“I have to care what they think, Poe. I don’t have friends here and I barely have family. I don’t have a real home, I don’t have anything I can call mine. All I have is this small, scratched-out life, and if I want to keep scratching it out, I can’t be any more of a pariah than I already am. I want you more than words can say, but I also want to survive here when you’re gone, and for that to happen, the most we can be is friends.”
