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To say that Drew Tanaka was a girl of simple wants was, in general, a lie. She wanted what she wanted and she wanted it exactly the way she wanted it, and if she didn’t get it, she did her best to make that a problem for as many people as possible. She was stubborn and self-centered, and she had no interest in changing anything any time soon. She figured that as the eldest of five half-siblings in a single-parent household, she’d earned the right to put her foot down and make sure she got her way whenever possible.
But sometimes her wants were genuinely simple. Sometimes, she wanted to work on a school project and get something done instead of sitting on Chiara’s bed and scowling death at her while her lab partner texted her boyfriend for three hours straight. Barring that, she wanted to have dinner at a reasonable time instead of showing up at a near-stranger’s six and being told that dinner was served at 4:30 every day and snacks weren’t allowed. Barring that, she wanted to shove copious amounts of junk food in her face and pass out on her bed while her favorite episode of The Gilded Age played in the background.
Unfortunately, this was one of the irritatingly frequent times where Drew didn’t get her way. Instead, she was driving through a torrential downpour at 10:00 at night on a Thursday, hungry and ticked off because Chiara had wasted her damn time and hadn’t even had the common decency to feed her. And now, of course, she was stuck at a red light that seemed like it was programmed to last forever while she let all zero of the other cars on the road take their well-deserved turn.
She scowled out the window at the empty street when she noticed a bus shelter at the corner. More specifically, there was someone sitting on the bench, fruitlessly huddled against the rain, which Drew thought was odd, seeing as the city buses quit running at 9:30 on weekdays. She squinted a little harder at the uncomfortably small form for a moment before she felt a rock solidify in her gut. She knew those curls and chicken limbs from all the times Piper had insisted on her “very best friend in the whole world” spending the night at their house. Drew knew, without a doubt, that she was staring at the one and only Leo Valdez.
You should help him, a kind voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like her step-father suggested. For a moment, she thought about it. She knew she should do it. The right thing to do would be to get out of the car and usher the twelve-year-old child to safety and shelter. Any decent person would, even if it meant getting her socks uncomfortably wet and delaying her already late dinner. She had almost convinced herself.
Then, the light turned green, and Drew Tanaka drove away.
That should have been the end of it. Drew made her choice, she was going home to take care of the single most important person in her life. She did not need her snot-nosed little sister’s snot-nosed friend throwing a wrench into what remained of her evening. She just didn’t. She didn’t even like Leo.
But every second she spent driving down the street seemed to stretch on into eternity. She felt guilt and shame gnawing at her insides, which didn’t make sense because nobody would even know. She was alone, Leo hadn’t looked up to see her car, and even if he had the rain was so heavy he would have had a hard time recognizing her. But she would know. She would know that she’d left a child stranded in a thunderstorm all so she could mostly ignore a TV show about some railroad tycoon from the 1880s and shovel popcorn in her mouth. And, tragically, even Drew wasn’t that selfish.
“God damn it!” she whined to no one in particular as she made the next right turn so she could circle the block. “I don’t want to!”
Apparently, some part of her did want to, though, because she made another three right turns (all miraculously green lights, of course) and within a few minutes she was pulling up in front of that bus shelter again. Leo still didn’t bother to look up, and for a moment she desperately pleaded with herself to just drive off before he did. Then she sucked in a frustrated breath and rolled down her window. “Valdez!”
The sudden sharp bark of his name got Leo’s attention, and he startled so bad that the tattered duffel bag he’d been curled around fell to the ground right into a puddle. Drew felt a bit bad about that, but any sympathy she had soured when Leo looked up and made a face when he realized who had called him. “What do you want?”
To go home and leave you here, Drew thought miserably. Instead she just ordered, “Get in the car.”
Leo scoffed. “Yeah, right. I saw what you did to Piper’s hairbrush last week. You’re not getting me to a secondary location.”
Drew narrowed her eyes at him, and that selfish part of her offered one final desperate plea. See? He doesn’t even want our help. Let’s leave. But she didn’t have time to drive off and let her conscience win for a second time, so she just shrugged. “Have it your way. Heads up, though, I passed a cop a couple blocks back, and I doubt he’s going to be quite as obliging if you try to refuse his ride.”
That was a lie, Drew hadn’t seen anyone at all on the road, but it worked because Leo’s eyes widened and he was immediately scrambling to get in the passenger seat. Drew felt her temple throb when she thought about how much she’d spent on getting her car detailed, only to invite a sopping pre-teen to sit on it less than a week later. Whatever. She pulled out onto the street and tried to focus on anything else.
That’s when Drew actually got a good look at Leo. Even through her peripheral, she could tell that he didn’t look good. He was paler than he should be, completely skin and bones, and there were dark circles under his eyes. Even more damning, there was a dark bruise forming on his cheekbone. Drew wasn’t stupid. She knew that not all foster families were perfect, and some were far worse than that. Based on the way Piper talked about Leo’s foster mom, who was only ever referred to with the venomous title of Theresa, Drew was pretty confident that she fell into the second category. Then she noticed Leo shivering, trembling from his hairline to his probably third-hand shoes. She chewed on her lower lip and drummed her perfectly manicured nails on the steering wheel before she reached over and turned the heater to full blast.
