Page 56 of All I Want Is Love
“Aspen says differently.”
“Aspen is delusional.”
I smile. “If you say that again, I will tell him.”
He looks flustered. “It’s just…” A pause. “There really isn’t much to tell. I liked my work, you know?”
“What did you do?”
“I was into graphic design. Actually, art in general.”
“Aspen told us about your work, but I didn’t know you were an actual artist, too. So, you like to design things?”
“Ilikedit,” he says quietly. “I haven’t been able to hold my graphic pen without a breakdown in months.” He gazes at me as if he is gauging my reaction. What is he expecting to see? My heart sinks. He is probably waiting for me to be disappointed or say something humiliating.
“Like a writer’s block,” I say instead.
“I… I worked for an advertising company, a big one. Everything went well, until it didn’t. One day, I got accused of infringing copyright and stealing funds. I don’t know who started that rumor, but it easily went around, and they evenhad fake proof at the beginning. Police got involved, public prosecution got involved. Everyone got involved,” he talks so fast as if he is scared the words might run away from him. “My boss was on my side and made sure every single testimony and piece of proof got looked at properly. Still, it took months until they found out I was innocent and the evidence was forged. But at that point it didn’t matter anymore.” He looks down at his hands. “I worked for a fancy company, had fancy friends and a fancy apartment,” he says more to himself than to me. “I was shallow.”
“None of that is true,” I say firmly. “You had your dreams, and you worked for them. You relied on people around you, because that’s what we do. You couldn’t anticipate what they would do. This”—I make a gesture to summarize it all—“was impossible to predict. No one imagines starting out in a company just to get their name slandered like that. It’s actually insane.” I pause. “Do you know who did it!?”
“Two guys who were jealous of me. Our boss offered me a promotion, although I was one of the new employees.” He pauses. “It doesn’t matter anymore. I don’t even know what happened to them. I only know that they have a lawsuit going against them.”
We pick our marshmallows off the stick and eat them. They are slightly burnt, but it’s part of the fun. “But that’s not all that happened?”
He shakes his head, his hands tensing. I take one of them into mine, happy when he doesn’t pull them back. “My parents…”
Ah, right. At least I know a bit about them. “Aspen told me about them when he first came into town and we became friends,” I say.
“He did?” He looks up at me.
“Yeah, there was a huge fallout which made him leave everything behind, but you know that already.”
“I do, but I never knew what truly went down between them.”
“I am sure Aspen will tell you if you ask, but it wasn’t pretty,” I say.
“When all of that happened to me, I thought at least my parents would back me up.”
“But they didn’t?” I ask sadly.
He shakes his head. “Dad was furious, and Mom cried. She kept telling me what a failure I am. What did she do to deserve two such useless sons? But that wasn’t the worst.” He recoils again, but this time I have him, making sure to hold him so he knows he is safe. “Dad found out I am gay. He followed me… You know, the noise, the sound of the door...”
“Oh no,” I murmur.
“He didn’t react well.”
I didn’t know much about Leo’s story, just a tiny part of it, because it was what made Aspen book a ticket and fly out to the city to look for his brother. He hadn’t heard from him in days. “Aspen told me a little bit about that,” I say, not wanting to lie to him. “I don’t know any details, but I know he tried to reach you for days, and then he flew off.”
“He might have saved my life,” he admits. “At that point, I was just sitting in my apartment, not able to do anything. I couldn’t even think. Then he came to save me.”
“Wayne, huh?” I ask, quoting the nickname Robin sometimes uses.
This finally draws a smile from him. “Yes, like my superhero.”
“And that’s it,” he says. “Aspen made sure to drag me to a doctor. Meanwhile, the police had cleared my name, but there was no going back anymore for me. I couldn’t. I… apparently, I am suffering from severe burnout and a mental breakdown. Pretty pathetic.”
“Yeah, absolutely pathetic how the people around you treated you,” I say, furrowing my brows. I try to hold my anger in. Leodoesn’t need me angry or upset, he needs me to listen and accept what he is telling me. “It’s fucking unbelievable!”
