“You do not have to.” “Don’t be ridiculous. I did not graduate from the Zeryth Aldris school of shitty friendship.” “Max—” “Not a discussion.” Max still regarded me with that pondering stare, and I just looked at him in silence, two realizations dawning. The first was that I was not going to talk him out of this. And the second hit me harder: the realization that something had shifted in the nature of our relationship, and I had simply failed to notice. But I understood with a resolve that settled deep in my chest that I had been given something precious in this fragile, tentative friendship.
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THEY'RE FRIENDSSSSS
