Gabe still turns pink when Ignacio laughs, looking away. It's not directed at him and yet Gabe feels as though he's said something terribly personal that makes him nervous.

"Self-murder," he says. His mother called it that once.

At this point, there's not much reason to lie and Gabe nods. "I bought a bus ticket and rode it until the end of the line," he says. "And here I am." End of story.