Then he walks over to Dylan and gets down on one knee in front of him.

“Dylan . . . I’ve honestly never felt love as crazy as this. Or as perfectly sane either. Everything with you makes sense, in a world where so few things usually do. I don’t have to argue a case with you, or make anyone try to see my side. There’s only one side here—our side. I want you to brighten my Northern Sky forever. Will you marry me?”

Dylan gives a yelp and then he sits himself down on Charles’s knee. “Of course I will!” he says, before he takes Charles’s face in his hands and kisses him passionately.

Charles starts to laugh. At least, I think that’s what that is. It’s a sound I’ve never heard from him before. “Really?” he says. “Are you sure?”

“Of course, you idiot!” Dylan says in between laughs himself. “I love you more than anything.”

“And I love you more than anything,” Charles says. “Don’t you at least want to see the ring?”

Dylan grins as he stands up from Charles’s knee and takes the ring box. He smiles even wider. “It’s gorgeous.” He takes it out of the box and slips on the thick platinum band. I can see a diamond sparkling from within it. “Isn’t it beautiful?” He turns to me and shows me his hand.

I smile at him, a genuine one even if Charles will never believe it. “Yes. It is. Congratulations! To both of you.” I turn to Charles then, intending to apologize.

But this isn’t the time for that. Charles has put his hand on Dylan’s back, and he suddenly dips him, and starts to furiously kiss him. Dylan responds.

I spend another second with a sappy smile on my face, watching them, before I realize that, er, I definitely need to let them have this moment alone.

I scoot around them as quietly as I can, pad down their hallway, and leave.

It’s only when I’ve walked half a block that I realize the classifieds section is still clutched in my hand.

Well. Now seems as good a time as any to look for a new apartment.

I think about finding a bar or café to go sit down, but then I come across something better.

Staples.

I walk in and head straight over to the most comforting aisle there is, the aisle of a thousand Post-its. Few things in life make me more zen than knowing that one can take notes on an almost infinite variety of shapes, colors, and sizes of sticky paper. Ever since I was a kid, the sheer possibilities for organization—the thought that no matter how unpredictable life gets, there are tools to neatly catalog it—have been massively appealing.