Page 21 of Painted

They took a long, steadying breath into the silence of the ended call, closing their eyes for a moment and letting themself feel proud of the incredibly difficult thing they’d just done.

“Good for you,” Rebecca called from the front of the office, as if she agreed they’d been brave.

Early smiled again and headed back into the front of the office. “It’s about time both my parents learn I’m not a kid anymore,” they said. “I meant what I said when I said most people have already moved out of the house by now.”

Rebecca grinned. “I’ll put in a word with Dad to see that you get a raise.”

Early laughed, partly from the giddiness of standing up for themself that rushed through them. “You don’t have to go that far.”

“You definitely deserve it,” Rebecca argued.

“We’ll see,” Early said, a slight skip in their step as they headed out the office door again. “I don’t know why I came in here,” they said. “The meeting was just ending, and I need to clean up the conference room.”

“See?” Rebecca said as they headed back across the front hall. “Raise! You absolutely need a raise.”

Maybe they did. Maybe they deserved a lot of things they hadn’t been willing to let themself consider before.

Those thoughts were clipped short as Rhys came striding across the hall, heading straight for the front door. They weren’t sure if he saw them, although considering the way things had been between them for the last few days, Rhys probablyhadseen them. He seemed like he was on a mission of some sort, though, so Early let him pass without stopping him to say hi. What would they say to him anyhow? It was the middle of the day on a Thursday, and they all had work to do.

They headed back down the hallway toward the meeting room as a few other family members stepped out and went theirown ways. Robert and Janice were still in the room, talking to Mr. Flint, when Early went in and started tidying the tea things.

“Oh, you,” Mr. Flint spoke up, snagging Early’s attention. “Mr., er, Ms.?”

“You can call me Early,” Early said, still feeling empowered from their phone call.

“Yes, Early,” Mr. Flint said, sending Robert and Janice a quick look, then breaking away from them to approach Early. “I just wanted to apologize if there were any misunderstandings.”

Early found it far easier to keep smiling than they would have thought. They nodded to Robert and Janice, as if to let them know they were okay, then focused on Mr. Flint again.

“No harm was done,” they said. “I understand that it’s difficult to get used to new things.”

“Yes, it is,” Mr. Flint agreed with a nervous smile. “I just wanted to say…sorry.” He peeked over his shoulder at Robert and Janice, who were whispering to each other.

“It’s fine,” Early said.

It probably wasn’t. They definitely had the feeling Mr. Flint was apologizing for show. But it didn’t matter. They were proud of themself for being the bigger person, and the Hawthornes would be proud, too.

“Well done,” Janice even whispered to them, patting their arm as they headed out of the room, taking Mr. Flint with them.

It was amazing. After so many things had gone wrong for so long, everything seemed to be coming up roses. Early smiled and even hummed to themselves as they quickly tidied the meeting room. Their life had taken such a turn since taking a stand and leaving home. It absolutely wasn’t supposed to turn out that way for any confused queer kid who got kicked out of the house, but there they were.

Once the meeting room was set to right and they headed back to the office, it was nearly ten o’clock.

“Was Rhys back there in the meeting room?” Rebecca asked as soon as Early entered the office.

“No, he headed outside when the meeting ended,” they said.

Rebecca hummed and nodded, like she knew what that was all about. “Well, he has a class in a few minutes. You do, too.”

Early sucked in a breath. They’d completely forgotten about the second session of posing for Rhys’s live model class. It was on Mondays and Thursdays, and they had about ten minutes to get their head in the right space.

“Rhys hasn’t come back inside yet?” they asked, feeling strangely giddy and shaky at the idea of getting naked in public again.

“Not that I’ve seen,” Rebecca said.

“I’ll go fetch him.”

Early headed out of the office yet again. They felt like they hadn’t had a second to stop and simply be still all morning. Too many things had been happening, both in terms of work and inside them. They liked the sense of movement, though. It made them feel like they were making progress, like they could conquer the world.

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