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1
Betsy had been fostering Andrew for about nine months the first time she left him for a couple hours with a babysitter, she was a sweet 22-year-old named Riley that had lived next door to Betsy for almost a decade, she was really patient, she loved kids and had been working as a babysitter since she was 15, but even though she trusted her, Betsy was still a little nervous to leave Andrew at the care of anyone that wasn’t herself for the first time.
Not because she thought other people were incapable or because Andrew wasn’t a good kid, but because Andrew was still adjusting and he had been through a lot so she was a little concerned, but she had managed to feed Andrew his dinner, and left him watching a movie and basically ready for bed before she had to leave so she tried to stay positive.
So, when she was on her way home and received the call, she wasn’t entirely surprised but her positivity was promptly crushed. As soon as she answered the call, she could hear Andrew’s screaming voice calling for her in the background.
“Betsy?” Riley said, clearly agitated “I’m sorry to bother you, but I don’t really know what else to do, Andrew isn’t hurt or anything, he just woke up from a nightmare, I think, he had a pee accident so I tried to make him take a shower and he started screaming and kicking and hitting, I really can’t get him to calm down, I’m afraid he might make himself sick, so I just thought it was better to call you”
“I’m almost home Ry, hang on, it’s okay, I’ll be there in less than five minutes” She hurried the rest of the way and as soon as she entered her home, she could hear her son upstairs, wailing; ‘Bee, Bee!!’, she basically ran upstairs to find Riley in the bathroom with a really distressed Andrew, when the babysitter saw her, she said;
“I think he had a nightmare; he went to bed fine but he woke up screaming and had an accident, I managed to get him to the bathroom but when I told him to shower, he refused and started screaming and crying, I don’t know what happened and I can’t get him to calm down, I’m sorry”
“Okay, it’s okay Riley, I’ll take it from here” She knocked on the door softly before he entered even though he was calling desperately for her.
“Hey Andrew, I’m back, honey” she said soothingly, observing her son, he was still wearing his pee soaked pajamas, his hair was a disaster; probably because he had been pulling it and his face was red and covered in snot and tears, she spoke calmly, trying not to spook him more, “I’m right here” The wailing went down a notch when he saw her but he kept shaking and crying and hiccupping, Betsy wanted to embrace him so badly, but Andrew rarely wanted to be touched, she still offered “Can I touch you?”
“No!” Andrew whined, she wanted to take him out of the bathroom, she didn’t know what had triggered him but the place couldn’t be helping, but first he had to calm down a bit.
“Okay, I won’t touch, can you take a deep breath with me? She demonstrated a couple times with Andrew trying to imitate her, after a couple of minutes he had calm down somewhat, at least he had stopped wailing.
“I-I had an-an accident” he said and his lip started to wobble again.
“That’s okay Drew, we all have accidents, we’ll just clean up and everything will be just fine, do you want me to go get you some clean pajamas so you can change?” Andrew shook his head, “Okay, do you want to take a shower so you can go back to bed?”
“No!” Andrew whined and took a step back, out of her reach “No, no, no, no, no.”
“Okay” She said, trying to remain calm, having your kid panicked was completely different than having a patient panic, she felt so nervous herself, “Can you tell me why don’t you want to take a shower?” Andrew generally enjoyed bath time. He took his hand to his mouth, clearly wanting to suck on his fingers but stopped himself, he looked at his soaked socked feet.
“The drain stopper… broke”
“Right” she said, feeling a little lost, the stopper had broken the day before. Andrew rarely wasted his words on meaningless talk so she knew she was probably missing something there, it wasn’t like the drain was going to swallow Andrew… so what else could he mean, she concentrated for a couple more moments when it hit her “You don’t want to take a shower, you want to take a bath!”
Andrew lifted his head, wide eyed, and nodded.
“Oh, honey” She sighed, relieved “If you want to, you can use the bath tub in my bathroom, would you like to do that?” her son nodded again. “Great, I’ll get you fresh pajamas and change your shits while you’re at it, does that sound okay? He nodded again and quietly followed her to her bathroom. When he closed the bathroom door with Andrew calmly taking his bath, her legs almost gave up, sometimes, the smallest things made Andrew have astronomic reactions, logically she knew that it was exactly how trauma worked but her heart still hurt for her baby.
