It is late August.

"Do I owe you this month's e-transfer?" I ask as I come out of the bedroom that Lu and I share.

Ximena sits at the counter, doing the math for the month. "No, send the rest to your Papa."

I nod, and move over to the counter, where I access my bank and begin to send money for Papa. He says he's just putting it in a savings account for me, since we worried that my scholarship would fall through after finishing the semester online. Although, it seems that it's fallen through.

It doesn't matter. I'm already enrolled in a school up here. There is no way in Hell that I'm going to go back to Midtown.

"Where's Lu?" I ask.

"Trying to get some art into a new instillation," Ximena doesn't look up from the water bill, nor the calculator. I read her mind, and find out that I actually do owe her this month's utilities, but she is trying not to have me pay. Ximena has always been a saint.

It's too late to help her though, I've already sent the money to my Papa.

There is a knock at the door.

"It's probably Lucrecia with her box of supplies," Ximena finally looks up. There's the crook of a smile on her face. She's lying.

I don't want to ruin the surprise for myself, because it's not often enough that I get surprised. So, I head to the door.

It's Dantae and Sergio. Dantae stares at me, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. Sergio, on the other hand, leaps on to me and embraces me in a hug. I laugh and hug him back.

"You smell nice," he pulls back and winks at me, just ducking in time as my brother swings at his head.

I smile, biting my lip. "You don't smell too bad yourself. How's it been?"

"Good, I came as a hype man for your brother," Sergio laughs. He moves to pull Dantae in a headlock, and just does it.

Dantae offers only the smallest of grins back. "I can speak for myself."

I copy him. We both move in, and give each other awkward pats on the back.

"Can we talk?" Dantae asks.

I nod. We both look to Sergio.

"I'll go bother your cousin," Sergio offers, heading over to Ximena.

Dantae and I head on to the porch.

He looks different. Well, more like he feels different. This is the longest period we've ever gone apart. He didn't text me the entire time I was gone. Mama would tell me that he missed me, and Damien too, but I never really believed her.

Dantae got a bit taller. I didn't think it was possible. Maybe I should've grown and caught up with him, but I'm stuck barely passing five feet tall. He's got a new haircut too. His hair is floppier now. He still rings his hands.

"Let's talk outside," he says.

We step out the front door and walk around to the back of the house, to the lawn we share with the other college kids who live here. It's one house split in half, with me and Ximena and Lu in one part, and the others in the other part. Even though I've lived here almost half a year, I haven't seen them outside yet.

"What do you want to talk about?" I ask, as we sit down in the grass.

Dantae looks at me. "You've grown out your hair."

It's now long enough that I can put in up in a ponytail, when it previously grazed my shoulders. I try to ruffle through his surface thoughts, but there are none.

"You know," I tell him. That's obviously what he's come here to do.

He nods. "You know about me too."

I do indeed. We sit in silence for a minute. I watch as the sun lowers into the sky. It's a two-hour trip home by bus, which is how I'm assuming he came. They won't be home until late in the night.

"How long have you been manipulating my emotions?" I ask him, looking up.

He looks at me and blinks. "As long as you've been reading my thoughts. Since that accident where Abuela saved our lives. When we were in the hospital all those months? I think someone experimented on us, but I'm too little to remember."

I sigh, and my breath fills the air. I don't feel calm around him, like I'm used to feeling. Instead, I feel supremely stressed. Naked, almost. Like he sees me for me.

"I've known about you for years," he tells me. "I've gotten good at keeping my secrets from you. I've taught myself not to think about them around you. Whatever you read about Anthony, I wanted you to read."

"Have you told Mama and Papa?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "I came out to them, but they don't know about Anthony. He's moved into your room, but we think they might kick him out if they knew. Send him into foster care."

I nod. I'm not quite sure what to say. Like I said, it's not often that I am surprised. Instead of lingering on it, I look up at him. "Are you two still together?"

"I love him, Darcy," he tells me. He bites his lip before he looks down. "I didn't in March, but it's been five months."

It has been a long time that we haven't spoken. Anthony sent me one long text about one month in, a rant about how unfair it is for me to be angry at his secret and how he would apologize if it just meant things would go back to normal. The day I left, Peter sent me a dozen texts, but he hasn't texted me since. Sometimes, MJ will send me memes, but otherwise, I've completely cut contact with everyone.

"That Peter kid keeps showing up in the shop like a lost puppy," he tells me. "What did you do to him?"

"Turns out, he was also keeping secrets from me," I tell him, deciding not to go into further details.

Dantae seems to accept it. He scratches the back of his neck. "Also, Sergio has been pressuring me to apologize to you. He seems to think that it was kind of a dick move to screw your best friend without telling you. Especially since I would be beyond livid if you and Sergio, you know..."

He doesn't need to finish the sentence before I let out a snort. "Don't worry. I'm not going to fuck Sergio anytime soon."

"Don't even joke about that," Dantae snaps, but he smiles. Finally. Does that make me the master manipulator of emotions.

It seems that Dantae didn't head Mama's advice about silence and comfort, because he opens his mouth to speak again. "Business is doing well at Delmar's. We've hired back Miguel and Ricardo, so that Papa and I aren't doing anymore long shifts alone. Papa might even hire on Sergio soon. He'd hire Manu, but a wheelchair gets in the way."

I nod. "Is that what you came here to tell me?"

Dantae adjusts himself. He looks up at the sun setting sun, squint. If it wasn't such a contentious point, I might try to figure out what he is thinking.

"You need to come home," he tells me. "Enough sulking up here. Mama keeps crying about how much she misses you."

"Don't tell me what to do," I snap back. I should've known that his goal wasn't to mend a bridge.

"You can't let that scholarship go to waste!" he counters. "You have a chance to actually become something. To get out of working in a bodega for the rest of your life. Don't you think that I would jump at that chance?"

I cross my arms over my chest and stand up, walking away. From there, I walk to farthest point in the yard and sulk, like I've been apparently doing for the last few months.

"There are so many bad memories in the city," I argue, with my back turned. "So many bad things happened. Why can't I just stay here?"

Dantae comes up to me. He wraps his arms around me in a hug from behind. I relax into his touch. I don't think he's manipulating me emotionally, but I can't tell. God, is this what it feels like to be around me? Do I feel radioactive?

"Come home, please," he begs, leaning forward. "It sucks without you. Go back to Midtown."

I turn around to face him, pulling his arms away from me. The comfort doesn't go away, so I imagine it is real.

When I look at him, I see a sadness in his eyes. I feel it, I really do. I read his mind. He's not affecting me. At least, he's not trying to. Sometimes, his emotions become so powerful that they mirror in other people without touch, like what I do when I read people without looking at them. Sometimes, he can even make them fall in love.

He's worried that nobody actually loves him. If I say no, I might be proving him right.

"I let you read, remember that," he tells me.

I sigh, my shouldersrelaxing. "Okay. I'll go back."