Abby snorts, even though nothing about this is funny.

"I dunno."

Her relationship with Ellie is unlike any friendship she's ever had before and, honestly, she wouldn't call it being friends. At the same time, it isn't nothing. They hang out. Have conversations, even about things that are hard. Ellie used to be so frustratingly opaque but now Abby knows things about her, what she reads, where she goes during the day, songs that are stuck in her head. Abby has laughed at her dumb jokes. She can't slap a label on it any more than she could explain why she'd be so upset if she ever lost this.

She hates the way she sounds when she asks, "Do you want to be friends?" Halting, awkward. Vulnerable.