To her relief and surprise Riley had already changed the shits and covers on Andrew’s bed and everything looked fresh and clean again.
“I’m so sorry, Betsy” she said again, looking genuinely devastated.
“No, it’s okay, he’s still adapting, you did everything you could, thank you for helping with the clean-up, you lifted a weight off of my shoulders”
“Anytime”.
A few minutes after Riley had left, Andrew came out if the bathroom looking much more calm, clean and sleepy.
“Hey honey, ready for bed?” Andrew tensed again and shook his head. Right, he had had nightmare, Betsy didn’t know the extent of her son’s trauma but the signs of abuse were clearly there, even though Andrew didn’t want to go back to sleep he was basically dropping on his feet, it was past midnight at that point, and he had tired himself out with that big meltdown. So, Betsy tried the next best thing. “How about I bring you some warm milk in a sippy cup and we can read together in the rocking chair?”
Andrew nodded, looking at her with big honey-tired eyes, without losing any time, Betsy warmed some milk and she put a little chocolate syrup on it.
Then she sat in the rocking chair of her bedroom and handed Andrew his sippy cup, she had discovered early on that Andrew could tolerate and actually enjoy physical contact if it meant he could rock on the chair with Betsy so they had made a routine of reading books on the chair together.
She opened her arms and lifted Andrew on her lap and the boy happily cuddled close to her, slowly sipping on his milk, Betsy had read less than half a page when she realized Andrew was already asleep. She looked at her little boy, so small for his age yet he had had to face so much in life already, as a psychiatrist she thought for a moment that his particular behavior might’ve not only be the product of trauma but after a moment she decided that she refused to diagnose her son, it was biased and unethical, they simply would face the challenges has they came.
2
Andrew had been living with Betsy for a little over a year, when they were walking to the mall on a pretty spring morning, they were going to have lunch and watch a movie, before she started fostering him, Andrew had never been to the movies, now he was a little expert at almost nine years old.
Over the past year he had opened up to her tremendously, he would hold her hand when he was scared, read next to her when she was working from home, and he’d even sleep with her when he had nightmares, the progress he had made on school was also huge, she could visibly see him learning new things every day, she was so proud of him.
Occupied with her train of thought, it took her a moment to realize that Andrew wasn’t right next to her anymore, instantly worried, she turned around to look for him, only to find him a few steps behind; looking intensely at a parked car on the street.
“Drew?” She said, and got no answer, “Andrew?” She repeated
“It’s a 2007 Maserati Quattroporte” He sounded a bit breathless, Betsy smiled, Andrew rarely showed interest in anything, but now he looked almost hypnotized, “It can go as fast as 168 miles per hour, and it goes from 0 to 60 in 5.5 seconds!”
“Wow, that’s very fast” She agreed, she had no idea how her son knew all of this at the top of his mind “Do you like it?” As soon as she asked, Andrew snapped his mouth shut so fast it looked painful. He looked away from the shiny new car and shrugged, keeping quiet.
“Let’s keep going” He finally said, taking her hand and directing her away from the shiny black car, Betsy was a bit sad that she had seemingly ruined the experience for her son but she was mostly confused of what exactly had happened.
They walked a few more blocks in silence until she finally had an idea.
“Hey Drew, I was thinking, before de movie we can go the toy store and look around for a bit, if you want to” Andrew looked at her, wide eyed for a moment
“I’ve never been to a toy store before” he said and Betsy wanted to hit herself.
The past year had been a really big adjustment for them, she had tried to provide and love Andrew to the best of her ability, she had tried to give him everything he might need and also things he might just want but Andrew rarely, if ever, expressed his desire for stuff, too used to never get what he wanted, too used to being ignored.
Betsy had learned that he enjoyed reading and was way above his age level, he loved the rocking chair at home and the swing on the porch, he liked everything that was sweet and he preferred his food if it was wet somehow, but all of those things she had discovered by observing Andrew, not because he had told her anything.
She was just realizing that going to a freaking toy store would’ve been a good place to start, just walk around and let Andrew pick something he liked, she should’ve done this sooner. Being a mother was a lot of ‘I’m not doing enough’ and ‘I could’ve done this better’ but she knew she shouldn’t beat herself about it. They were here now and it was okay.
“Well,” She said, smiling “Today can be your first time, would you like to go?” Andrew, bit his lip as if considering his options
“Yes, Bee” He whispered to her, as if admitting a secret.
