The People We Keep

by Allison Larkin

I know really he forgot it was my birthday, but I took it just the same.

Justin has a very different idea of what constitutes a cheap hotel. A good lock on the door and a mattress that doesn’t smell like piss is as fancy as I can justify. And even

The best way to keep your heart from getting broken is not to get your hopes up in the first place.

“If someone changes so much that they’re barely the same person, who are you even missing?”

live can be the closest thing you’ve ever had to home. Ethan listens to all of it and he still likes me when I’m done talking. He’s the only person I’ve ever told everything to.

“If you’re in survival mode you can keep problems buried, because the way you grew up, that wasn’t okay. When you upend your life, you don’t have to sit with how unfair it was. And whatever drama you come up with won’t be worse than the anger and hurt you’re carrying around, because that was the original hurt. That’s the deepest cut.”

Don’t you go feeling responsible for his failings. They aren’t yours, April.”

I was something they could catch if they got too close, like my shame would rub off on them.

I realize that I am every college boy’s worst nightmare.