We Could Be So Good

by Cat Sebastian

“Sometimes it’s a tightrope walk, you know? And it’s not fair that I have to be on the tightrope when other people just go for a stroll down the fucking sidewalk.

Andy’s mother never went in much for motherly advice, but one thing she was fond of saying was that if you want something, you have to grit your teeth and jump in with both feet—that it matters less how you land than that you get there in the first place.

He feels as if he’s been turned inside out, as if he just learned that a part of his heart is on the outside of his body, in the possession of somebody else entirely.

It’s almost a smile, if smiles were made of molten metal and bad intentions.

Families might usually be bonded by blood, but maybe sometimes they’re bonded by shared secrets, by a delicate mixture of caution and faith, by the conviction that hiding together is better in every way than hiding alone.

Sometimes when Andy looks at him, it’s like the radio has tuned in to the right station, the static dropping away and everything going momentarily clear.

He can believe that the future they have is worth more than his fear, and he can do what it takes to make that future as safe and happy as possible.