The three of us collectively decided to end our 12 hour video gaming session.

Elizabeth has dark circles under her eyes, and Joey was face down on the couch

It wasn't like we hadn't done this before, because we had,

And we were more than ready to do it again. But it was hard

Elizabeth tells me that she wishes she could stay like this forever,

Our exhaustion keeping up glued to our TV while we talked about anything and everything  

But we know we can't. We have lives to go back to. Memes and coke can't feed us

I understood why she wanted to stay, it wasn't a secret that her parents were,

Difficult.

That was something we all understood to a degree, our parents all could be obtuse.

But her's were especially. I told her she could stay, if she wanted.

You're an adult, I told her, they can't force you to be who you're not

She smiles and declines, she says she doesn't want to be a bother.

I explain to her, that I don't have much family, that she is my family. They both are.

Her mental health, her physical well being would never be a bother to me.

She asked me why, with a tremble in her voice and I pulled her close

I simply say: Because I love you