“Exactly. I mean, you could tell me, if you want to.”
I chew my lip. “I don’t. Sorry.”
“Hey, don’t be. I figured. Pretend I didn’t ask.”
“Done. Well. I will say that a family member of mine was hurt pretty bad.”
I figure he probably already assumed that, given where I am.
Still, saying it feels good.
“Shit, dude, that’s really rough,” he says. “I’m sorry.”
“Yeah. They’re going to be okay, but it was a little scary for a second there. I didn’t know…”
“Didn’t know what?”
Tears fill my eyes. I blink them away. “I didn’t know if they were going to make it.”
I sniff and look down. There’s so much I want to say, but I can’t.
Jason puts his hand on my shoulder and squeezes.
“I’m sorry,” he says. “Whatever you need, I’m here.”
He leaves his hand there, resting against me.
We sit there for a few seconds, watching the city, with his arm on me.
I’ve never had anyone do this to me before. It’s so nice. He doesn’t need to say anything more. Just him putting his hand on my shoulder tells me that he cares about me and he’s sorry that this really awful thing has happened to me.
He’s got my back.
“You don’t need to do anything,” I say. My voice sounds croaky. “You being here is more than enough. I don’t want you to think I’m a burden or anything.”
“Dude, what? I’d never. I’m here because we’re friends now, right? This is what friends do. They support each other.”
My eyes widen.
We’re friends now. It’s official.
“I wouldn’t know,” I say. “I’ve never really had any friends. Good ones, anyway.”
“Really? Come on, you’ve got to be messing with me.”
I shake my head. “No good ones. I just don’t click with people. I don’t know why.”
“Well, everyone else is missing out,” he says. “I can tell you’re a great friend.”
I feel like crying, but I smile. He squeezes one last time, and his hand slides off my shoulder.
I miss the contact.
“So,” says Jason. “I take it you’ve had a really shitty day?”
“The shittiest.”
“Then it’s my duty, as your friend, to cheer you up. That’s how it works, by the way. If something shitty happens to me, you need to be there for me. Deal?”
“Of course.”
“Okay. Well, to take your mind off it, I want you to tell me about something you really love.”
“What?”
“It’s a game I like. All you have to do is talk about something you love a lot. I’ve found it’s a really good way to get to know someone, in a deeper way.”
“Um,” I say. I stare up at the night sky and think. “Okay. So, I really love the movie Donnie Darko.”
“Oh, nice. Jake Gyllenhaal is in that, right?”
“Yeah. Have you seen it?”
He shakes his head. “What’s it about?”
“It’s weird. There’s this guy, Donnie, and he, like, sees this dude in a bunny costume who tells him the world is going to end in twenty-eight days, six hours, forty-two minutes, and twelve seconds. And it goes from there. When I first found it I watched it literally once every day for a week.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah. I got kind of obsessed. I just wanted to pick it apart and learn the craft of it. I knew it worked; I wanted to figure out why.”
“That’s so awesome, man. You’re so dedicated; it’s really inspiring.”
“You’re dedicated, too, just, for games. You played Skyrim for four hundred hours, remember.”
“Right. I guess it’s similar. Yours is cooler, though.”
“I was thinking the same about yours. But okay, your turn. What’s something you really love?”
He thinks about it for a second. As he watches the city, I find myself gazing at him.
He truly is so handsome.
Perfect, even.
I mean, he’s not. There are slight bags under his eyes, his lips look really dry right now, and he has quite a few moles. He looks perfect for a real person, is what I mean.
I shouldn’t take for granted how cool it is that he wants to be friends with me.
He’s so different from most of the guys I know who are a part of this world.
I hope he thinks the same thing about me.
“Okay, I’ve thought of something,” he says. “I was going to say Skyrim, because that’s my favorite game. But you already know I love that. So there are these books called the Bartimaeus trilogy. I read them over and over and over as a kid.”
“Dude!” I say. “I’ve read those!”
He beams. “You have? You’re not just saying that?”