I giggle again. “It’s okay, I just thought you should know.”
Oliver smiles again, cheeks now a bright pink, and it’s endearing as hell. “So,” he says before taking another bite. “Why Eidola?”
With a sigh, I fold the wrapper back over my half-eaten sandwich. “Well, as I said, we moved to Georgia for my dad’s job. COVID-19 bankrupted his previous company, but an old colleague in Atlanta referred him to a better-paying job here. Dad got hired, and the company paid for our relocation. I’m the youngest of three, so by then I was the only kid still in the house and about to transition from middle to high school. My parents decided it was an okay time to uproot my entire life and start from scratch in a new state.”
“Yikes,” Oliver interjects.
“Yeah. Yikes. But the truth was, I was never all that good at making friends. I was a great student, and teachers loved me, but I never really felt like I fit in with kids my age. Plus, it was in the middle of the pandemic, and the few friendships I had at school were already deteriorating. So it wasn’t as bad as I’d thought it would be, and I ended up finding Max and Celeste.”
Oliver grins. “Oh, good! Definitely could have been worse.”
I nod. “To be honest, Celeste is the main reason I chose Eidola. I also… kind of fell in love with Atlanta. It’s so culturally rich and diverse, and there’s a strong LGBTQIA presence here, too. When Celeste said she wanted to apply to school right here in the city, I started looking through the degree programs. As soon as I read about social work, I knew that was the path for me.”
Oliver crumples his now-empty sandwich wrapper and tosses it in the bag. “So, why social work? What’s your dream job?”
I fidget with the sandwich in my lap. “Well, to put it simply, I want to help queer people. I want to connect trans kids with the resources they need to transition. I want to get gay teenagers away from abusive families. I want to support kids who are kicked out of their homes because of how they identify. I want to make a difference in the lives of queer people who feel abandoned and give them hope.” I shrug. “And, I don’t know, I think social work is probably the most practical way to do that.”
Oliver stares at me, mouth hanging slightly open, until he finally smiles. “Wow. That’s…that’s amazing, Jude.You’reamazing.”
Heat flushes my cheeks. “Nah, Iwantto be amazing. I’m not quite there yet.”
Oliver scoffs. “Yes, you are. You know what you want, and you’re here doing the work to make it happen. That’s incredible.”
My cheeks burn even brighter, and I have to look away from Oliver’s adoring gaze to keep my face from combusting. “I don’t know about that,” I mutter. “But thank you.”
Oliver meticulously wipes his mouth and hands with a napkin, then discards the napkin in the bag. “So, you mentioned you’re the youngest of three? What are your siblings like?”
I bark a sarcastic laugh. “They kind of suck,” I admit. “I mean, technically, they’re perfect. My brother is a doctor who married a teacher, and my sister is a lawyer who married a cop. All very accomplished, productive members of society.” I unwrap my sandwich again and take another bite.
“That’s pretty cool, right?” Oliver says, studying me warily. “At least in theory?”
After I chew and swallow, I shrug. “Yeah, I guess it would be cool if they didn’t set the bar so ridiculously high for me. A doctoranda lawyer? Not exactly easy acts to follow for the third kid.”
Oliver frowns. “Yeah, that kind of sucks. Do they have kids?”
“Yep. Brother has two, sister has three.”
“Well, that’s nice! Doesn’t that mean you have cute little nieces and nephews?”
I sigh. “You’d think so, but I actually don’t see them often. Usually, once or twice a year for holidays. We’re all spread out, too—brother and his family in Texas, sister and her family in Florida.”
“That’s a bummer.”
“Eh, I guess.” I take another bite and take my time chewing.
Oliver props his arms behind him and leans back, puzzled by my responses. “Have you ever been close to any of your family?”
“No, not really.”
“Why not?”
I take a deep breath and force a smile. “I was a very unexpected surprise to my thirty-eight-year-old mother and myforty-two-year-old father. My brother Brian was nineteen when I was born, and my sister Stephanie was fifteen.”
Oliver’s eyes widen, finally understanding. “Oh.Oh, yeah, that explains a lot, then.”
“Yeah.”
“Damn.”
