“Next, I want to say that I’m so sorry,” Taylor continues. “Danny and I both are. We’re so sorry we’ve been misgendering and deadnaming you for so long. We had no idea.”
Jude blinks, staring at the phone with disbelief. “Oh, it’s—it’s okay. You didn’t know.”
“And I’m so sorry that you felt like you couldn’t tell us.”
Jude shakes their head. “Hey, don’t be sorry. I didn’t tell anyone but my parents at the time. They’re the ones who…who kind of told everyone else.”
“That’s awful,” Taylor laments. “I will say, though, no one told Danny or me. If they had, I would have approached you and asked you myself.”
“It’s okay,” Jude says. “I appreciate that.”
“So, is Jude your true name?”
Jude’s breath catches. “Y-Yes.”
“And you use ‘they/them’ pronouns?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, then that’s what Danny and I will call you from now on.”
“You…you don’t have to?—”
“It’s no trouble at all, Jude. Promise.”
Jude exhales a shaky breath. “Okay. Thank you.”
“Next on the agenda…have you talked to your parents since yesterday?”
Jude’s anxiety returns. “No.”
“Well, I’ll just go ahead and tell you that after you fainted, there was…a disagreement about who was at fault. Some truths came out, and Danny and I were furious with your parents and siblings. We’re actually headed to the airport right now, as a matter of fact.”
Oh, shit.
“Oh, I’m so sorry,” Jude mutters.
“Oh, Jude, please don’t be sorry,” Taylor insists. “Their behavior was unacceptable.” She pauses. “I don’t want to alarm you, but something came up about your parents paying your tuition.”
Jude swallows hard, and I immediately rub soothing circles on their back. “Yeah, they…they’re financially supporting me so that I can get my MSW in six years without having to get a job. At least…they were.”
There’s another pause. “Is that why you haven’t been able to come out as queer? Because you’re worried they’ll stop supporting you?”
Jude nods, then remembers they’re on a phone call. “Yeah, basically.”
“We thought so,” Taylor replies, her voice low and angry. “That’s horrible, Jude. I’m so sorry they’ve treated you like this for so long.”
Jude doesn’t answer.
Taylor continues: “But listen. Danny and I talked about this for a long time last night, and we would like to help you if you’ll let us.”
Jude’s eyes widen, as do mine.
“As you know, Danny’s a senior developer at his tech company, and, to be frank, we’re doing remarkably well financially for our age.”
Jude slowly sinks to the floor, and I join them. “Okay,” they mutter.
“If your parents decide to cut you off financially for being your authentic self, Danny and I would like to offer you our support instead. Obviously, we’d need to sit down and go over the numbers to see how much we could afford, but I think we could at least make it so you don’t have to take on crippling student debt.”