When they finally got to the toy store Andrew held her hand a bit tighter, he was clearly feeling somewhat overwhelmed, there were other kids running around and of course lots and lots of toys, bright colors and lights.
They looked around for a bit, and eventually Andrew let go of her hand and started to touch and try some of the toys, he didn’t seem particularly interested on anything specific, until she heard a barely audible gasp.
“Mom look! It’s a 1969 plymouth roadrunner” he said, pointing to a little collectable Hot Wheel’s car.
Andrew calling her ‘mom’ was still new and it send a pang of warmth through her heart every time she heard it.
“We can get it if you want to” Looking at the price she realized the little cars where only a couple dollars so she added “You can pick five and maybe it can be the start of a collection”
“Really?” he asked with a mixture of apprehension and naked hope.
“Yes, you can even open one of them right after we pay” Andrew smiled at her like never before and in that moment, she would’ve spent every penny she had on her, in tiny cars if they were going to make her kid this happy.
After she paid, she took Andrew to the quietest place she could find at the mall and knelt in front of him to be at his height, she gave him his goody bag and spoke in a very serious tone
“This is yours, Andrew, and no one, no adult and no other kid will ever take it away from you, not even me, these are for you to keep, yes?” Andrew smiled softly
“Yes mom, I believe you, these are mine”
That day Betsy learned just how intensely her son loved cars and that night Andrew fell asleep holding a Hot Wheel in each hand.
3
Andrew was home, sick. Betsy hadn’t sent him to school that morning, instead she had taken him to the doctor’s only to find out he had a pretty bad case of tonsillitis and had to take antibiotics for a week.
Right now, he was laying down on the sofa looking pale and in pain, he’d buried himself under a couple blankets and had the tv on with the sound off, Betsy could tell he was about to doze off so she got him his pills, if he took them now, he would probably wake up feeling a bit better.
“Hey honey” She said softly, her son looked up, “take your pill now, before you fall asleep”
“Pill?” He asked, concerned and the grimaced at the pain
“Yeah, your antibiotic”
“I thought it would be a syrup, like cough syrup” he said
“Oh, not anymore, now that you’re a big twelve-year-old you get the adult dose” At that information Andrew got even paler
“But I don’t want to take a pill!”
“Why not?” She asked softly, he usually had a reason for basically everything he did
“I won’t be able to swallow it” He said, looking at the prescription bottle warily
“Well, have you ever tried to swallow one before?”
“No” He mumbled
“Then maybe you should try and see how it goes” He did have to take them twice a day for a week, after all
“No, they’ll make me gag, I don’t wanna puke, I really don’t wanna”
“You won’t” Betsy tried to insist, but Andrew’s eyes instantly filled with tears, when his lip started to wobble, he hid his face under the blanket.
“I will, I won’t be able to swallow the pill, I know it, it’s, it’s… too fat, too big, it’ll make gag, and I’ll end up puking, don’t make me, mom, don’t make me” he said and sniffed loudly, clearly crying. She just wanted her son to feel better, but she wasn’t about to torture him. Andrew wasn’t prone to big emotional outbursts, at least not for the past year or so. He must’ve been feeling really poorly at the moment.
Betsy knelt right in front of him and gently touched the blanket where Andrew’s head was.
“Andrew, can you listen to me for a moment?” He nodded but didn’t come out of his cocoon as he continued to cry, it was okay, she knew he was listening, “I can give you the syrup but you are going to have to take a big amount so it reaches the right dose, and I have to call and check if it’s okay with the doctor, is that a better alternative?”
“Y-yeah” he said still kind of out of breath, and continued to sob under the covers
“Okay, then we can do that, I’ll go call the doc and get the medicine from the kitchen, okay?”
“m’kay” Andrew mumbled.
After she got the ‘all right’ with the doctor and got the medicine, she came back to the living room, her son was still under the blanket.
“I got it Drew, can you sit up for a bit? I promise it’ll make you feel a bit better so you can rest ” She waited patiently for a few bits and Andrew emerged looking pretty miserable, he was pale but flushed with a fever, his eyes blotched and his cheeks were covered in tears. She waited for a moment for Andrew to compose himself but he just continued to silently cry sitting on the couch while rubbing the blanket rhythmically with his hand.
