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Hollis sat in the back of Yulia’s car like he always did, but Annie kept looking at him in the rearview mirror. She was talking about a project she was working on. Something about armor made of resin.

“You could probably also do chain mail made of plastic as well. It wouldn’t be the same as a full resin suit of arms, but you’d be able to retain the transparency,” Yulia was saying.

“But the whole point is for the entire thing to be resin,” Annie griped.

Mouth.

“If you change the entire project from resin to plastic, you’d have a lot more flexibility and it would be less toxic. And you could seamlessly recycle it when you’re done with it,” Hollis said.

Annie sighed loud and theatrical. “I guess.”

They approached Pino’s, but Yulia didn’t turn down the driveway. That was okay. There were a few places to go, and no one had specified. Hollis was kind of ambivalent about where they ate, as long as he could get something for five dollars or less.

He didn’t start to get concerned until at least three of the places they usually went to passed by.

Walt was very quiet.

“Where are we going?” Hollis asked.

Annie didn’t respond.

“It’s going to be okay,” Yulia said.

Walt doused Hollis’s brain in pure fear. He unlocked the door and tugged on the handle.

Dude, we’re going like forty miles per hour!

The door didn’t budge.

“What the fuck... fucking... child lock?... What the hell, Yulia?!”

They took a sharp turn and stopped in the familiar parking lot of the urgent care center.

Annie turned around and pushed her seat back so she was facing Hollis directly.

“Hollis, you know we love you, right?”

Walt instantly relaxed.

Oh, thank God.

Jesus fucking Christ.

“Yeah... that doesn’t mean you can child-lock me in a car and take me random places,” Hollis snapped.

Do you want to handle this?

Yeah, I’ve got it.

Yulia unbuckled her seat belt and craned over the seat. “Annie thinks you’re on drugs, and I’m inclined to agree.”

Hollis closed their eyes.

“I’m not on drugs, Yulia—”

“That’s what everyone on drugs says.” Annie interrupted. “But they’re literally lying every time. We never see you anymore; you’re acting weirdly pleasant all the time. You keep looking into the distance like you’re dissociating. You’ve stopped texting us at night by such an intense degree that my sleep schedule has changed. You dress completely different—”

“That one’s kind of an upgrade—” Yulia said.

Shut up, I can feel you smirking.

“THEY’RE ALL UPGRADES!” Annie shouted. “But they’re not him .”

“So... you’re mad that I’m nicer and spent some time on Google figuring out how to dress?” Hollis asked.

“Maybe James hit his head really hard that one time and knocked something loose,” Yulia suggested to Annie.

But Annie was really upset; her face was red like she was about to cry.

“You haven’t been... looking at me,” she said.

That one hurt. Walt made them look at Yulia instead: at the worry in the tilt of her mouth. Thought about the kiss on his forehead, how long she’d held his hand.

You can tell them.

What, why?

I’m tired. They care about you. It’s not like they can do anything about it anyway.

Walt, shut up. Just—

“Listen,” Hollis said. “This year has been really hard. Things aren’t getting better, and you guys are going to leave. I know I said I’d visit but, you know... things are going to change. You’re going off to do really cool things, you’re both going to be really successful. You’re the most talented person I know, Annie, and Yulia... you have access to the whole world.

“But I belong here. I have a job waiting for me somewhere out there doing hard work, and that’s fine.”

“But—” Annie started, but Hollis put up a hand.

“I said it’s FINE. But I can’t just... I have to be a part of this community if I stay. I can’t keep... being... the way I was being and be able to survive. People here survive because they work together, they know each other. They do each other favors because they like each other most of the time. It’s important.

“And maybe it’s stupid and too late, but I need to be a part of that. I need to try. And if that means I have to put in some extra effort, spend my nights doing research and work, think a bit harder about what I say to people, then that’s what I’ve got to do.”

The car was quiet. Yulia was gazing out the window at the urgent care center, and Annie was staring hard at him.

“James... James has been nice to me,” Hollis said. “Timothy too. Seeing James get so fucked-up about staying here made me feel... made everything feel like it was an emergency. Changing, I mean, becoming a better person. I’m not on drugs, Annie. I’m fine.”

Yulia pursed her lips. “Okay. That may be all well and good, but urgent care does same-day drug testing.”

“If we let him out of the car, he’s going to run,” Annie replied.

Hollis rolled his eyes. “Run where? There’s no bus stop out this far, and it’s like a forty-five-minute hike back home.”

Can we pass a drug test?

You shooting smack while I’m asleep?

What?! No. I’m just being careful. I don’t know how this shit works.

“Just, let’s go in and do the stupid test so we don’t have to have this conversation again. I’ll pay.”

Annie and Yulia flanked him on both sides as they headed into the center. He slapped his credit card down on the counter and splurged on the more comprehensive one.

He could feel Yulia and Annie making eye contact with each other, but neither of them said a word.