“I’m so sorry I left you stranded at Lovers’ Lagoon on the Fourth of July,” I said. “I did want to spend time with Jess. I just…”

“It’s okay,” Ros said. “I’m sorry I haven’t been around more. We can try Lovers’ Lagoon again another time.”

The night itself seemed to feel lighter then, after our apologies. With the weirdness between us out of the way, I felt like confiding in Ros, as though it were old times.

“I do feel sorry for ditching Touch,” I started. “But he also said this weird thing that I can’t get out of my head. About how everyone in the workshop thinks he’s gay. He sounded upset about it. Like he took it as an insult.”

“That’s weird,” said Ros. They were quiet for a moment, considering. “Honestly, it kind of reminds me of my dad.”

It was the first time they’d mentioned their dad in I didn’t know how long. I wondered vaguely if this was Jess’s influence—if Ros had become more open, willing to talk about their situation now that they’d met someone who was dealing with something similar.

“How?” I asked, trying to prod them softly into saying more.

“Like… just, like, subtle things that hurt. It was, like, he said he was okay with my gender. But then sometimes these things would come out of his mouth that were like, whoa. Just little stuff. Like, how it was weird that this woman in his office didn’t shave her legs. Or, like, you and I would be texting, and he’d call it girl talk. You say you get it, but is that really what you think?” They paused. “It’s hard sometimes, not to think that it all had something do with him leaving. Like if I’d been a different way—a daughter, like, cookie-cutter, instead of a—” They gestured at themselves. “Maybe he’d still be here.”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’m not the most cookie-cutter, but my dad still hasn’t forgiven me for quitting the tennis team.”

“Yeah, but he’s still around,” Ros said.

There was silence. I didn’t know what to say. So I waited. And, a surprise: Ros spoke into this silence.

“This is so stupid,” they said. “You know how I used to pretend I was a wolf as a kid?”

“You barked at me,” I said.

“I did,” they said. “And you were so nice about it.”

“I treated you like anyone else would have,” I said.