EIGHTEEN YEARS LATE| NISHIMURA RIKI

Every summer, it's the same beach house, the same ocean, and Ni-k, your brother Jay's best friend.

He still treats you like a kid. Calls you "kid." Teases you like you never grew up.

But you have.

And this summer, something is different.

Ni-ki looks at you too long. Stays quiet when he should joke. Stops calling you "kid"... almost like he's trying not to.

Your eighteenth birthday is in two days.

Two days until everything changes.

That night, you find him on the porch.

"You shouldn't be out here," he says.

"I'm not a kid," you answer.

He looks at you differently this time.

"I know," he takes a drag of his cigarette.

"Then stop treating me like one."