It doesn’t take us long to order, and as I sip down a glorious Thai tea, Devin says, “So, what did you want to talk about?”

And I choke on a little tapioca ball as everything hits me at once. Right. The reason we came here.

“It’s a really long story,” I say again, mostly so I can put off telling it. E’s looking back at me with open eyes, and I know I should just start talking, and I’ll probably feel better once it’s all laid out. But what if I don’t?

“If you’re having second thoughts, you don’t have to tell me,” e says, playing with the straw of eir own taro milk tea. “I won’t be upset.”

“Because you’re never upset about anything,” I say.

“Because this is obviously something really personal for you, and if you don’t want to talk about it, you shouldn’t feel pressured to do so.”

“You get that off some TLC show?”

E smiles. “Look, I’m just trying to be helpful. I know it’s hard to talk about some things, and we haven’t even known each other that long.”

Which, now that e says it, kind of strikes me. We’ve really only known each other a month, and yet I’m about to pour out all my deepest secrets. God, what is it about em that makes me so eager to hand over everything?

And then I realize that it’s the fact that e isn’t forcing me to. E says I don’t have to say a thing—that I can walk away and waste eir time—and I know that e means it. E’s not saying it to sound superior or guilt me into confessing, and something about that is too reassuring to resist.

So I tell em everything—about Becca and our lifelong friendship and how strained all of that’s felt since I got to Colorado. About the Meet Cute Diary, and everything it’s meant to me and so many other people. About Drew, how we met, how we got together, all the things that have built up since then. It’s probably an hour later by the time I’m done talking, and all the ice has melted in my tea, but wow, do I feel lighter.

“Anyway,” I say, “that’s that. I just—don’t really know what to do about anything, so I’m just venting to you.”

“I’m sorry, Noah,” e says, and it really sounds like e means it. “I’m probably not the best person to give you advice since I don’t have a whole lot of friends, but it might help if you talk to Becca.”

“I tried talking to her,” I say. “She doesn’t want to talk to me.”