7 Days in November, Part 6 (Saturday)

Bourbon spent his morning packing. The orders were clear enough. He was to be out of the house when they got back, and that was it. They didn’t really talk it out with him, just made demands. He folded one last shirt and pushed it down into his suitcase. Taking a moment to rest, he finally acknowledged his shaking. He rested back on his haunches, scrubbed his face with his hands, and tried to will the anger out of himself. He took a deep breath and scanned the room for anything he may have missed. He was glad he could do this when his parents — his foster parents, he reminded himself — were out of the house. The only people left in the house were his siblings — his foster siblings — and they were avoiding him. He was OK with that.

Bourbon closed his suitcase and called TJ. TJ had offered to let Bourbon stay at his house until he was old enough to get an apartment. That offer had almost zeroed-out everything else. He hadn’t realized before that he actually had people to rely on. He hefted his suitcase up off the floor and went to wait for TJ on the porch.

It was cold outside, too cold for Bourbon to have gone out without a coat of some kind. He sat down on the concrete and curled himself into a tight ball, his knees pulled up to his chin. He didn’t care. He stared at the house across the street until it went blurry, the world becoming an empty hiss.

“Hey,” someone said. It took Bourbon a moment to register the voice. He looked up as his younger sister — foster sister — Laura, sat down next to him.

“Hmmf,” Bourbon said back, muffled by his arms.

“Aren’t you cold?” Laura, like all of Bourbon’s other foster siblings, was adopted by the Tavlor family. She was a raccoon, and like Bourbon, she had a thick coat of fur. But Laura had been forward-thinking enough to put a coat on before she went outside.

“Mrrmf.”

Laura looked over at Bourbon. He wore his favorite pair of jeans and a hooded sweatshirt. He was shivering.

“Do you want me to get a coat?” She asked.

“Mrmrmf.”

Laura disappeared back inside the house. She returned with a blanket. She wrapped it around Bourbon.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Laura asked, sitting back down next to Bourbon.

Bourbon lifted his head up from his arms and adjusted the blanket. “What?”

“That you’re gay.”

“I’m not gay.”

“Bisexual?”

Bourbon nodded.

“So why didn’t you tell me?”

Bourbon sighed. “Look what happened. I usually don’t care about what people thing about me, but this is different, right? Cause this family think the gays are communists and molesters and child-pornographers and God knows what else. So, yeah, that’s why I didn’t tell you.”

“You could have told me,” Laura said, pouting a little.

“Sure,” Bourbon shrugged. “But what if I did, and we got into a fight and you decided to tell Bob and Linda, just to piss them off?”

“Oh.” Laura dropped her eyes.

“Sorry. I only really trust my friends. It’s nothing personal.”

Laura shrugged. “I guess I’d have done the same thing.”

Bourbon buried his face in his hands.

“So you’re really leaving?”

“I don’t have a choice.”

“Mom and dad kicked you out?”

“They’re…’allowing’ me to live somewhere else. By force.” He pulled the blanket higher up on his neck. “They said it’s for the best.”

Laura hugged herself. She stared at the mailbox at the corner of the driveway through slitted eyes. “Where are you going?”

“To TJ’s. He said I could live there for a while.”

“Isn’t that where what’s-his-name lives?”

“Farly? Yeah.”

Laura straightened up. “You’re going to live with him?”

“Where else would I go?”

“No, it’s just funny, cause mom and dad kick you out and you go live in the one place they didn’t want you to be.”

Bourbon shrugged.

Laura leaned back. “I wish you weren’t leaving.”

Bourbon looked at her. “You used to hate me.”

“You’ve changed a lot. You used to be really stupid and inconsiderate and… I never liked your friends. They were always mean and they smelled like pot or cigarettes.” She leaned on Bourbon.

“You didn’t like me because of my friends?”

“I didn’t like you because of the way you acted around your friends.” She thought a moment. “But you’re different now. Softer. Like you care more. You smoke less.”

Bourbon closed his eyes and laughed a little. “You found me out?”

“Oh, hey, I’m Bourbon,” Laura said, pushing her voice deeper. “I’m so secret and smart and amazing. No one will ever figure out my secret and awesome smoking habit if I spray myself with crappy cologne. Now I’m off to go skateboarding and be really aloof and emo.”

Bourbon laughed and pushed her off of his shoulder. “Shut up.”

Laura giggled, leaning back. Her grin settled, and then slowly faded. She looked away from Bourbon. “I don’t know if I can last much longer here.”

“What? You’re awesome. You’ll be fine.”

Laura looked back at him. “You’re escaping. You don’t have to deal with this anymore.”

“Four more years. You’ll be 18, and then you can do anything.”

“They’re going to break me before then. Four more years and I’ll be a newly-wed baby-factory dreaming of what college is like.”

“You can make it,” Bourbon said. “And if you ever need to hide, you know where to find me.”

“What if you’re not home?”

“My friend will take care of you.”

Laura tilted her head a little. “Yeah? They nice?”

“They’re amazing. They’re the ones-” Bourbon tripped over his words before he could go one. He hadn’t expected that. He took a deep breath, feeling Laura’s concentration. “They make me want to be a better person.”

“You stopped smoking because of them?”

Bourbon nodded. His face must have been bright red; it burned hard.

“Why Farly?” It was like Laura was testing him now, like she was trying to see where Old Bourbon stopped and New Bourbon started. Her tail twitched back and forth steadily.

“He’s…” He was shaking again, but it was different this time. He had never felt so exposed before. He sank into his blanket. “He’s the most incredible person I know. Like, he makes you feel like you’re this amazing person, and spending time with you is this huge privilege. He so smart, and soft, and loyal, and…” He couldn’t make it anymore.

“Do you love him?”

Bourbon could only nod. Laura seemed to bask in this, leaning back, watching him with this content smirk on her muzzle. Bourbon wished she would look away. They sat like that a moment, Bourbon working his shaking off, and Laura at his side, taking everything in.

Laura’s ears flicked, and she turned her head. Bourbon sighed, and followed her gaze to the black Checker Marathon pulling into the driveway. Laura leaned over and whispered, “is that him?”

“It’s TJ,” he said. “Not him.”

“Oh.” Laura’s shoulders slumped.

TJ got out of the car and started up the path to the front porch.

Bourbon stood, pulling the blankets up with him. Laura followed.

“So…”

“Yeah.”

She held herself and tried not to look at him, and then she hugged him. “You can’t leave.”

“I’ll be a block away. Don’t forget that.”

“I can come hang out, right?”

“Yeah,” Bourbon said, looking down at her.

“Cause, you’re still my big brother, even if mom and dad don’t think so, so you have to help me if I need it.”

Bourbon nodded.

“And protect me from boys,” she said.

Bourbon laughed. “I think you’ll be fine. You’re a lot smarter than when I was when I was you’re age.”

Laura beamed up at him. They went inside, and helped TJ move Bourbon’s things to the car.