The Boyfriend Now

Sam was quiet for a long moment. Then he said, “I don’t know how.”

“Talk to me,” Alex said one evening, sitting on the edge of Sam’s couch. The rain drummed against the glass, steady and insistent. The Boyfriend

Alex had been dating Sam for eight months when he first noticed the crack. It wasn’t in the ceiling or the foundation of his apartment—it was in Sam’s laugh. That familiar, warm sound that used to fill the room now had a thin, hollow ring to it, like a bell with a hidden flaw. Sam was quiet for a long moment

“I’m seeing someone new,” Sam blurted, then winced. “Sorry, that’s—I didn’t mean to just—” ” Alex said one evening

And that, he decided, was enough.

Sam’s shoulders dropped. “You’re not angry?”