They scraped their plates and mopped them clean with bread, then cut the aftertaste from their mouths with the remnants of their beer. When they finished, Skater sat there, his hoop cold against the plastistone surface of the stair step. "It’s hard for me," Archangel said without looking at him. Skater had no idea what she was talking about. He just nodded understandingly, and not too agreeably with that. "Apologizing," she said.