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But no text could convey that.
—
Ryan works morehours after school than usual, because he’s planning to take so much of the weekend off. It also helps him avoid his parents.
Tortilla chips,he texts Avery.
It takes four hours before he gets the reply:
They’re nacho problem.
—
On Wednesday afterhis shift is done, he goes to see Aunt Caitlin. She looks tired from her own day at work. But she brightens up when she sees him.
“The hair looks good, if I do say so myself,” she says. “How’d the date go?”
They sit down on the old lime-green couch and he tells her what happened with Avery (the good part), and then what happened with his parents (the bad part).
“Oh, Ryan,” Caitlin says when he’s done.
“Why are they so awful?” he asks her.
“They’re not awful,” she says. Before he can argue, she puts her hand up. “No—listen to me. I have friends who grew up with awful. Your parents are wrong a lot of the time, but they’re not awful.”
“But why are they like this?” Ryan asks. “You’ve met Avery—does he seem scary to you?”
Caitlin smiles. “No.”
“So why won’t they let me see him? What are they so afraid of?”
Caitlin’s smile disappears. Carefully, she asks, “Do you really want me to answer that?”
“Of course I do.”
“Okay. But hear me out, okay? I’m not saying they’re in the right here. Do you understand that?”
“Yes.”
“So I’m not trying to justify the way they are. But there are reasons.”
“I’m all ears.”
—
Caitlin pulls backa little. The edge in Ryan’s tone is a warning. He’s not going to understand because he won’t want to understand. At the same time, he is sixteen years old. He should know this.
“They’re scared, Ryan.”
“Why? Because I’m gay?”
“No,” Caitlin says. “Because it wasn’t that long ago that you were hurting yourself.”
—
There it isagain. The Bad Year.
—
