“Yeah,” he replies with a sigh. “How did you come out to your family?” he asks me.
“I brought my high school boyfriend home one day, and that was that,” I tell him. “But, I will say that it wasn’t really a novel thing to be queer in my household. I have two mothers, Mom and Ma. In fact, my sister—well, she thought she actually had to come out to them asstraight.” I chuckle at the memory. Simpler times, that’s for sure.
“Oh.” His eyes cast down to his lap. “So the people you know are really accepting, then?”
I nod. “They are.”
I know I’m lucky like that. I know that’s not how everyone has it. And I can understand how Colton currently feels, scared to step out and be seen. It makes me feel sick to think that, in this day and age, the fear is still there.
That’s what led Colton to the vandalism and wanting to escape. Apparently there’s a kid at his and Nikolas’ school that has been harassing Nikolas—calling him by his dead name, misgendering him purposely. This other boy, Taryn, apparently works as a bus-boy at a local pub his dad, Gordy, owns. Colton has not only spray-painted the dumpsters and the building itself, but has also keyed Gordy’s car, instead of just letting Nikolas go to the proper authorities himself.
In a way, Colton feels like he’s sticking up for Nikolas in performing the acts; but then, in other ways, it seems to me like he’s launching a preemptive counter-attack against someone who I’m sure would give him a hard time if Colton were to come out as well. Either way, hisactions are actually drawing more lines in the sand, not letting the tides of peace and acceptance wash them away.
“Well, whatever you decide to do with the drawing, just know that I’m proud of you.” I tap the page. “This type of art will really get you somewhere. Have you considered higher education in the arts?”
“I kind of, I dunno, thought about Maine College of Art. I want to stay in Maine, but I don’t want to stay near Ternbay. It’s not a super accepting place there. I like Portland. More diverse.”
“Have you met Kai yet?” I ask him.
“Not really. I mean, he’s the guy with all the tattoos, right? He seems cool, but he doesn’t really come down and talk to us much.”
I chuckle. “Yeah, that’s him. I’ll set you up with him at some point. He lives in Portland. He could show you around. That, and he’s got connections all over down there. He might even be able to get you a tour of the school, if that’s something you’d be interested in.”
“Oh, uh—” Colton stammers. “Doesn’t Dad, like, not like him?”
“Well, so, here’s the thing. You’d be doing this for you, your future. If your dad can’t get past his animosity for Kai to see that, that sounds like a him problem and not a you problem. You may only be sixteen—”
“Seventeen in a week,” he corrects me.
“Right, even more to the point. You’re at that age where you should be starting to think about what life will be like for you beyond high school. Having your sights set on something that's a sure thing after graduation, that’ll help tremendously at getting you through the last year without resorting to petty crimes.”
“Petro wants to go there too. He’s into graphic design and app development. Could he come check it out also?”
“Absolutely,” I reassure him, and he smiles. “I doubt Kai would have a problem with that.”
“Then fuck my dad. I wanna go.”
“I didn’t sayfuck your dad,” I remind him with a chuckle. “I said that it’s okay torespectfullyspread your wings a little. Maybe that’ll be the homework I send you out of here with today. Talk to him. Have that conversation about what your plans look like. Maybe he just needs to see you’re taking initiative. He might surprise you and be more accepting than you think.”
“Thanks, Mr. G,” Colton says, standing up and grabbing his notebook. “I’ll try. You know, he did thank me for going out and getting the mattress for him the other day, and—get this—heapologizedto me for thinking it was me at first.” The look on my face leaves him chuckling. “I know, right? I was just as shocked.”
“Your dad certainly is full of surprises,” I tell him. “Wanna meet up again in a few more days, and we can see how the college talk goes?”
“Sounds dope,” he replies.
“Super dope, bruh,” I tease back.
He scrunches his nose up. “Alright, that just sounds suss coming from you.”
“Oh yeah, super sussy,” I huff, chuckling. “You forget I live with Morgan. She speaks to me in the language of the skibidi toilet, so I’ve got rizz.”
He shakes his head with a laugh, as the door snicks shut behind him.
Ineverget this. This seems so surreal. I have the house to myself; Kai took off for the weekend to go back and attend Portland Pride. It rained most of the morning, so the campers were all occupied in the rec hall, having a board game day. I got through my work, having hadmany really good sessions with some of the kids who have struggled the most. As soon as the sun popped out, they were all antsy to go on a kayaking adventure. That left me, finally, with some time to catch up on housework.
The soup in the crock pot isn’t quite done yet. The laundry is going. Snarf’s furry tumbleweeds aren’t bad enough to sweep up yet. There isn’t something pressing that I need to take care of around the camp, since Evan’s been busy tackling all those.
What the heck am I even supposed to do right now?
