Read Online Been Here All Along by Sandy Hall - Free Book Online

to talk to. But for now, I go along with his jokes.
    â€œYes. I am now a full-fledged member of what is technically the Order of Men Who Love Other Men.”
    â€œAh yes, OMWLOM. Very prestigious.”
    I dump out the ash that’s in the bucket, and then Ezra and I head back inside, where he forces me to watch a marathon of classic eighties TV shows.
    But not before I hide the binder safely away in the Monopoly box under my bed.
    Ruby
    The second I get home, I know something is wrong. My parents sit at our kitchen table, their faces gray with worry.
    â€œWe’ll talk in the morning,” my mom says, shooing me in the direction of the bedroom I share with my little sister. My brothers, David and Marco, share one, and Diana and I share the other. My parents sleep on a pullout couch in the living room. They say it’s not so bad, but I know they’re lying.
    I sit down across from them.
    â€œCan we please talk now?” I say. “This just doesn’t seem to be the time to start treating me like a little kid.”
    My dad shows me a memo from his job. They’re cutting third shift. His shift.
    â€œWhat does this mean? Can you get a different job? Move to a different time or something?” I ask, knowing even as I say the words that they wouldn’t look so worried if that was a possibility.
    My dad shakes his head.
    I chew my lip and look around my house. It’s nothing like Gideon’s, that’s for damn sure.
    â€œI know what you’re thinking,” my mom says. “And don’t you worry about it. We have it all under control.”
    â€œI could get a job,” I offer.
    â€œNo,” my dad says quickly.
    â€œWhy not? I’m eighteen. I should be working anyway.”
    â€œYou need to concentrate on school,” my mom says, the old refrain. No matter how hard things get, they’re always so much more worried about me getting good grades than how much I could be helping with money.
    â€œBut—”
    My dad cuts me off. “We’re going to need more help watching the kids. Mom’s going to get a second job, and I’m going to take whatever I can as soon as I can.”
    I swallow hard.
    â€œAnd we’ll cut wherever we can,” he adds.
    There’s not much more to cut , I think but don’t say out loud. Things have been lean around here for a while, which makes me wonder how long he’s known this might be a possibility.
    After a few more minutes, I go to bed. But I don’t sleep.

 
    eight
    Gideon
    I make my way up the front walk at Kyle’s house, and he must have been watching for me. He yanks open his front door and without a word, I shove my license into his hands.
    â€œAwesome,” he says. “Now you can drive sometimes.”
    â€œI can drive sometimes if and when my parents ever get me a car.”
    â€œIs there an estimate for that?”
    â€œWhen my mom finally picks out a new car, I get her current one. But she claims that I can borrow it whenever, since she works from home.”
    Kyle nods appreciatively and we walk into the kitchen, where we collect every potential snack food and head down into the basement.
    â€œYou ready for this?” he asks.
    â€œI was born ready.”
    â€œOh yeah, happy birthday, or whatever.”
    â€œThanks or whatever,” I say.
    We settle in to watch the first movie. We tend not to talk too much during the first few hours of it. It’s become almost a spiritual thing between us.
    â€œThere’s nothing wrong with this movie,” Kyle says, restarting a conversation that we’ve had a million times, to the point where we each have our own set of lines and cues as we discuss it.
    â€œAbsolutely not. It’s basically a masterpiece.”
    â€œIt’s just, some of the acting…”
    â€œIt’s so over the top,” I say, finishing his sentence as I always do.
    At that moment on-screen Frodo is kicking