“I just wanted to tell you I’m sorry about being such a—”
“This isn’t about you!” Lincoln shouts. “Hard as that may be to believe. Just go away. Please.”
“Oh.”
I wouldloveto go away, but something keeps me standing there.
“Are you okay, though?” I ask.
“No! Obviously not!”
“Right. Yeah. Sorry.”
I stand there another minute, listening to Lincoln cry.
I speak again. “Would it help if I—”
“Terrell broke up with me last night, okay?” Lincoln says. “And it fucking sucks.”
Oh god.
I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t that.
“That’s... I’m sorry, Link. That’s... That’s bad.”
“No offense, CT, but you are not helping. Like, at all.”
“That’s fair,” I say.
But still, I don’t want to leave. I sit down, my back against the door.
“This is, like, totally Terrell’s loss,” I say. “You know that, right?”
Lincoln doesn’t respond.
“For real,” I continue, “you’re the most amazing person I know, Link. That’s what I was gonna... I mean, I’m just really lucky you’re my brother.”
More silence. Then the door opens, and I fall backward into his room.
“Oh shit,” Lincoln says, laughing. “I didn’t realize you were leaning on the door.”
“I was,” I say, lying on my back.
“Well, just come in,” Lincoln says, gesturing for me to scootchmy legs out of the way so he can close the door. “You’re so damn persistent today.”
“Trying something new.” I rise from the floor, feeling triumphant, like a vampire who’s just been invited in. This quickly dissipates when I see Lincoln plop down on his bed and cover his face. “Hey,” I say, sitting next to him. “I’m really sorry. What, uh... What happened?”
“It’s not even interesting,” Lincoln says. “Terrell’s going abroad to Barcelona this semester. And I thought we were staying together, and he was, like,Nope?!”
“What an idiot. Good luck finding someone as rad as you in Barcelona, buddy!”
“No, he probably will,” Lincoln says. “Spain is literally known for having the most beautiful people in the world.”
“Oh,” I say. “Seriously?”
“I don’t know.” Lincoln falls back onto the bed, curls up with his pillow. “That’s what people say.”
“Well, fuck that!” I lie down next to him. “You have beautyandradness.”
