“Eli! Wait up,” Henry called down the hall. Eli had his back to him and was surrounded by guards. Some were in plainclothes, but a couple were in full armor as if they had come straight from a battlefield.

“I don’t have anything to say to you,” Eli said. His anger seemed to have given way to exhaustion.

“Can we talk for a minute?” Henry asked.

Eli sighed and looked at his phone. “You have five minutes,” he said, and nodded to his crew to step away.

“Look,” Henry said as they sat down in cracked vinyl chairs. The occasional passerby had their eyes glued on Eli. They thought they were discreet as they snapped photos of the president. Eli’s crew had already cleared the floor of everyone except a handful of doctors and medical personnel. After one of the guards silently took the phone from a young boy in scrubs and deleted the photo, the rest put their own phones away. They made do with watching Eli out of the corners of their eyes and pretended to be busy. “I never intended this to happen.”

“But it did,” Eli said. “Out of all the… all the women, you had to go…”

“It’s not like I planned it,” Henry said. “I’m—Eli, I’m going to be in Ellie’s life as long as she’ll have me. So it would be better if we put this to bed now rather than sniping at each other forever.”

“Yeah. Maybe,” Eli said. “Let’s go to the roof. There are too many eyes around here.”

The two of them were taken up a flight of stairs while guards dispersed to post themselves at every possible entrance. Above it all, the wind whipped through Henry’s hair and tousled Eli’s normally perfectly pressed suit. When did we get like this? Twenty years ago, we couldn’t have imagined being where we are now. “I’m still the same person, Eli,” Henry told him, and hoped he knew what he meant.

Eli responded by punching Henry squarely in the face. “Fuck! My nose,” he said. He could already feel the blood start to pour out.

“You think I give a damn about your nose?” Eli asked. Rage shot through Henry, but he knew he couldn't do a thing. Even though he couldn’t see any guards, he knew they were around. They were always around. And there was no way they were going to let him get near Eli.

Henry rubbed his face. The shock faded and gave way to pain. “That’s not fair,” he said.

“I could tell you about what’s fair. And neither of us are the same person,” Eli said. “And this… with Ellie… it just makes it worse.”

“Of course it’s still us,” Henry said. He forced himself to lower his hand and take what he deserved as he should. Eli could have done a lot worse. He should have done a lot worse.

“Did you… did you always think of her like that?” Eli asked.

“Jesus! No! She was a kid. I didn’t even think of her much at all until we ended up at the cabin together.”

“So that’s how long you’ve been seeing her?” Eli asked. His eyes bore into Henry and searched for the truth.

“Yeah. Just a month.”

“Just a month,” Eli repeated. “Just a month. A month is a long time. How can I take you seriously when you’ve been doing this for a month and never told me?”

“It’s not like I had many chances,” Henry said.

“Don’t you dare make excuses.” Eli’s eyes had a wildness to them that put Henry on edge. It made him want to lie to keep himself safe, but he could see Eli wasn’t going to allow that.

“Fine. You’re right. I’m… I’m sorry. Truly, Eli. I’m really sorry.”

“Sorry that you didn’t tell me?”

“Yes. And for… fuck, for just loving her. I’m sorry.” The words slipped out of him as if he had no control. Eli’s eyes grew bigger when he heard the word “love,” but he couldn’t nearly be as shocked as Henry. Did he love her? Yes. Of course he did. He’d known it for a while now.

“God, Henry,” Eli said. He sat down on a concrete ledge and dropped his head into his hands. “You think I don’t know my sister’s a great girl? You think I was happy when she’d chosen that imbecile Sean?”

“She told me Sean was pretty much the only guy you’d let around her,” Henry said. Carefully, he lowered himself next to Eli.

Eli let out a snort. “Let her? I don’t know what she told you, or what she really thinks, but there’s no letting Ellie do anything. Ultimately, she’s going to do what she wants to do. I think she just tries to placate me by letting me sometimes go all big brother on her.”

“So you didn’t like Sean?” Henry asked.

“Hell no. Did you ever meet that little weasel? Honestly, I think Ellie was the only one who was surprised by the whole him getting caught fucking some local thing.”

“Why didn’t you say something to her, then?” Henry asked. “You know. Before she was all packed to move in with the guy.”

“Man,” Eli said. “You never stick with first love. Puppy love. It’s stupid. She had to learn that for herself. I was just waiting for the fallout. And just… I’m just glad it happened before they were living together, married or something like that.”

