A&D Discover the Secrets to the Universe

        As the friendship between Ari and Dante deepens, they become friends with each other’s parents; discover shared interests and different attitudes; and begin to awaken to feelings for each other that go beyond friendship, an intimacy with which Dante is far more comfortable and open than Ari. At one point, an encounter with a skidding car results in Ari saving Dante’s life, but suffering two broken legs in the process. Dante and his parents express deep gratitude but Ari, who tends to be uncomfortable with emotion (both his and other people’s) brushes off their thanks. Meanwhile, as an incentive towards recovery, Ari’s father buys him a truck and, after the casts on his legs are removed, Ari (after celebrating his sixteenth birthday) learns to drive, and revels in his new freedom. Around this time, he also discovers a sealed envelope with the name of his brother (who is in prison and who is never spoken about) on it.