“I-I don’t like being s-sick” he whimpered
“Ow baby” She said soothingly and embraced him tightly, he melted into her chest “I’m sorry you’re feeling so poorly” Andrew started to sob louder and clutched to her tighter “I’m right here baby, I’ve got you, it’s okay” She repeated over and over until Andrew calmed down a little “What do you say if we go lay down on my bed and rest for a bit, I can read to you, if you want to” To her relieve he nodded on her chest.
She got him to take the medicine and they went to her room hand in hand, Andrew was still clutching at his soft light-blue blanket.
She put her son to bed and read to him while he gently rubbed his blanket for a good twenty minutes until he finally felt asleep, clearly exhausted. She kissed his fever hot forehead and thought about how far he had come since they found each other.
4
Betsy was trying not worry but she was definitely a little anxious. She was in the car going to pick up her son from a ‘little get together’ because he had called her and asked to be picked up early.
Andrew, at thirteen years old, wasn’t exactly the most sociable person, but he was part of a friend’s group in school and had a good friend in a sweet girl named Renne, but still, he never really liked crowds, and him calling to be pick up two hours early could mean that something bad had happened.
When she arrived at the birthday girl´s house Andrew was already sitting outside on the from porch, he didn’t seem stressed, or sick as he calmly walked toward the car.
“Hi mom” he said softly and sat on the front sit
“Hello honey, is everything okay, you’re feeling okay?”
“Yeah, it was just boring”
“Yes? They were no fun?” She tried to prompt Andrew a bit without being too over bearing
“No, Renne wanted to be around Alison all the time and she’s smart but stupid at the same time, you know? And the others were just gossiping and talking a lot without actually saying anything, it got old real fast” he said as he fumbled a bit to grab a big hoodie that was laying on the back sit of the car, once he got it and put it on, he seemed to relax a bit more and started playing with the hem of the sleeves.
Andrew was too smart for his age, it wasn’t a secret, but Betsy wondered if all of his intelligence was sometimes a bit of an impediment for him to be around people his age, but at the same time she was happy and relieved that his son trusted her to call her when he wasn’t enjoying himself.
“Well now we have the rest of the afternoon free. How about we go have some ice cream?” Andrew instantly looked up
“At Sweeties?”
“Sure Hon”
“Yeah, okay” he said, smiling
Once they got to their usual ice cream place, they were offered a new flavor: a salted caramel and cookie dough mix that Betsy thought Andrew would love
“You wanna try it, Drew?” Her son bit her lip
“Um, it looks good but, I don’t know, maybe next time, I want my usual brownie fudge” Sometimes it was hard for Andrew to try new things, even if they seemed insignificant.
That day he had already gone to a new environment and got together with a bunch of people he usually didn’t hang out with, so now even though he was clearly curious about the new flavor he chose his usual comfort flavor.
“I’ll ask for it and you can try a few bites if you want to” That got Andrew’s smile to return.
He ended up eating all of his ice cream and most of hers, they ate in comfortable silence until Andrew started to look a bit tired and flinched slightly when a group of loud teens started to cheer for some reason so Betsy knew it was time to go home.
5
Betsy was at the principal’s office of Andrew’s middle school after she had been called because her son had punched another student.
They were currently listening the other kid side of the story, but Betsy was already resigned to a possible suspension because her son (who she was certain had had a reason to punch the kid) had been completely silent from the start and that was a sing that he was probably not going to say a word to defend himself or at all.
“I was simply talking to my friends, minding my own business when out of nowhere, and completely unprovoked, Andrew Dobson hit me” Now that sounded like crap in Betsy’s opinion, her son rarely did anything without a reason.
The principal seemed doubtful as well, she looked at Andrew, for his side of the story but he remained stubbornly quiet.
“Don’t you have anything to say mister Dobson?” Her son shrugged, Betsy almost facepalmed “Andrew, we can’t understand what happened if you don’t tell us” Andrew seemed to weight his options before talking, looking directly at the principal.
