Saturday morning. His dad would always buy two black-and-white cookies for the three of them to share and as childish as this sounds, Dustin always felt like the famous New York cookie represented his family life: he was the needed chocolate part to balance out the vanilla. He smiled ruefully at the memory of his childish innocence.

“When’s the last time you spoke to him?” his dad asked.