“Yeah,” Henry said, even though he didn’t have any idea. He’d never loved anyone before. Was Eli insinuating that he was stupid to fall for Ellie so fast?

“So you love her, huh?” Eli asked.

“I do.”

“I could have handled you two being together, you know,” Eli said. “I don’t know if it was you or her more worried about the whole thing, but you both should have known better.”

“I think it was more me than her,” Henry said. “She—I think she was scared to tell you about her being with anyone.”

“You really should have known better,” Eli said. “What, do you think I’m one of those creepy older brothers who locks a chastity belt on his baby sister or something? Come on, Henry. That’s messed up. I worry about her, sure. But she’s grown. I just want her to be happy.”

“I’m sorry,” Henry said again.

“I’m not—I’m not pissed about you two being together anymore,” Eli said. “It was a shock, and then when I found out about it because of the whole problem thing. Well, it exacerbated the situation.”

“I get that,” Henry said. “I didn’t—I didn’t know she was pregnant, either. I didn’t know anything about this.”

“But the lying,” Eli continued, “that’s something else. I don’t… I don’t know if that’s as easy to forgive.”

Henry nodded.

“Would you have ever told me? If she hadn’t gotten pregnant, had the emergency, would you have said anything?”

“I don’t know,” Henry said.

“Yes, you do.”

“It depends, I guess,” Henry said. “Before this, I was kind of under the impression she was done with me. It hurt. You know? At first I thought it was just a bruised ego, but really it’s because I’m so goddamned in love with her.”

“So…”

“Honestly? If this was it, if she never spoke to me again, I don’t know if I’d ever tell you. Probably not. And that’s a cowardly thing to do, I know, but I’m being truthful. What good would come of it?”

“Probably not a whole lot,” Eli agreed.

“But… if somehow? We’d gotten back together without this? I’m sure it would have come out eventually. I don’t know how, and I never thought about it in earnest. It was… different at your cabin. Like the rest of the world had stopped.”

“That’s something else I’m worried about,” Eli said. “It’s pretty easy to get all caught up in something when you have no responsibilities, no obligations, no nothing but a single distraction.” Eli looked bluntly at Henry. “What the hell do you think the two of you are going to do now? Here? In the real world?”

“I don’t know,” Henry said. “Up until now, until I found out about everything… I thought we were over.”

“You’re drowning,” Eli said. “Flailing.”

“I know that’s how it looks,” Henry said. “But believe me. I’m not. I was for years, but… now, for the first time in a long time, I feel like I’m finally getting to solid ground.”

“You’re really in for it,” Eli said. “I know you think you know Ellie, but you don’t know her like I do. She’s a great kid—sorry, woman—but she’s a handful. She’s going to have you wrapped around her finger so tight you’re not going to know which way is up.”

Henry couldn’t help it. He smiled at the idea of it. “I understand,” he said. “All of it. Really, Eli. Thank you for hearing me out, and I get everything you’re saying—I really do. But… I can’t help how I feel. She’s incredible.”

Eli looked at him and just shook his head. “Well. I wish you luck.” Henry watched Eli head back to the stairs. The solid door opened right as he arrived and a guard in all black led him inside.

Henry sighed and looked up at the nearly cloudless sky. Above him, the birds swooped and soared with a mixture of power and grace. The planes taking off and landing from Reagan didn’t even come close to the kind of beauty those wild things exhibited. Up here, the sounds of the world below were dimmed. Henry could make out the occasional horn blaring and the wails of the ambulances as they raced toward the hospital entrance. But it was just static. White noise. He could do this. With Ellie, he could quiet all those other distractions and just be.

His phone buzzed. It was Ryan. Which one of you died? he texted.

Henry sighed and stood up. As he walked down the staircase and back to Ellie’s floor to wait and see if she called, his phone lit up again. Srsly tho u guys cool?? Clearly, Ryan had taken to texting and driving. Maybe he’d get the waiting room to himself then and not be forced into chatter. Or worse, a line of questioning.

The waiting room was empty, save for a young blonde engulfed in last month’s celebrity gossip magazine. She glanced up at him. He knew that look instantly.

“Hey,” she said as she lowered the magazine. “Who are you waiting for?”

“My girlfriend,” Henry said. These were the most beautiful words ever spoken.