They’d been sorta looking around, all shook, out front the sammie spot. At the homeless folks. At all the activity in the intersection there.

“Lowkey,” he said, smiling.

I was telling them about where was good for groceries. Where was cheapest and where had the best produce. Getting reminded of how long it had been since ex bae and I first made our initial move out here—half a decade ago!

How it was lowkey absurd that I was back out here.

That I was still out here.

Tf was I still doing out here?!

Ryden, under his breath, looking back at his roomies to ensure they were outta earshot, said, “I didn’t wanna tell them, but did you hear about the robbery last week? There was a robbery here last week.”

“Where?”

“Here. This intersection,” he said, bounding up onto the stoop of his new digs.

“Goddamn,” I said.

He raised his eyebrows like I know, right?

“Well that’s what you’re here for,” I said. “To protect em.”

My ankles were swelling and peeling and leaking again—I could feel my diabetes socks sticking to them, smell the weird smell they made when they got like this.

The immune suppression not doing shit. If anything, making things worse.

I had a feeling things would break down and I’d have to mish it back to Cali again—lil sis had already started looking at flights.

But Ryden asked if we could do one more run. To move the bigger, bulkier stuff he hadn’t been able to fit into his roomie’s car. “I’ll add it to the tab, obviously.”

At Ryden’s old spot, one of his roomies, flamboyant hapa boy, had all these human-sized plants in the backyard. His babies.

He told Ryden he could pick one out for the new spot.

Ryden asked if I could, too.

“Oh, that’s not necessary,” I said. “Unless you wanna get rid of one.”

I could tell he really loved these guys. And this was, after all, the first time I was meeting this boy.

“Oh. Sure. Yeah that’s fine,” he said, looking me over all suspicious. Sounding like it clearly wasn’t fine.

We went out back.

Ryden picked one.

I picked the smallest, most deformed-looking one.

“These OK?” Ryden asked.

His roomie said they were, biting his nail.

I carried the first one, Ryden’s, through the house, down the front steps, and into the box.

When I picked up the second one—the deformed one—Ryden’s roomie went Wait wait wait.

I put him down.

I just gotta take a pic, he said, taking one.

After he took the pic, I said We good?

He said we were.

But I didn’t even make it to the kitchen before he went “Wait wait wait. I can’t. I don’t want him to get neglected.”

“OK,” I said, setting him down. “Of course. No worries.”