He nodded. His forehead creased. It reminded me a bit of Natalie. “I kind of found my way to getting less messed up, and I grew up fast. I’m a lot more mature than other boys my age. It’s why I can mostly manage the Heartbroken. That and experience.”

You’re not grown up all the way yet.

“Yeah. You’re uniquely equipped,” I told him. “You grew up with having them around.”

“Kind of. But the thing is, I got advice and we decided figuring myself out meant figuring out how to be okay on my own. Because if I couldn’t do that, then I’d always worry that I’d lose people and I’d be messed up again.”

“And you don’t feel like you can be okay on your own anymore?”

“It got backwards, and I feel like I can’t be alone to find my okay anymore. And that’s not to say it isn’t nice to have them around and hang out, but it’s like it… there’s never the middle ground of okay in the middle. Not with them, and especially not with Lookout.”

“It could be that you don’t find that tranquil sort of okay when you’re with people. Sometimes I need to go do my thing and read or sort through files, or research, to find my okay. Sometimes I can do that with people around, especially Tress or Swansong, sometimes I do it alone.”

“Tress or Swansong, but not Lookout?”

“No. I adore Lookout, I respect her, but… it’s a rare moment.”

“What do I do? Because she sends me like two hundred messages a day and she sends me messages last thing at night and first thing when she wakes up, and I feel like I could spend every minute of every day with her and she’d want more, and Darlene has told me she feels the same way, and—”

“I’ll talk to her.”

Chicken Little stopped.

“I’ll try.”

He deflated, apparently in relief.

The car passed through a tunnel. Everything inside the vehicle went dark. When we emerged, Chicken Little was putting his mask back on.

Somehow, I thought. I have no idea how I’ll do this.

“She’s really cool,” he said.

“Yeah. She really is.”

“She’s really stylish, in a very different way from the Heartbroken, and really fun, and when she gets excited about something I get excited too.”

“I’m really glad she’s connected with you guys.”