“Heart stuff didn’t start until I was sixteen, remember?”

“I wasn’t clear. I’m sorry. I wasn’t talking about your heart condition. I was talking about where your heart pulls you, or more who it pulls you to.”

I like that even though I never said anything out loud, Valentino still knows I’m gay. Or at least that I’m not straight. Yeah, I was flirting with him in Times Square and I’m sharing a bed with him now, but I’m really proud of how openly I carry myself. This shit can be really scary, don’t get me wrong. Especially in the South Bronx, where I’ve never seen two men holding hands and gay is used as an insult. But I’ve known for years I wasn’t going to have forever to come out, so I flew out of that closet when I got the chance.

I’ll just always wish it had been sooner.

“I didn’t get to talk about it with my mom and dad,” I say.

“Do you think they would have been okay?”

“Okay with the gay?”

“Okay with the gay,” he repeats. “Don’t feel like you can’t be honest just because my parents weren’t ideal about it.”

“You sure-sure?”

“I am sure-sure.”

“My mom and dad always wanted me to be happy. I think they always felt guilty that they didn’t make more money to buy me whatever I wanted, so they did their best everywhere else. Like getting me a library card when I needed new books to read, or stealing printer paper from work so I could write my stories. So I don’t think they would’ve given a flying fuck who I brought home as long as they made me happy.”

Valentino throws up a fist. “Well done, parents of Orion. No wonder you’ve turned out so great.”

I blush in the darkness. “I got to give shout-outs to Dayana and Floyd too. They’ve been really dope guardians. I can’t think of a better place to have moved to than the home of my mother’s childhood best friend. We got to grieve her together, and Dayana’s always been letting me find my way and make my own mistakes, even when she wanted to step in. Like Times Square.”

“She didn’t want you to go?”

“Nope. Dalma’s parents wanted us to stay in, but I was itching for an adventure.”

“Wow. If you hadn’t been there . . .”

“Yeah, yeah. I saved your life, I’m a total hero. We get it.”