I poked the lettuce in my sandwich like it had personally insulted me.

  Krei was already halfway through his artisanal, overpriced panini, sipping some green smoothie that looked like it had opinions.

  “See?” he said brightly. “We’re outside. You haven’t combusted. There’s sunlight. Ducks. Mild vitamin D.”

  “I’m 87% certain that toddler is making a deal with the duck,” I said, eyeing the chaos near the pond. “Nature is terrifying.”

  “Nature is character-building,” Krei replied, like someone who had never been personally victimized by a wasp.

  We sat on the park bench like two badly animated side characters, sipping boba and watching life happen to other people.

  Then, Krei casually dropped it:

  “So. It’s been a month. You thinking about finding a job yet?”

  I choked on a tapioca pearl.

  “A real job,” he added, watching me with the smugness of a man whose worst day was when his sushi chef retired.

  “I have a job,” I said, wiping my mouth. “I provide emotional support via unhinged livestreams and occasional goose threats.”

  “Right. And your mom still thinks you’re just taking time off and doing yoga.”

  “She knows about the divorce,” I said. “That’s plenty of heartbreak already. I’m not about to add ‘accidentally became an anime for money’ to the list.”

  “You could just tell her.”

  “I could also lick a subway pole, but here we are.”

  Krei shook his head, ughing. “She’s going to find out eventually.”

  “Not if I die first.”

  He raised a brow. “You’re betting your entire dignity on not getting doxxed by a Discord mod named ‘CumulusCloud420’?”

  “Don’t name-drop my mod like that.”

  We sipped our drinks.

  A bee flew by. Krei flinched so hard he elbowed my sandwich onto the ground.

  We stared at it.

  The bee hovered menacingly.

  “I think that’s fair,” I said. “That sandwich was too healthy anyway.”

  A pause.

  “…Wanna go get cake?”

  “God, yes.”