He shrugs, his face beet red now. “I like LEGO. LEGO and maps ... andStar Wars.Star WarsLEGO to me is kind of like a new Taylor Swift album to a Swiftie. I’m a dork, I know.”
I can’t stop smiling.
“You said you wouldn’t make fun.”
“I said I wouldn’t make fun of your music taste. And who says I’m making fun?”
He swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing in his smooth throat.
“I’m going to see these things anyway now, right? I’m sure your room is full of LEGO—Star WarsLEGO—and maps.”
“It is, but you won’t see my room.”
The pit of my stomach burns as my heart drops with disappointment. “Why not?”
“Because there’s a guest room.”
“Would your parents have a problem with a guy sleeping in your room?”
I know we’re getting into dangerous territory right now. Ben looks like he’d rather be talking about the war. Yet, I can’t help but push.
“They don’t know I’m gay.”
“Oh.”
We’re quiet for a moment. Stones crunch under the wheels of the car. Wind whips past the windows.
“Do your family know you’re gay?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“Are they okay with it?”
“Of course.”
“Not necessarily ‘of course,’” Ben says. “Not everyone’s family are okay with them being queer.”
“No, but we don’t have anywhere near as many of these little white churches as you guys do.” I try for a joke, but Ben doesn’t smile.
“Are your family religious?” I ask.
“Not in any real way, no. I don’t even think they have a problem with people being gay per se.”
“I sense a ‘but.’”
“But … I’m already the runt of the litter.”
My heart sinks. “What does that mean?”
“My siblings are all really successful. Set for the kind of conventionally impressive lives people dream about their kids having. I’m already planning an unconventional life by starting my own business. I’ll probably be financially insecure for the first few years, and that’s if the business everactually gets off the ground. Add to that the inability to have children with whoever I marry and?—”
“Gay people can have children.”
“They won’t be full heirs, though. Not in my parents’ eyes.”
“Full heirs? Are your family royalty?”
He laughs, some of the tension shucking from his shoulders.
