“Okay,” I said, trying not to overthink actually meeting his friends. “Um, what about family?” Then I realise how that sounded. “I mean, do you have any? Not that we have to do the meeting the family thing. I think friends is more than enough for me not to freak the fuck out over, but I’ve never even asked you about your family. Or your tattoo. Or why the hell you went to Nepal. God.” I put my hand to my forehead. “Way to ruin everything, Jordan.”

“You didn’t ruin anything.” He squeezed my hand. “Yes, I have family. My folks live up on the Gold Coast, and I have two sisters, Siobhan and Saffron. Both older; both live in Melbourne. We’re all kind of busy, but we talk on the phone all the time and we see each other for a week at Christmas.”

“Siobhan and Saffron,” I repeated. “And Hennessy. Did your parents write the book on How To Give Your Kids Cool Names?”

He chuckled. “We got a lot of shit at school, actually.”

I made a face. “Oh, sorry.”

“That’s okay. What about your family?”

“I don’t speak to them. I haven’t since they wouldn’t have a gay kid, and I couldn’t be not gay, so that was that.”

Hennessy stopped, his face drained, and he put his hand on my arm. “Oh my God, Jordan. I didn’t know. Sorry.”

“I was eighteen and living on my own at uni anyway, so it wasn’t like I had to add the label of homeless to freshly orphaned. But I’d rather cut all ties with those arseholes than spend years begging for them to love me, ya know?”

He nodded. “Yeah. But Jesus. I’m so sorry they did that.”

I shrugged. “I’m sorry too, but I’m okay. I knew they’d never accept me, so it wasn’t some huge shock. I kind of expected it, to be honest. I’m stronger because of them, and in a roundabout way, they taught me to stand up for myself. Plus, I have a brother in Angus, and a sister in Merry. I made my own family, and they’re so much better.”

He blew out a breath and studied me for a long second. “You’re amazing.”

I scoffed and rolled my eyes. “And if you’re thinking I’m headed for some kind of breakdown because I use humour and sarcasm as a defence mechanism, you’d be wrong. I’ve always been a nonsensical rambler, ever since I could talk, and I was funny long before my parents were bigoted arseholes.”

Hennessy gave me a small smile. “You’re still amazing.

“Not really, but you wanna know what I really am?”

He nodded.

“Hungry. And you mentioned food.”

He smiled, more genuinely this time. Then he put his arm around my shoulder again and we began walking to the bus stop.

Chapter Ten