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Ryan turns serious again. “Please don’t tell them you told me, okay? If I want them to know we had this conversation, I’ll tell them.”
Caitlin nods.
“Thank you. And, Caitlin?”
“Yes, Ryan?”
“You know I’d never hurt myself now. Right?”
“I do know that. But it’s still good to hear it.”
“I promise. That was a bad year but it already feels like another life. I mean, I only met Avery a few weeks ago andthatfeels like years.”
“Good years?”
Ryan smiles. “Yeah, good years.”
—
I am goingto have so much to tell you,Ryan texts Avery as soon as he gets into the truck.
I can’t wait, Avery immediately replies.
—
Once again, hemakes it to his room before his parents can catch him. He really doesn’t want to talk to them now.
There’s knocking on his door. His father saying he’s acting like a brat and better open up. His mother saying she made dessert and kept some for him. Doesn’t he want some dessert?
“The bribery doesn’t work if the threats come first,” Ryan tells the door.
Then, two hours later, he makes a stupid mistake. He’s too loud going to the bathroom, and can’t lock his bedroom door from the outside. So his room is unguarded, and when he comes back in his pajamas, his father is waiting.
“We’re going to talk, whether you like it or not,” his father says. “This kind of behavior will not be tolerated in this home.”
“Get out of my room,” Ryan says, even though he knows it will only make things worse. Then he screams it, “GET OUT OF MY ROOM!”
He clears the doorway for his father. He points to it. Insists.
“I only want to talk,” his father says.
“There’s nothing to talk about. I’m fine. I’m totally fine. I just need you out of my room right now.”
His mom appears in the hallway, asking what’s going on.
“Tell him to get out of my room,” Ryan appeals to her. “I want to go to sleep. Tell him to get out.”
“Okay,” she says. Then she turns to her husband. “Let’s do this tomorrow. He needs sleep.”
“Jesus Christ,” Ryan’s father says. Ryan half expects him to say,Don’t think you’ve gotten away with this!like an archvillain in a comic book. Or maybe that’s something the hero says to the archvillain.
The moment his dad is through the door, he closes and locks it. But he still wakes up at least a dozen times during the night, afraid it’s come unlocked.
Even the keys beneath his pillow aren’t a comfort.
—
One more day,Ryan texts Avery the next morning.
