“Hey, it wasn’t my secret to tell,” Kimmie says, raising an eyebrow. “And Adam was scared. I mean… can you blame him? He didn’t want to risk losing you as a friend. And since you were not showing any signs of being into him, well… he just chose to keep it a secret.”

“I just… I wonder what would’ve happened if he had told me before.”

Kimmie turns sharply to look at me, and she almost crashes into a woman who’s walking in the opposite direction. “Would you have been able to see him that way?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you think you’ll ever be able to see him that way?”

Maybe it’s just the heat, but all of a sudden I’m sweating a lot more. “I don’t know,” I say again. “I need more time to think.”

Kimmie nods. As we start to see Union Square ahead, we slow down a little. We both know my break will be over soon, and I’ll need to head back to the bodega.

“He got us both tickets to the opening night of his show,” she says as we turn around to walk in the direction we came from. “Will you at least come?”

“I…” A part of me wants to say yes right away, but there’s anxiety rising up my throat. I don’t know if I’m ready to watch Adam playing the role I also auditioned for but didn’t get. I don’t know if I’m ready to face him after what happened the last time I saw him. “I’ll think about it.”

The rest of the walk back to the bodega is mostly quiet. There doesn’t seem to be anything left to say, so neither of us tries to speak up. We just walk comfortably in silence, the way that only real friends can. That’s another thing Abuela used to say: La más importante señal de una verdadera amistad no es tener conversaciones interminables, sino la habilidad de compartir el silencio. The greatest sign of true friendship isn’t having endless conversation, but the ability to share silence.

When we finally reach the bodega, she turns to face me and looks into my eyes. “I miss you, Matt,” she says. “So much.”

“I miss you, too. I’m just—”

“I know,” she interrupts me. “I know.”

I walk into the store and try to get back to work, but I can’t focus. I can’t stop thinking about the way she looked at me before we said goodbye. The truth is, I don’t think I deserve Kimmie’s patience, or her willingness to pick things up right where we left off.