The Boyfriend Now

Alex smiled, and was surprised to find it didn’t hurt. “Good. I’m glad.”

“I was,” Alex admitted. “But I think you were right. We were good for a while, and then we weren’t. That’s not a crime.” The Boyfriend

Sam was quiet for a long moment. Then he said, “I don’t know how.” Alex smiled, and was surprised to find it didn’t hurt

Sam laughed—the real laugh, full and warm. “You always were too reasonable.” “But I think you were right

“I’m seeing someone new,” Sam blurted, then winced. “Sorry, that’s—I didn’t mean to just—”

Then, slowly, the silence stopped feeling like absence and started feeling like space. Room to breathe. Room to notice the things he’d neglected: his own friends, his half-finished novel, the guitar in the corner that had gathered dust.

He played a new chord, one he’d been learning. It wasn’t perfect, but it was honest.