[Because you're my friend, she says, so simply as though it is simple when it really, really isn't. That's not something people say to him, at least not say it and mean it. Even Mista and Trish — they didn't even have time to say it before everything started spiraling and things got so bad they had no choice but to come out on the other side as friends.]
[But Riley tells him that he is her friend, and despite everything, he believes her. It makes him smile, a soft and tentative expression pointed first at her and then at the bag, which he loosens his hold on just enough that he can look at it properly.]
That's right. We're friends.
[Friends exchange gifts. So this is . . . normal. Maybe.]
[Tentatively, he pokes at the paper.] It's okay if I open it? [Agonizing.]
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[But Riley tells him that he is her friend, and despite everything, he believes her. It makes him smile, a soft and tentative expression pointed first at her and then at the bag, which he loosens his hold on just enough that he can look at it properly.]
That's right. We're friends.
[Friends exchange gifts. So this is . . . normal. Maybe.]
[Tentatively, he pokes at the paper.] It's okay if I open it? [Agonizing.]