Page 102 of You + Me – Against the World

plastered all over the back of buses.

Well, if you still want to be with me when I’m

the face of Shine shampoo for curly hair.

The things I am willing to do

for the beautiful Alma Lancaster…]

I can’t help but smile, even though this is really not the moment for it. Then, my heart leaps in my chest when my father brusquely orders me to put my phone away and demands to know what is so amusing. I don’t answer.

Lily bursts into tears. Arms crossed, cheeks wet, and eyes clouded with fury, my little sister finally explodes. “We don’t give a flying fling about whatever’s going on between you two! You’re the worst! You argue so much that you don’t care about anything else anymore, not even us!”

“Lily, stay out of this,” my father warns. “And stop acting like a baby. I’ve had enough of the women in this family crying all the time.”

“How can you talk to her like that?” I blurt out. “Have you ever stopped to consider that you might be the reason everyone is crying?!”

My father’s eyes widen, and my little sister seizes the opportunity.

“She’s right, you only think about yourself. And you don’t even see what’s happening right in front of your eyes! Basile is gay, and he’s so afraid of you that he doesn’t dare tell you. Alma is still with Vadim. He came with us to France, and you have no idea how happy we were there! And if you keep this up, Mom is going to go back to live in Paris forever! And I’ll go with her! There, are you happy?”

I hold my breath, my mother’s face falls, and even Lily seems stunned by what just came out of her mouth. Before my father has time to react, Basile throws his napkin onto his plate, leaps to his feet, and runs toward the front door. We listen as it is opened and then slammed shut.

My father’s furious glare turns on me now. He seems too shocked to speak. I take advantage of this momentary hesitation to stand up, pull my little sister by the arm, and whisk her upstairs.

Shut away in my room, we’ll shelter from the storm. And I’ll remind Lily that you can’t just vent your anger without thinking, even when it weighs heavily on you. Especially when it concerns other people’s business. But first, I grab my phone to text Vadim.

[So proud of you. But it’s chaos here.

My drama queen sister blurted everything out to my dad.

About us. About Basile.

Basile bolted. Can you

try to catch up with him?

You could take the car.

I’m afraid he might

do something stupid…]

[Okay, I’m on my way.]

35

Vadim found Basile and basically dragged him back home, but my distraught brother hasn’t said a word since Lily outed him. I feel sorry for him.

This week, I go knock on his door every morning and every evening, but he refuses to unlock it. I think he only comes out to go to class and eat in secret, before shutting himself away in his room the rest of the time. My mother stands on the other side of the door and tirelessly repeats the same reassuring phrases: that none of this changes anything, that he hasn’t committed any crime, that he can stop shutting himself away now. She gets no response.

I reckon he just wasn’t ready.

At first, I thought it might have come as a relief for him to have someone take the leap on his behalf, but Basile probably feels robbed of a part of his story. At least, that’s what I imagine he feels. No doubt he had rehearsed a hundred times in his head the way he would one day reveal this secret.

Lily feels extremely guilty; she understands now that she had no right to take that away from him.

My father, true to form, chooses to avoid the situation. He throws himself into his work, rarely showing up at the house. When he is home, he acts as if none of this ever happened. Edward Lancaster once again distinguishes himself by his complete lack of emotion and empathy.