“Riko was bullying another student, I was defending them” he simply stated, giving no more details
“That’s not true, ma’am!” Riko interrupted
“I’m not lying” Andrew forcefully said
“Yes, you are! if you’re not then tell us who was I supposedly bullying?” Her son remained quiet, biting his lip, he was not making a great case for himself
“Well?” The principal prompted “Andrew, if you tell us who this student is, we can have a chat with them included and we can figure a solution for this situation” Andrew only shrugged again. “No? Andrew I’m trying to help you here, you are a great student and I know you are a good kid, but if we can’t corroborate your story somehow, I’m going to have to suspend you”
Andrew only bit his lip harder and closed his fists tightly but did say another word.
He got a three-day suspension and weekly visits to the school counselor for two months. The other kid got nothing. Great.
She was really mad; she was sure there was more to the story and she simply didn’t understand why her son hadn’t defend himself at all.
She was so immersed in her thoughts that she didn’t notice what was about to happen in the parking lot.
Before Betsy could even think of doing anything about it, Andrew was hitting the wall with a close fist at full force.
“Andrew, no!” She instinctively cried, her son instantly recoiled, they locked eyes for a few seconds.
“Riko had been bullying Adam for months!” Andrew basically yelled out “Calling him names, pushing him into lockers, hiding his stuff, and now his mom passed away and he made fun of him because he’s probably going to end up in foster care and it’s not right” Betsy could tell that he was getting more and more agitated with each word “He deserved the punch that he got, it wasn’t even that hard, I just had to do something, I’m SO done with his bull shit! But Adam doesn’t want to say anything because it will be worst for him! It’s not fair!” People were starting to stare at them and she knew Andrew wouldn’t feel comfortable with all of the odd looks they were getting, so she gently coaxed him into the car.
As soon as they got in the car Andrew burst into tears. Betsy didn’t start the car o made any sudden movements, she just waited a few seconds to assess the situation, but before she could talk Andrew spoke.
“I’m s-sorry I-I hurt myself” he said breathlessly as he continued to sob, cradling his injured hand.
“I know you are honey; I hear you, you are safe, I’m right here” she said trying to sound calmed and collected even if she didn’t feel like that at all, Andrew kept weeping and cradling his hand, not calming down in the slightest. “Is your hand really bothering you?” The last thing they needed was a broken bone, although it didn’t look that bad, Andrew nodded as he continued to sob “Can I see?” Andrew somehow started to cry louder while shaking his head “OK, we don’t need to check right now, we can check at home, but, can you try to breathe for me please, that’s right, Andrew. You’re doing so good, another one, hold it as long as you can, and out, good honey”
“I’m f-feeling really o-overwhelmed” he mumbled
“Yeah, it was a really overwhelming day for you, we are going to talk about it when you’re feeling better, right now we’re going home and relax for a bit, does that sound okay?”
“Y-yeah” He mumbled, she could clearly tell that Andrew was in no shape to give further explanations, it wasn’t the time or place to talk about what had happened at school, she knew enough for now, at the moment she just wanted to envelop his ‘self-righteous wanna protect anyone and everyone’ son in a big hug but she had to be firm and calm for the time being.
Andrew had managed to calm down a little on the way home but was still crying when they arrived.
Before Betsy could offer more comfort Andrew told her he wanted to be alone for a bit and went to his room.
It was in moments like this that she wondered if she wasn’t doing enough as a mother, even when she rationally knew teenagers were moody and specially, she knew her son, she knew how strong were his beliefs and values, he was a good kid, and she was so proud of him, that certainly didn’t change because he made a mistake or just because he was learning.
So instead of wallowing on the things that make her doubt herself she got up and made the best hot chocolate of the year and waited for her kid to come out of his room in his own time.
Apparently, the smell of hot chocolate lured him out because he was throwing himself at her in a bone crushing hug in just a few minutes, Betsy held her son until she felt him let go and not a second before.
That night they had an early dinner, Andrew let her check on his hand and they feel asleep together on her bed before ten pm. The time to talk will come, but today it was time to understand and to love.
+1
Neil noticed Andrew as soon as he walked into Exy practice, it was his first day at his new school, and of course he was already looking to join the Exy team, he was just watching practice after getting the okay from the coach, when the goalie made an incredible save at the end of the practice match, he immediately jumped out of his sit and ran to the field where the players were taking off their gear to stretch.
“That was insane!!” He told the goalie, startling him a bit, the boy took off his helmet to stare at Neil without saying anything “Hi! I’m Neil, I just moved here with my parents and my brother, I’m joining the Exy Team too!”
