“Maybe on the way out.”

I unlock the lobby door, and it slams closed behind us. We begin shuffling up the steps.

“I’m sorry if that ride was weird,” Orion says from behind me.

“Not at all. Floyd was only trying to keep you alive.”

“Keeping you alive too.”

“I’m sorry for endangering everyone by existing.”

“Shut up, that’s not how I feel. I just wish I could’ve been sitting back there with you. I felt like we were being pushed away because of PDA or some shit like that.”

At the top of the first landing, I stop. “Like this?”

I kiss him, happy to have our lips reunited again like we are.

“Like that,” Orion says. “Can you hook me up with a kiss on each floor?”

“What a great incentive to stay alive.”

We continue up.

“I missed you while I was sitting up front, FYI,” Orion says.

“Same. Holding you calmed me down a bit.”

“What a coincidence, I also calmed down when you were holding me.”

Second landing, second kiss.

Someone’s cooking on this floor has my stomach growling. I don’t even know what it is.

“That smells amazing,” I say.

“For real.”

“What’s the first thing you’re going to eat after the surgery?” I ask.

“Isn’t that kind of torturous to talk about?”

“It’ll be over soon anyway,” I say with a lightness in my voice.

“You choose for me,” Orion says.

It’s hard to think because at this point I would eat this dirty banister or a human foot. “You got to have some linguini, of course.”

“No doubt, no doubt.”

“Mashed potatoes drowned in gravy. Roasted carrots. Steamed spinach. Macaroni and cheese that’s baked to the point it’s burnt.”

“I might have to break that up over a couple meals.”

Third landing, third kiss.

Someone is arguing upstairs. That noise problem won’t be mine for much longer. I’m relieved that I did all my recording back in Orion’s so I won’t have that in the background, even if loud neighbors are a classic New York staple.

“I’m excited to see these pictures,” I say.

“Which ones are you most hyped to see?” Orion asks.

A different memory rises as I go up each step.

Outside the pawnshop.

My first time buying a copy of the New York Times before realizing my connection to the cover shot of Joaquin Rosa on the phone.

Up on the High Line with Orion.

The memorial site.

The Brooklyn Bridge.

Everything on the train where we put on a show for the ages.

Kissing Orion in Times Square.

They’re all winners.