“You sound super out of breath.”

“Oh. Yeah. I’m jogging.”

“At ten p.m.?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Okay. Well, I’ll let you get back to it. I was just calling to say that I’m staying at my sister’s house tonight because of some stuff going on at my apartment, so I probably wasn’t going to be able to talk anyhow.”

“Oh . . . Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. It’s just an electrical issue with the fire alarm. No big deal.”

“Eliot?”

“Yeah?”

“You sound a little . . . off.”

“Are you this perceptive all the time? Or have we just gotten to know each other pretty well?”

“Both? Maybe?”

“JD, I wish . . .”

“Yeah?”

“I wish that I could drop my stuff off at my sister’s and then invite you out for a beer.”

“That . . . sounds nice.”

“I wanna sit on a barstool and look up and see you walking through the door and feel that . . . thing people feel when they’re sitting in a room full of strangers and then someone they know walks in. You know that feeling, JD? It’s somewhere between relief and . . . and . . . joy? I don’t know. It’s like when you’re in a room full of people you don’t know, somewhere in the back of your head it starts to feel like maybe that room is the whole world, but then the person you’re waiting for comes in and you remember that you’re not alone in the world? That you have that person right there. And that they came all the way there to sit next to you? Do you know that feeling?”

“Yeah. I know that feeling.”

“Well, I want that to happen. I want to cheers with you and . . . and . . . know who I’m talking to. I wanna know who I’m talking to, JD. Is that too much to ask? You know me well enough to hear in my voice that something isn’t right but I don’t even know your name.”

“Eliot—”

“Look. I’m sorry. Don’t mind me. I’m low-key freaking out and it has nothing to do with you or this conversation. I’m sorry. I’m making this about one thing when it’s probably about something else. Just forget what I said. I’m sorry. I think I’m triggered or something. I feel dizzy.”

“Eliot, where are you right now?”

“I’m out front of my sister’s place.”

“Does she know you’re there?”

“She’s expecting me.”

“All right. Listen to me. In a second, we’re gonna hang up, and you’re gonna go up to your sister’s apartment. You’re gonna tell her you’re really tired, and then you’re gonna curl up, tuck yourself in, and watch a Disney movie. Okay? No cutting corners. I mean an actual Disney movie. Pick one. And tomorrow, we can talk about all of this. I promise we’ll talk about all of it, okay?”