“Cool.Me too.Um.How old are you?”
Charlie’s chin jutted out.“I’m fourteen.”
“Right.”Ben attempted to strangle the nervous laughter in his throat.Fourteen.What had his mom said on the phone?Give him a place to stay and help him find a job?He ought to be in school.At the very least, Ben could find him a GED program.Or a school.There were really good schools in this part of the country.But Charlie couldn’t support himself while he finished school, nor should he have to.Ben could barely swing rent in the Bay Area as a fully grown adult with (some) savings and a decent employment history.Much better if Ben got them an apartment and covered expenses.That meant he would have to stay here for at least four years while Charlie finished school.How would he do his job?He’d have to get a regular gig at one of the local papers, but Ben hadn’t done beat reporting in years.And then what?He didn’t have retirement savings for himself, much less a college fund for wayward nephews.
But fourteen-year-olds were supposed to be complaining about classes and watching too-loud video clips in the back of public transportation, not living by themselves and worrying about affording groceries.
Ben took a breath.
It didn’t help against the rising tide of panic, so he tried movement.
“Um, my car’s over this way.”
They walked to the lot in silence.This was probably the moment where Ben should ask what had happened and why Charlie had been sent here, but he didn’t want to do that to either of them.He knew why Charlie couldn’t stay in Utah.While Ben might not know every horrifying detail of how his family would treat a trans kid, he could imagine the highlights.
“It’s about a twenty-minute drive to where I’m staying,” Ben said once they’d loaded up Charlie’s suitcase and backpack.“I don’t know how long we’ll be there, to be honest.It’s kind of a weird situation.”
“You don’t have your own place?”
Right.Ben had forgotten how judgmental fourteen-year-olds could be.“Not right now, no.”
Charlie got into the front seat beside Ben.Was he even allowed?Didn’t the little warning label on the sun visor say something about children sitting in the back?Fourteen wasn’t a child, but Charlie looked so small.Ben took a deep breath and started driving.
“So what are you going to do with me?”Charlie asked, staring out the windshield, not looking at him.
“Well, have you had dinner yet?”
“No.”
“I guess we’ll start there.”
“No, I mean, like—” Charlie huffed out an enervated breath.“Grandma said you were going to help me get a job.”
It took Ben a moment too long to spot a red light, and he slammed into the brakes.“You’refourteen.”
“Fourteen-year-olds work.I could be an emancipated minor.”
Oh fuck, could Ben even send Charlie to school without any sort of official documentation?He’d have to figure out how to adopt Charlie or get legal guardianship or whatever piece of paper would let him keep the kid safe and in school.That would be a headache and a half.He might have to go tocourt.
“You could also stay with me and go to school.”
Charlie remained silent for a moment.“Why?”he asked eventually.“What’s in it for you?”
“Absolutely nothing” was the honest answer, but not the only one.
“I know what it’s like for the family to decide you don’t belong,” Ben said.“But I was older than you, and I had finished college.I can’t imagine being brave enough to tell them about my sexuality earlier.”
Squishing himself into the farthest corner of the seat, Charlie muttered, “It’s not brave if you don’t do it on purpose.”
If he had known Charlie better, been in his life in any way up until now, Ben might have asked.As it was, he let the silence spread between them.
“I didn’t plan it or anything,” Charlie continued.“I just felt trapped in all the stupid dresses and blouses my mom made me wear.I was crawling out of my own skin, and I thought I might…hurt someone if I didn’t get the feeling out, so I cut my hair off.”
“And they noticed.”
“Yeah.”
For a moment, Ben concentrated on turning left without hitting oncoming traffic while he collected the right words to say.“I think being yourself is always brave, no matter why you do it.”
