There’s a moment of silence between us. All around, we can hear the sounds of the street—cars driving down Eighth Avenue, and taxis honking, and people going about their lives.

“How?” Adam asks. “I mean… when did this happen?”

“My uncle just called to say that my dad’s gonna have to leave the country.” Now that I’ve told them what’s really happening in my world, my entire body feels loose. I don’t have the energy to tell any more lies. I just let the truth leave my mouth without putting up any resistance. “But he and my mom were detained almost two months ago.”

Kimmie and Adam speak up at the exact same time.

“So it’s not just your dad?” Kimmie asks.

“This has been happening for almost two months?” Adam says. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I couldn’t.”

“Of course you could. You should’ve—”

“I didn’t know what you were going to think!” I interrupt him, and my voice comes out higher than I intended it to. “If I told you that my parents didn’t have papers… that might’ve changed the way you saw me.”

“But, Matt… nothing would’ve changed,” Adam says. “It wouldn’t have mattered. We would’ve been there for you.”

“I have to go. I need to get back to my sister,” I say, turning away from him, but he wraps a hand around my arm and stops me.

It all happens so quickly. One second, I’m trying to free myself, pushing toward the subway, and the next, Adam pulls me into his arms and everything disappears. With my face buried in his shoulder, the light of day fades away, and just for an instant, everything feels okay. But then, when Adam doesn’t let go of me, I realize something—his lips are pressed against the top of my head, and there’s something about it that just feels so wrong.

I step away from him, looking into his eyes. At first, he seems confused. It’s as if he’s not even sure what he was doing, why he held me the way he did.

“I’m sorry,” he says. He looks down, shifting awkwardly on the spot. “Are you okay? I just wanna make sure you’re okay. I just… I wanna be there for you.”

Everything around us stops. The air becomes still, the sounds of the street fade out. It isn’t just what he’s saying, but the way he’s saying it.

“Adam, I…” I say, shaking my head. “What does that even mean?”

Adam presses his lips together. For a second, he seems to be debating with himself, but then he lets out his breath. And somehow, without even saying anything, he lays it all out in the open. His wall comes down, and in his eyes, I see a million different things—sadness, and fear, and longing.