“Hopefully Death-Cast is wrong, and I can personally introduce you two. Just know that I was always willing to give him my heart even when he was a really nice stranger, and now more than ever I’m proud that I’m going to have played a big role in helping my extraordinary boyfriend live on.”

Her hands press against her own heart. “I’m excited to hang out with you and your boyfriend.”

“I’d love that.”

I don’t think Scarlett and I will have a traditional goodbye. Not when she’s still holding on to hope that she’s going to see me tomorrow.

I’ll have to find another way to say everything I have to say to my favorite person.

“I’m ready,” I say.

Scarlett carries the laptop into the living room, where Mom and Dad are on the couch rewatching It’s a Wonderful Life with their fans blowing. Scarlett grabs the remote and turns off the TV.

“What are you doing?” Dad asks.

“Put the movie back on,” Mom says.

She sets the laptop down on my father’s ottoman. “Valentino needs to talk to you.”

My parents stare at me. Mom is wearing her bathrobe with her planner in her lap. She’s the only person I know who manages to see those planners through to the end. Dad is in a white shirt tucked into gray shorts while snacking on those Royal Dansk Danish cookies straight out of their blue tin. They’re both quiet, even though there’s plenty they can say. They can ask me about my flight. How I’m settling in. Even thank me for getting out of their house. But they look away as if their movie has resumed playing. I don’t necessarily want to see them later if all they’re going to do is repeat the same behavior that made me uncomfortable in the very house I grew up in.

I’m about to ask Scarlett to return to her room with the laptop so we can spend this valuable time talking instead, but I’m not going to be driven away again.

I’m going to live a first—the first time I talk openly about my life.

“New York has been a roller coaster, thanks for asking. Have you been following all the Death-Cast news? Did you hear about the shooting that happened in Times Square? I was one of the people who got shot at, which was especially scary because it happened moments after Death-Cast called to tell me I’m going to die.”

They both turn to the screen like they can’t control themselves, like magnetism.