“Um, okay” Said the boy, he had ‘Dobson’ on his shirt
“Well, what’s your name?” Neil asked excitedly
“Andrew” The boy mumbled “What position do you play?”
“I’m a striker! My brother Kevin is too, he’s joining the team after Christmas break when he and our dad arrive, we just moved here”
“Cool” Andrew responded with a small smile, they kept talking until their moms picked them up, and Neil was happy to have made his first friend at Palmetto High.
.
Andrew wasn’t like everybody else, Neil noticed pretty quickly, he was cool and indifferent but he also cared so much, he was wicked smart but didn’t talk a lot, he was the best at Exy but didn’t seem to care too much about it.
On Neil’s first week at his new school the entire school had a fire drill, they were all expecting the fire alarm to go off at some point of the day but it was still a bit of a surprise when it did: loud and persistent, everybody had to form lines, and go outside to their designated areas, when Neil turned to see Andrew so they could walk together he saw his new friend standing, frozen with his hands over his ears, looking distressed.
“Come on let’s get out of here” He tugged on Andrew’s sleeve “It’s really loud” Andrew nodded without taking his hands of his ears and the two hurried out, once they were outside, away from the offending sound his friend visibly relaxed “Man, I knew that was coming but it still took me by surprise” Neil commented
“Me too”
“Well, now we wait, oh hey! I got my EarPods, do you wanna listen to some music in the meantime?”
“Yeah” Andrew said, relieved.
Listening to music to relax was something he did with his brother a lot, so it was nice to share that with his new friend.
.
A few days later at lunch time, Neil noticed that Andrew only had a juice box and plain white bread on his tray
“Not hungry?” He asked, Andrew shrugged
“Not really, it’s just, today’s food looks really, um, wet? It’s not my thing” the sloppy joe’s looked just fine to Neil but it was a matter of preference so he shrugged.
“You can take my chocolate muffin if you want, I don’t really like sweet things”
“Really?” Andrew said with more enthusiasm that he had expressed since Neil first met him, he laughed
“Yeah”
“Thanks, Neil” he mumbled softly and proceeded to happily eat tiny pieces of the dessert, Neil smiled to himself.
After that, they became fast friends, and grew closer and closer in the upcoming weeks.
.
Andrew was mad, Neil could tell, he had a pretty neutral face if you didn’t know what to look for but Neil did so, he noticed
“What happened?”
“Fucking teacher is making me redo my English assignment” Andrew answered angrily
“Oh, why?”
“Because apparently, I didn’t do it the right way, but it’s not true! He didn’t say we had to do it that specific way, but apparently ‘it was implied’, homework cannot be ‘implied’ it has to be specific, how would we know the right way to do it otherwise?”
“Well, did somebody else made the same mistake?” Andrew seemed to deflate a bit
“No, just me, but it wasn’t my fault!” That left Neil thinking, he wanted to make his friend happy but he didn’t have sugary ice cream so he offered the next best thing.
“Why don’t you come to my place today so we can jump and decompress?”
“What” Andrew deadpanned; Neil laughed
“I didn’t say that right! We have a trampoline at home! And you haven’t visited my house yet, so I’m inviting you after class, we can work on your assignment and jump in the trampoline for a bit, my brother and I take our energy out like that all the time”
“Oh, I don’t think I have ever jumped in a trampoline before, only bouncy castles but they were too crowded so I didn’t like it”
“Never?! You’re going to love it! What do you say?”
“Okay, yeah” Andrew said relaxing a little bit.
Turns out Andrew ended up absolutely loving jumping on the trampoline, they only got down at dinner time because they were famished and extremely tired but he hadn’t seen Andrew so relaxed and loosed since he’d met him.
.
As their friendship kept growing, Neil noticed more and more little peculiarities that Andrew had, they were things that he knew well, so a few days before his dad and brother were set to finally arrive, he felt ready to have an important talk with Andrew.
“Hey Drew” He said in an unusual serious tone one afternoon, they were hanging out at Andrew’s house “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure” his friend immediately answered
“You know I always talk about my brother Kevin and my dad”
“Yeah, they’re finally coming home next week, right?”
“Yes! I was wondering, well, my brother is a grade higher than me so you’re probably going to share some classes, I was just hoping you could help him adapt a bit once he starts going to school with us”
“Oh… sure! I’m not the most sociable or well-adjusted person in the world but, okay”
“Thank you so much! You’re the one that will understand him the best, it means a lot Drew!”
