Free Welcome to Envy Park by Mina V. Esguerra

errand.
     
    -/\/\/\-
    "Are you done?" Ethan asked
me.
    In fact I didn’t work out that night at all, but he
couldn’t tell probably because I was in sweatpants, as usual. I was
sitting on the bench, the same one he had occupied when he
surprised me the other night.
    I sat there just thinking. Earlier I had emailed him
back, saying yes to the interview, offering a schedule sometime
next week or earlier at their convenience, thanking him for being
such a nice friend.
    "So how was your talk with Rin?" I
asked. I had bailed out of dinner early and didn’t get to confront
him about anything. Not that I should.
    He wasn’t dressed for a workout.
He sat on the other end of the bench, facing the mirror too. It was
a safe distance, far enough to send a clear signal that there would
be no touching, close enough for me to hear him let out his breath
long and slow. "What did Ashley tell you?"
    "Things. Does she lie about
things?"
    He shook his head. "No, she’s very
honest. And she means well."
    "So it just seems to me like it’s
a bit complicated for you right now."
    For some reason it was easier to look his reflection
in the mirror in the eye, instead of his actual eye. He probably
felt the same way.
    "It’s really not," Ethan said.
"People just like to think it is."
    "So what’s the simple
explanation?"
    "Ashley has ideas about what Rin
needs from me. We had a proper breakup. I didn’t cheat. I still try
to talk to her at work. But Ashley has ideas about what everyone needs from me.
My family is...they have opinions."
    There was a frustration in his voice, and it crept
down his arm, through his hand, and showed up again in the fingers
that he ran through his hair. It reminded me of how I had wanted to
do that, and how I might never. I cleared my throat.
    "Nice of you to share, but I meant
the other thing. That you’re leaving too."
    "Oh. Right. Yeah. I don’t know
when though."
    "Interesting that you didn’t bring
it up at all."
    He shrugged. "This project is
taking forever. I really don’t know how long I’ll be
here."
    "But obviously there’s a timeline,
right? How long is your lease here?"
    "It’s renewed every two
weeks."
    That was very...not permanent. My
face fell, I knew it. I hoped he didn’t notice. "Well then. Were
you planning to ever mention it?"
    "That I’m leaving? I don’t know
when that would actually be."
    I wanted to say that I was feeling
a tiny bit foolish, for going on and on about my plan , about leaving , about absolutely being in Thailand or Cambodia or Hong
Kong by June or six months or one year or else . And yet there he was on a two-week lease thinking that it
wasn’t worth a shoutout. "You’re right," I said, because I was
mature that way, "You didn’t have to say anything. I mean, we just
met. You don’t even talk to neighbors. You didn’t have to share
your relocation plans with me, of course."
    "Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy
talking about your plans with you," Ethan said, "but I’m not like
that. I wasn’t sure when I was leaving, so I didn’t say it. People
made a big deal when I was about to leave in November and look...
I’m still here. It’s awkward."
    How odd. Had I ever been in that situation? When I
quit my first job, I just did it, and didn’t come back. When I said
I’d be in another country by a certain date, I just did it. Part of
every plan of mine involved knowing it would happen, that I would
make it happen, and that it would happen on my schedule.
    I wasn’t a leaf in the wind. I was the wind.
    I guess some people weren’t like that, and they were
fine with it.
    "I think you’re great," he said,
suddenly, and it seemed to have surprised even him. "And that’s
actually why I feel bad about what I did."
    "The job interview?"
    "No. That I kissed
you."
    "Oh." Topic swing. "Well, no,
don’t feel bad about it..."
    "I wanted to do it. I just didn’t
know how it would go. Because I knew that I’d have to have this
conversation with you."
    He turned to face me,