- Damon White:
I shifted beside Nikolai, sinking a little deeper into the couch as I watched Nikolai take a careful sip of his hot chocolate, his eyes fixed on the screen with an unwavering intensity. He was watching Nimona again.
(Nimona is an animation movie on Netflix. There is a book too.)
The colors from the movie cast a glow over his face, making his features look softer and more open.
I'd seen him watch this movie a hundred times if not more, each time lost to it in a way that made everything else fall away.
There was something about it that drew him in, like it was his way of escaping, of drowning out all the noise and finding a small, safe corner in his mind.
I wasn't sure why I leaned closer to him just then, but the silence was suddenly too much, and an urge rose inside me—a need to feel him here, to feel him with me.
