Over our years of knowing each other, Layaway Man had waved the occasional red flag. We met in the lead-up to the 2016 election, and I knew he did not like Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump. He said something vaguely about probably voting for Gary Johnson, and I must have dissociated, because I kept seeing him. One time, he was very aggressive with someone standing too close to him on the subway as we commuted after one of our nights together, and it frightened me. He also posted to his Instagram a photo of an apparently unhoused man sleeping on the subway, which to me seemed pointlessly cruel — Patrick Bateman–esque, maybe, or even Trumpian. (Yes, I did just put them in order of scariness.)

Lmao why am I reading this garbage. “This piece of shit I was sleeping with turned out to be a piece of shit.”