I stayed with Ethan until he fell asleep that night, his engineering book still open on the
pillow beside him, his hand loosely curled around his pencil the way it always is when he
has been mid-thought and sleep arrived before the thought finished.
I turned off his lamp and stood in the doorway for a moment. The hotel suite was quiet.
The city outside was doing its late evening thing, all light and movement, completely
unbothered. I thought about Noah in his room somewhere across the city, also probably
not asleep, also probably thinking. Two boys on the same night sitting with the same weight
in different rooms.
Noah took four days to decide.
I know because Adrian told me, and Adrian knew because Noah told him, which was itself
a sign of something. A few months ago Noah had not
