Page 35 of Inevitable
Ezra closed his eyes and shook his head. He took a deep breath before he opened his eyes again and looked at Drew.
“It sucks.”
Drew chuckled. “That’s aptly put.”
Ezra regarded him almost curiously, head cocked to the side now.
“And your family?”
Drew had known it was coming. He didn’t relish that the tables had been turned on him, but he didn’t regret pursuing that line of conversation. He had a feeling Ezra would understand.
“My parents and I… we don’t really talk. Haven’t for a long time. I came out to them, and it was like I turned contagious overnight. They didn’t kick me out, but… they might as well have. Honestly, a horrid ending would have been easier to tolerate. Instead, it’s like they took a dull knife and started slowly sawing off any connection I had to them. They didn’t even attend my high school graduation. When I went to pick up my stuff to move out, it was like I was a ghost.” He chewed in silence for a moment, arranging his next words into the correct order. “I have two brothers and a sister. The thing is, I’ve pretty effectively driven a wedge between us all. Lines have been drawn, and even the people who are technically on my side are tired of this whole bullshit. I feel guilty mostly, which is not the first emotion that should crop up when family is concerned.”
Ezra’s jaw clenched, and Drew, to his own surprise, started to chuckle at the expression of outrage on Ezra’s face. It was so much like Bas’s reaction way back when. Only where Bas started cursing and ranting, Ezra looked almost resigned after a moment. It was the expression of a person who’d gone through the same thing.
Drew shrugged. “It’s a tale as old as time,” he joked. Ezra didn’t smile. He fidgeted with his fork, a small crease between his brows.
“Your parents, were—are—they… good people? No, I mean, probably not good people, right? I guess what I’m asking is, are they…”
Ezra didn’t seem to know what the best way was to word his question.
“They were good parents once upon a time,” Drew said softly. “Before.”
“I’m sorry.”
“We’ve been in contact over the last year or so,” he confessed. “I’ve been trying to get them to talk to me for a long time, and Ellie, my sister, she’s campaigning for me pretty relentlessly. I think we’ve finally started moving toward something. We’ve met up for coffee four times. There have been a couple of phone calls. It takes time, but… it’s family.” Drew shrugged helplessly.
“How’s it going?”
“I have hope,” Drew said. “My parents were raised in a different time. It doesn’t really help that we’re a Catholic family. It’s hard for them to rethink things they’ve believed for so long. They’re trying, though. I mean, the pope spoke up, so you can’t really argue with him.” He chewed on the inside of his cheek thoughtfully. “And Adam, Jon, and Ellie… they’re really happy with whatever progress there is. It’s like they’re getting their family back, too. If we can work it all out, they wouldn’t have to coordinate every gathering based on who is on speaking terms with whom. Provided we can work it out, that is. I owe it to all of us to do my best to fix it.”
Ezra looked skeptical, but he didn’t say anything to dash Drew’s hopes. He just turned his hand so that his palm was pressed against Drew’s and linked their fingers in a silent show of support.
They finished eating and cleaned up, and Drew found that he didn’t want to watch Ezra disappear inside his room just yet. It was late already, but he couldn’t help himself as he took ahold of Ezra’s hand again as the man started to pass him.
“Watch a movie with me?” he asked.
Ezra looked down at their entwined fingers. Drew didn’t let go, and Ezra didn’t pull away.
They migrated to the couch after that. Drew grabbed the remote, but he didn’t turn the TV on. He turned his head to the side and looked at Ezra.
“Tell me about your day,” he said.
Ezra turned his head to the side as well and faced Drew. “It’s boring. Work. School, then a shift at work and school again.”
Drew made himself more comfortable, which meant he was practically nose-to-nose with Ezra by the time he was done. Ezra didn’t move away, though, and neither did Drew.
“Why biomedical engineering?”
“I’m good at math, and engineering tends to give you a certain job security,” Ezra said bluntly.
“Not a childhood dream, then?” Drew asked.
“When I was ten I wanted to be an astronaut, so not exactly, no.”
“What changed that dream?”
Ezra lifted one shoulder. “I grew up. I’m lucky, though. I chose engineering for its practicality, but it turns out it’s fascinating.” He leaned forward, eyes shining and hands gesticulating wildly. “Take bionics, for example. Biomimicry specifically, and the way it’s incorporated in creating prosthetic limbs. The possibilities for improvement are endless. Think how much of a change it would make for a person if they could have a prosthetic limb that can be controlled with their brain signals? I mean, to be a part of something like that…” Ezra’s cheeks flushed, and he looked down at his hands. “It’d be really cool. I mean, I’d be a lab tech or something, not a lead scientist or anything,” he finished faintly.