When The Rain Stops (BXB)

Chapter 42

I think what makes us getting back to our apartment slightly better is that Harper's there. Just waiting for me. And when he sees me get out of the taxi, he smiles like this is the first time he's seen me in eleven years.

I pull off my headphones when I get close to the front doors of the building. I asked him to come over. Mom and Dad're still being weird to me about Rory so I need someone who doesn't know the shit that happened. Like, Dad just isn't sure how to talk to me about it. And I don't think Mom knows how to deal with it at all.

"Jack, you look like shit," Harper says, but then he sees my parents and says, "Sorry for swearing, Mrs. Rivera."

Mom sighs. That kind of sigh where her head kind of becomes, like, a bobble head. Then she says, "Jackson, at least take your stuff. Are you staying for dinner, Harper?"

"No, ma'am," he says. "Mom's makin' fried chicken. Can't miss that." He turns to me, grinning. "You wanna come? I know you like her chicken."

My Beatles playlist's still playing. Even though I don't have my headphones on amymore, I can still hear it. And there's just something about Paul McCartney singing about human loneliness and connectivity that makes me wanna cry. Hard.

But I'm tired. I don't think I have another cry left in me right now.

"C'mon," I sigh, nodding my head toward the building.

"Woah, you look like shit." And then his eyes narrow. "What'd whatshisface do this year?"

I don't say anything.

"What're you doin' back so early?" He asks, kind of side-skipping alongside with me. "Thought you'd be gone the rest of the summer."

"...work needed Dad."

"Oh." Harper licks his lips. "You okay?"

"No," I say it like it's obvious. Because it should be.

Harper doesn't say anything after that.

When I get upstairs, I unlock the door and leave it propped open with the deadbolt. I beeline for my room, and as soon as Harper's in it, I close it as quietly as possible.

Then I sigh.

"...how was the sum – "

"Shut up, Harper."

I hear him tap his legs.

"It was shitty."

"Wh – "

"I came out to them."

I'm not looking at him, but I don't doubt that Harper's eyes go wide. He shuffles his feet on the carpet and doesn't really say anything until he asks, "...you okay?"

"...I broke up with him."

My bed creaks. "What?"

I turn to him. "I broke up with him."

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait," he splutters, staring at me like I was telling the most interesting story in history. "You were datin' a guy?"

I click my teeth. "I'm gonna slap you, Harper."

"What? I didn't know you swung that way?"

"I told you – "

" – that you thought you liked girls and fags," he points out.

"Don't use that word," I snap.

"Okay, okay!" Harper runs a hand through his hair, and it bounces a little. "Ya think you like girls and gays. Doesn't mean you are one."