Page 31 of Dead Boys Club

“I thought you knew.”

“I mean, I wasn’t sure, but… I don’t know…” Paige says. “I kind of assumed. The nails, and stuff. You know.”

Parker snorts. “Right, yeah.”

Paige laughs a little too. “Yeah.”

Zach makes sure to step more loudly than usual to alert them of his approach. When he makes his way back to the kitchen, Parker and Paige look less weepy, though Paige’s eyes are still red-rimmed and wet.

Zach’s thinking about what Parker said—about being gay, and about Mr. Reid hating that he’s gay. The thing is, Zach is pretty sure he’s never actually met a gay person before. Or at least, someone that he knew was gay. Gay people don’t always announce themselves, or whatever, Zach knows that, but still. This is maybe the first time he’s known someone gay.

“She’s coming home,” Zach says, gripping his hands in front of his shirt. “My mom. Um, but she’ll probably let you stay. She’s kind of—I mean, she’s cool? As far as moms go.”

“Thank you,” Paige says, taking a big breath in, releasing it slowly through her mouth.

They eventually move out into the living room and Zach turns the TV on. He sits on the couch next to Parker and Paige curls up on the love seat, in control of the remote. Zach’s brain whirls with thoughts—about Mr. Reid, and Parker, and Paige, and everything that happened at dinner and everything that’s happened since dinner. It’s like they’ve all lived a thousand lifetimes since sitting down at the Reids’ dining room table. Despite the absolute agony of what Parker had to tell Paige, Zach feels a weight start to lift off his own shoulders. It’s one less secret he has to keep.

Paige knows. Parker doesn’t have to keep it locked up inside of himself anymore—that he tried to take his own life, that he felt those things. Maybe this means that Parker isn’t thinking about suicide anymore. Zach wants to ask him about it but he keeps his mouth shut. He just jiggles his knee next to Parker’s while Paige puts on reruns of Friends.

It’s just a little over an hour later when his mom’s car pulls into the driveway. Paige and Parker look up at the same time in a moment of twin coordination—at each other, then toward the door—as Zach’s mom comes up the porch steps and enters the house. Zach is pretty sure he’s never been as relieved to see his mom as he is right now: her heavy, steel-toed boots, her businesslike ponytail, her thick denim, and the shirt with the warehouse logo on the front. She pauses in the doorway to assess the situation, looking from Zach to the twins.

“Well,” his mom says. “Hi.”

“Hi, Mrs. Williams,” Paige says softly, uncurling herself and sitting up on the love seat.

“Oh, no, please, call me Kate,” his mom says, because that’s apparently something all moms are programmed to say.

“Um, Mom,” Zach says, voice wobbling. “This is Parker and Paige Reid.”

“Hi, guys,” his mom says. She hangs her jacket up by the door, then perches delicately on the arm of the love seat, crossing her arms. “What’s going on, huh?”

Paige sniffles but puts on a brave face as she explains. “Our parents suck,” she says, frankly. “They suck so much. They—they, like, lied about something really important.” There’s a hesitation there. Her eyes flick to Parker, like she’s not sure whether she should be telling the whole truth in front of another adult. Parker shrugs.

“They didn’t tell Paige that I tried to kill myself,” Parker clarifies, so plainly that it makes Zach flinch. “And they told me not to tell her either.”

Zach’s mom raises her brows and purses her lips, taking in the information. “Okay…” she says slowly. “Okay.”

The Ativan keeps Zach’s immediate anxiety tamped down. He’s glad that he gets to give this over to his mom. He doesn’t have to try and fix it. His mom listens as Paige carefully explains the situation, with expletive-ridden asides from Parker. They tell her about how Parker took his pills at the end of the summer, about how Paige was told he went to rehab, about how Paige was made to babysit Parker without being told why—that Henry Reid won’t let Parker take the car anywhere on his own, and Paige has to come straight home with Parker every day. They tell Zach’s mom things that even he hadn’t known until today after witnessing the Reid family dynamic in action—the fighting, the snide jabs from Mr. Reid, the high expectations, the never being good enough. They unspool their home life, as if they trust that Zach’s mom can fix it, maybe because Zach trusts that she can fix it too. He feels six years old again, like his mom can do anything.

His mom listens, her expression careful and contemplative. Zach relaxes more and more. Parker and Paige relax too. Parker’s jiggling knee eventually stills, knocking against Zach’s. Zach knocks his knee back. His body is warm through the layers of their clothes.

“Let me call your parents,” his mom says eventually, after Paige has stopped crying again. “So I can tell them you’re here and you’re safe.”

“Do we have to go back?” Paige asks, chewing on her thumbnail.

“I can’t stop your parents from coming to get you, but…” Zach’s mom places her hand gently on Paige’s shoulder. “I’ll see if I can explain that you two just need a night away.”

His mom picks up the landline, gesturing for Parker to punch his parents’ number into the keypad. She takes the phone out onto the porch, her voice going muffled as she closes the door behind her.

“Jesus,” Paige whispers, getting up off the love seat and disappearing down the hallway. The bathroom door clicks shut.

Zach knocks his knee against Parker’s and just listens to the sink running; his mom’s faint voice outside; the low, tired sound of Parker’s breathing.

“Thanks for this,” Parker says, quietly. “I mean, like… sorry we’re invading your house and screwing everything up—”

“You’re really not,” Zach says, as earnestly as he possibly can. “This whole situation—this sucks.” He looks right at Parker. “This is ass.”

Parker’s breath exhales in a sharp, small laugh.