I Fell in Love with Hope - Lancali

Sony and I settle on our usual cloud-watching bench. C follows. His
mind is still on his wrongs, still on the other side of the doors
lingering outside Neo’s room.
“Can I ask you something?” he sits, still towering over us. “How did
you two become friends with Neo?”
“I wore him down,” Sony says, unwrapping the candies Eric bought
her.
“I used to bring him his food trays,” I say.
“He likes food?” C asks like he wants to take notes.
Sony shakes her head. “He hates food.”
“He likes apples,” I say. “I wore him down with apples.”
“Apples?”
“And books,” Sony says. “And being an ass.”
“An ass?”
“A lovable ass. A lovable writer too.” Sony pops a sour candy in her
mouth and lifts one to mine. “He’s my favorite writer in the world.”
Asking how you become friends with someone is like asking how the
world came to be. It’s a process. It’s not linear, nor cyclic. Not unlike
the world, people aren’t always as complicated as we make them out
to be. Sometimes you just have to offer a little bit of yourself, a little
bit of your time, and as C
will soon find, a little bit of your kindness.
—
C is a poor thief. Not only is he too noticeable, but his aversion to
being rude means trying to take something without permission goes