“Sure? But why will I understand your brother the best, are we similar?”
“Personality wise, not at all” Neil laughed “But he’s autistic, like you” Andrew instantly frowned
“What?” He mumbled
“Oh, was it a secret? I’m sorry, you just… you didn’t seem to hide it, and we’ve become really close, I assumed it was okay to mention it, I’m sorry if I overstepped”
“No, no, wait! What do you mean I’m autistic?”
“You’re not?” Neil asked, confused, he obviously wasn’t an expert but his brother was autistic, he knew the community, back where they lived before, he had a couple autistic friends, and he was good at recognizing patterns so he had just assumed based on observation.
“I don’t think so? I don’t know…” His friend was looking increasingly distressed and Neil knew he messed up but he even so, he didn’t think he was wrong.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed, if you’re not that’s great and if you are that’s also great, you just share quite a few characteristics with my brother and other autistic people I know so that’s why I thought you were, but again I shouldn’t have assumed, I don’t want to scare you or anything like that, there’s nothing wrong with you either way” Neil rambled.
When he was done Andrew didn’t immediately answered, Neil bit his lip nervously, he had only met Andrew a few months prior but they had become fast friends and he didn’t want to lose his friend so soon after finding him.
“There would be nothing wrong me either way?” Andrew asked in a low voice, almost timid
“Nothing” Neil said vehemently, his friend stayed silent a few more moments
“I have… I have always felt different from everybody else, and I thought that maybe it was because of what I went through before I met my mom, but I don’t know, at the same time, it seemed like something different, bigger I could never pinpoint what was different, I just...was”
“Well, maybe we can figure it out together, I can tell you what I know about autism and we can check my parents’ books and research online, and if you’re comfortable with it, we can even ask my brother, what you say? Yes or no?”
“Yes” Andrew simply stated.
.
It took them less than a week to conclude that Andrew was most likely autistic, they were no experts but they were still pretty sure, the one thing that didn’t really made sense was Andrew’s mom, she was a psychiatrist, so she would’ve known, right?
Maybe she knew all along and she didn’t tell Andrew but that seemed unlikely, he had a really good relationship with his mother and he had assured Neil that she wouldn’t have kept something like that from him. So maybe she didn’t know but wasn’t she supposed to know?
It was confusing for both Neil and Andrew but they had gotten to the conclusion that Andrew had to simply ask her about it, he didn’t want to do it alone so Neil obviously volunteered to be there so one afternoon while they were both at Andrew’s home the time came.
“I’m nervous” His friend whispered “What if she doesn’t believe me?”
“She’ll at least listen to you Drew, she always does” Andrew nodded and took a big breath.
They marched to the kitchen where his mother was baking brownies
“Mom?” Andrew called “Can I talk to you for a second?” She immediately looked at them
“Did you guys break something?” Andrew rolled his eyes but the motion looked forced
“No, I wanna tell you something important” Betsy sobered up pretty quickly
“Of course Andrew, what is it?”
“hmm, well…” Andrew looked at Neil, so he offered his hand for moral support, Andrew grasped it tightly “The other day Neil said something to me that got us thinking and we’ve been doing research because I think I might be … that I might be Autistic”
There was a beat of silence where no one was breathing, then out of nowhere Andrew’s mom burst out crying, Andrew flinched and took a step back, but his immediately mom closed the distance between them and enveloped him in a hug. Both boys were utterly confused but Andrew hugged her back just as tight
“Oh baby, I think you might be right” She said
“Is that a bad thing?” his friend asked in the softest most vulnerable voice
“No, of course not Andrew”
“Then, why are you crying?”
“Because I should’ve realized sooner, I should’ve known, I feel like I failed you, Honey”
“What? No, no you didn’t, you’re the best mom, you’re the perfect mom for me” Andrew said in such and honest tone that his mom started to cry again, all the while Andrew was still hugging his mom and clutching Neil’s hand at the same time, he felt a little awkward but for once kept his mouth shut.
His best friend and his mom hugged and talk a bit more which led to Andrew to explain Neil’s involvement the whole situation and Betsy ended up hugging him too.
By the time Neil went home that night he felt lighter and happy to have a friend in someone like Drew.