Kiara and Kady laid side by side on the open petals of a flower. Above them the evening sky, black salted with stars. They both had their arms folded behind their heads as pillows while they gazed.

"I can't even remember the last time I had this much fun," Kiara said. "Just goofing around all day, not a care in the world."

"Me neither," Kady said, a note of surprise in his voice.

A shooting star arced across the sky, only visible for an instant. It disappeared again among the countless constellations, the opaque band of the galaxy draped across the sky. More stars than Kiara had ever seen from her own home. Her face took on a care, and she pushed herself upright.

"I wonder if my parents are worried about me, or if they're too busy fighting to even notice."

"I don't know. I know my mom and her new boyfriend aren't worried about me at all," he spat. "Not that that's anything new. Her old boyfriend never gave a crap about me either, but he was still the closest thing to a father I'd ever had."

"What happened to her old boyfriend?"

"He died." His face never changed, gaze still locked on the stars.

"I'm sorry."

He shrugged. "It's whatever. He wasn't great, but he was a natural leader. Everybody listened to him, and he had tons of charisma and confidence." His voice became softer. "I could never measure up, and he made sure I knew that."

Kiara drew her knees closer to herself. "I'm… not sure what to think about my dad anymore. I know he loves me, but gosh, he really was almost never there." Her chin fell. "I was lying to Slim, earlier. I didn't tell him everything. I have other memories with my dad, besides just motorcycle rides or eating at new restaurants. Memories like him telling me what movies I could or couldn't watch, what books I could and couldn't read, where and when I could see my friends. I only ever role-played the stories I felt were safe to role-play with him, showed him the drawings I knew he would approve of. Everything else I hid. I would go to the library and use their computers to draw and write, just to make sure my family couldn't judge me or get in the way."

Her eyes misted behind her glasses. "He called it 'playing house' to be my dad. Said he was tired of making himself miserable. I can't stand the idea that maybe all this time, he was just humoring me. That maybe all this time he never really cared the way a dad should. I hate that I have so few good memories with him, but most of all I hate how I think I actually like it that way. The fact that he isn't there most of the time, and I'm left alone. But then why does it still hurt to think of how distant we are?"

Kady sat up beside her, and she took a shuddering breath, "And now that distance is only going to grow." Her voice broke, and she pressed her hands to her eyes, tears matching her words in overflow. "I never wanted to be part of the statistic. As long as we weren't part of the statistic, then everything was still okay. We were still one family, and he was still in my life as my dad. But now it's broken. Everything I've done, every attempt I've made at making 'families,' they're all just sad little games I've been playing. It's over, it's all over now."

Kady wrapped all four of his arms around her shaking shoulders, and she leaned into his embrace, muffling her sobs in his chest.