October had disappeared, leaving a drab November in its place. Vegas went from brown to even browner as the grass died, the leaves fell from the park trees, and even the palm trees looked decayed and sad.

I worked at the diner and finished choreographing my audition piece, although I was never satisfied with it. It was good, but not quite there yet. With Nico’s debt paid, and that extra cash from Fraze, I resumed drop-in classes at Fluidity. I barely saw Jay Thornton and I was pretty sure he was avoiding me.

Life was back to normal for me, but not so much for Bronwyn.

“I’m so sick of this,” she said, stuffing a handful of caramel popcorn into her mouth. Bronwyn didn’t drown her sorrows in ice cream or chocolate like most girls, or alcohol like Nico. Bronwyn’s kryptonite was popcorn of every possible flavor.

I reached for some but her hand beat me to it.

“Why do you hold on?” I asked, leaning away so she wouldn’t whack me. I never knew with her.

She’d just gotten out of an hour-long shower that probably sucked the hot water from the whole apartment building. I wouldn’t be able to get clean until morning. But she had good reason. Despite paying off Nico’s debt, he’d sunk into himself these past few weeks. He never left his apartment, and I was pretty sure his main food group was Heineken.

“I don’t know, but I’m done this time.” She slammed the bowl on the table and some of the popcorn jumped. “Done. I can’t sit around and watch him drink himself to death.”

I sighed. I didn’t know what to say or how to help. Nico’s black moods were a mystery. Why she stayed with him was even harder to understand. I was grateful that love had never held me in its grasp so tight that it hurt this much to try and break free.

“I got him an interview at CJ Lynch, did I tell you that?” she said.

I shook my head.

“They need an accountant. I found it in the paper.” She leaned her head against the couch and closed her eyes. “I thought with his debt gone, things would turn around. He wouldn’t go. Didn’t even get out of bed. When I tried to make him, he…”

“He what?”

She opened her eyes but wouldn’t look at me. “Doesn’t matter.”

I put my arm around her. It didn’t feel natural, trying to comfort Bronwyn this way, but she leaned into me and rested her head on my shoulder.

“I’ve never understood why people stay with people who aren’t good for them,” I said.

“No, you wouldn’t.”

I didn’t take it as an insult, even if she meant it as one. I didn’t want to understand. Didn’t ever want to be in an unhealthy or toxic relationship. It hadn’t been like that with Hank. It had been wonderful, while it lasted. It just hadn’t turned out to be a forever thing. Even now, months later, I knew I had made the right choice. When I last talked to my mom, she told me he’d moved on and was now dating Ashley Valenti, my friend Stace’s little sister. I was happy for him.

My thoughts turned to Jay and the kiss we’d shared. So brief. So different from kissing Hank. Probably because I hadn’t been expecting it. Not because his lips had tasted salty like potato chips, or because even in that few seconds they seemed more practiced and sure than Hank’s had ever been. Not because of those reasons at all.

I pushed Jay from my mind. He was probably beating someone up right then, either at the gym, or for real. That was all Jay knew how to do, kiss and fight.

Bronwyn raised her head off my shoulder. “I’ve gotta go over there.”

“Where? Not Nico’s?” She didn’t answer. I pulled my arm away. “Bron, you said you were done. Isn’t this where I’m supposed to say you need to cut the cord or something? Should I hide your bike lock key?”

She stood up. I followed her out of the living room and into her bedroom. Bronwyn had painted the exposed brick an off-white color. Her headboard was pale lavender and she had small vases of flowers on her bedside table. A total girly room, except for her black bike helmet sitting on top of the ruffled duvet, covered in little metal spikes.

“You can’t go over there,” I said.

“What if something happens to him? No one will check on him. He’ll be one of those guys…one of those people that sit there for days and days before anyone notices. Then they’ll notice the smell, that’s the only reason they’ll check.”

She was talking crazy. Her hands shook as she pulled off her long sweater and replaced it with a coat.

“I’ll go with you.”

She didn’t say no so I hurried to change from my leggings into some jeans, and then threw on my coat. I didn’t want her to leave without me.

We took a bus to the gym, neither of us speaking the entire ride. It was eight at night on a Sunday but the streets were just as busy as if it were rush hour. The cold was nothing compared to winter in Hillstone, but people huddled against the wind that swept garbage from the streets into pooling corners. I would’ve rather been back at the apartment watching Netflix. When I looked at Bronwyn, at the blank look on her face as if her insides had left her outsides, I knew I was supposed to be there.

At Nico’s, I didn’t go in with her. I could tell as soon as he opened the door and slurred his hello that this was way out of my depth.

“I’ll wait out here,” I said, “but I’ll be here if you need me.”

Bronwyn didn’t respond. Nico had stumbled so she had wrapped her arm around him and was helping him to the bed.

“I can walk myself,” Nico shouted. He pushed Bronwyn away. “You’re not my mother.”

“I’m not going to be your anything if you keep this up,” she said.

Nico shuffled toward the table. He grabbed a bottle and began to swig, looking at Bronwyn out of the corner of his eye the whole time.

“You have to make a choice, Nico,” she said. “Me or the booze?”

I turned away, but the door was still open and I could hear everything. Every insult they hurled at each other, every hateful word. Nico was a mean drunk and Bronwyn wasn’t about to take it lying down.

I went to the window and looked out on the street. I shouldn’t have come, and yet I needed to be there for Bronwyn when this was all over. If only to be beside her, to make sure she got home. So she wouldn’t be alone.

They were screaming now and I desperately wanted to cover my ears. My parents had never been like this. Sometimes they yelled at Fraze and he yelled back, but it was never this bad. None of my friends’ parents had either, at least not while I was around. This screaming was unbearable. It wasn’t love, it was torture. They were torturing each other and I just wanted them to stop.

There was a loud crash and the sound of something shattering. I spun from the window and ran to Nico’s door. Pieces of glass littered the floor. Bronwyn was frozen, her hands over her mouth. Nico was on the floor, his cheek pressed to the wood.

“What—?” I started, moving toward Nico.

Bronwyn grabbed my arm. Nico groaned. He pushed himself off the floor.

Bronwyn gripped my hand. “I can’t watch you do this anymore,” she said, near tears.

Nico took a step forward and winced. He jumped back, hopping on one foot and swearing.

Bronwyn started to back away.

“Bron, don’t go,” Nico said. He was examining the bottom of his foot. When she didn’t answer, he looked up. “Bron. Baby.”

She kept backing away, taking me with her.

“Bronwyn!” Nico shouted.

“Goodbye, Nico,” she said.

He continued calling her name but didn’t follow. She clutched my hand, pulling me with her until we were outside. And then she broke down. Bronwyn, who was the strongest woman I’d ever met, didn’t stop crying until we made it back to the apartment.