"I never said anything about throwing anything away," she said, frowning at him. "I want you to have all your friends."

Both his bros and his hoes!

"I just…"

Nina shook her head, thinking about what to say to that. She wanted to argue that he wasn't nothing. That he mattered, just as he was, because he was him, but that argument wouldn't work on her and… she didn't think it would work on him either.

"Look… I'm sorry if I've made things worse for you back home," she said, finally. "If I did, I didn't mean to."

Her hands were clasped together so tightly that they ached. Nina hated this, that he felt he had to earn friendship. Respect, a spot, even acknowledgement, those things she understood having to earn. But friendship was precious precisely because it was supposed to be freely given.

"Is there anything I can do to help make up for that? Make it… I don't know, easier for you to keep that spot?"