Her shining light changed to frustration. I saw the shift before my eyes. She tensed up, shaking her head with a different energy.

“Stop it. Age means nothing.”

I closed the gap to sit beside her.

“You deserve someone to go on the full journey with you, not just take advantage of you at the end of theirs.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re not worth it, you’re the sick guy who shouldn’t be doing it, and I’m just a kid, and all that.” She sighed, and our choice to bury ourselves with no outside interaction showed its face. She was becoming confident around me, aided by the close proximity of a pressure...