There were months of trying to knock some sense into that stupid man's head. Years, even. After all, it's not like Jamie hadn't given every sign that she didn't identify with the gender she'd been assigned at birth. My mom and I talked about it several times, in fact, but we waited for Jamie to decide when she wanted to tell us in no uncertain terms.
My dad was the only one who refused to see it and made everything fall apart.
My mom left home that very night of the attempted assault. We gathered our things and went to Ethan's parents' place, who'd become friends with my mom because of the two of us. Months later, the divorce was finalized, and my mom bought a beautiful house around the lake in Lake George, in New York state.
I tried to talk to my dad just once after the divorce, but he seemed to have gotten even worse. He said so much shit that I lost the last bit of faith I had in him. The excited, involved dad, though never very affectionate, that I thought I had, had taken off the mask of cruelty and prejudice for good.
Even though I didn't want to, I had a few lapses of missing him, but I ignored them, because my sister's happiness was much more important.
And she was happy. Last week she'd called me, bursting with joy because she'd gotten her acceptance letter to Harvard.
My dear genius wanted to be a doctor and care for trans people with the sensitivity she often didn't have herself. And I knew she'd be a truly incredible doctor.
My contemplation of life is suddenly interrupted by a breathless Charlie and an Ethan dumping half a dozen books onto the table. I raise an inquisitive eyebrow at the two of them.
"Good afternoon... How did you find me?" I ask, because I'd been avoiding my phone for the last hour, trying to cut out that distraction too.
Not that it did any good.
"Ever since that time I lost you at the music festival, because you ended up in another town, I've had your location turned on in my phone," Ethan admits, shrugging. My jaw hits the floor.
"Excuse me? You've been tracking me for over a year?"
"Of course. It gives me peace of mind. And I don't sit there looking all the time like a maniac," he says, rolling his eyes, "just moments like this when I need to find you and you don't answer messages," he justifies, and I laugh, indignant.
"You're ridiculous, when did you grab my phone to authorize this?" I ask, but then an even more important point comes to mind. "Hey, how do you know my password?"
My friend breaks into a cynical smile.
"It wasn't that hard, was it? It's your birthday," he admits, and I gasp.
"Wow, you're a real pain in the ass!" I complain, but his smile doesn't fade. "I'm going to disconnect this nonsense right now."
I even pull my phone out of my backpack, but Ethan couldn't care less.
"As soon as you fall asleep I'll turn it back on," he warns, and I glare at him.
"I'll change my password."
"If it's to your sister's birthday, that won't help much," he says, and I get pissed at how well this guy knows me, because it's exactly what I was planning to set it to.
I huff and shake my head.
"You're not my babysitter, Ethan Clarke!"
"Definitely not, or what we did last night would be really indecent," he shoots back, catching me off guard. Charlie even chokes on the water she was drinking. She'd been standing at the edge of the table, just watching this crazy conversation.
My shameless friend gives her a few pats on the back until she catches her breath.
"But I like to be prepared. You lose that phone all the time. Never wondered why it was always me who found it?"
Oh.
Well. I didn't have a valid comeback for that point. I really did lose my phone easily, and Ethan always found it, whether on the floor of a classroom or under the bleacher benches at the stadium.
Damn. I really should have noticed that before.
"Besides, what if you get kidnapped and they ask for all your mom's works as ransom? I can save your life at any time," he claims, and Charlie finally sits across from me, covering her hand so she doesn't laugh. "My location shows up for you too, the activation was two-way."
