Nia launched into a long description of her new sweetheart, a person named Shae, interspersed every few seconds with a declaration of how “cool” they were. I guided Nia to the couch and grasped her hand as she spoke, my chest seizing intermittently with quiet despair. The last time Nia had been this goo-goo-eyed over someone was with Ulo, and that was two years ago. My best friend had been falling in love and I’d been too deep in my books to notice.