Leo’s face twisted up with something that looked a lot like shame, and he curled in on himself. “You don’t have to do that.”
“What? Too hot to handle?” Drew mocked. “Hate to break it to you, but sweating clears my pores. If you don’t like it, you’re more than welcome to get out.”
“No, that’s not– I just–” Leo made a rough, frustrated sound in the back of his throat and scowled out the window. “Whatever. Forget about it.”
Drew rolled her eyes, but her shoulders relaxed. This version of Leo was annoying, but he made her less antsy than the sad, shrunken one that got in her car did. “Where do you want me to take you? What the hell were you even doing outside at this time of day anyway? Don’t you have a curfew or something?”
Leo instantly bristled, turning on her like an alley cat, teeth bared. “None of your business!”
Drew bared her teeth right back and for a moment she almost insisted he get out or decked him in the face. Then she remembered that his face was already bruised up, so she just rolled her eyes and focused back on the road. “Whatever. It’s not like I actually care. You can just sit there and wind up on the wrong side of town, if you want. Makes no difference to me.”
Leo watched her suspiciously, but she was true to her word and continued to drive without another question. When they wound up at yet another interminable red light, she pulled out her phone and started texting, completely ignoring him.
Me:
r u working 2nite?
From: Goose
depends on who’s asking
i can ditch if she’s cute ;)
im asking dumbass
bummer
well in that case…
no sorry i’m working all night
ur so fkn annoying i stg
watever
im gonna b there in like 5
ring me up 4 a mcflurry when i order
do NOT say anything abt it
make it look like ur idea
oh??
any reason?
none of ur business just do it
fine but you owe me
you owe me double if my boss gets mad
fine
watever just do it
add an extra burger 2
ma’am yes ma’am o7
A few minutes later, Drew clicked on her blinker and Leo frowned as they pulled into a McDonald’s. “What are we doing here?”
“Well, I’m getting dinner. My stupid lab partner and her dad eat dinner stupid early so I’m starving,” she said flatly. She looked Leo up and down, nose wrinkled. “You can eat, too, I guess. Babies like you eat Happy Meals, right? Or are you some kind of vegetarian like Piper?”
Leo rolled his eyes and looked out the window. “Happy Meal’s fine.”
Drew pulled up to the menu, and as expected, Goose’s voice came over the intercom. “Welcome to McDonald’s. How are you this fine evening?”
“Six piece chicken nugget meal with a Sprite, honey mustard sauce,” Drew rattled off. “And a hamburger Happy Meal with extra fries and, um,” she trailed off, looking at Leo expectantly.
Leo looked startled at being addressed before he muttered his answer of, “Sweet tea.”
“And a sweet tea,” Drew repeated. Nothing appeared on the screen for a moment, and she grit her teeth. “Goose…”
“Whoops, sorry about that!” Goose’s voice chirped back. “Looks like I had my mic off. Run that by me one more time, Ms. Barrymore.”
“I hate you,” Drew huffed. “I said I want a six piece nugget meal with honey mustard and a Sprite and a hamburger Happy Meal with extra fries and a sweet tea. Did you manage to catch it that time, or should I come in there and do your job for you?”
“Well, I’d pay to see you actually work for once in your life so…”
“Goose!”
“So sensitive,” Goose scoffed. “Six piece nugget with honey mustard and a Sprite and a cheeseburger Happy Meal with extra fries and a sweet tea. Anything else?”
That wasn’t actually what she ordered, but whatever. “That’s it.”
“Cool. Total will be at the second window.”
When Drew pulled around, she found Goose waiting for her, chin in his hand and a stupid smarmy grin on his face. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Just give me my total, dumbass.”
“Twenty dollars and twenty five cents.”
Leo made an aghast sound at the total, so Drew narrowed her eyes in feigned suspicion. “That’s bullshit.”
Goose put his hands up in surrender. “Look, I get paid eleven bucks an hour. I don’t set the prices.”
“Fine,” she huffed, handing over her card.
Within a few minutes, Goose was handing her their drinks, a brown bag of food and her card. She made out like she was going to drive off, but he stopped her, presenting the Oreo McFlurry with wildly unnecessary flourish. “Last thing!”
Drew scowled, took the clandestine ice cream, and lied through her teeth, “I didn’t order this.”
“I know,” Goose grinned. “I took the liberty of adding it for you. You’re welcome.”
Drew’s jaw dropped in a show of indignant fury. “Goose!”
“You already paid for it, princess! It’s too late!” Goose cackled before shutting the window right in her face.
Drew growled under her breath and pulled out of the parking lot, shoving the McFlurry at Leo. “Take this.”
Leo cautiously took the burden from her, eyebrows arched. “Uh, are you sure about that?”
“Well, I’m not fucking eating it.”
“Suit yourself,” Leo muttered with a shrug. “So, what was that all about?”
“Goose is a bastard,” she informed him with another eye roll. “He’s always pulling bullshit like this. I’m gonna kick his ass at school tomorrow.”
“Sounds like he gives you a hard time,” Leo snickered, shoveling a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.
Drew huffed and stuck out her chest in pride. “I give him a hard time right back. Hand over the chicken.”
“What’s the magic word?”
“Now.”
“Close enough,” Leo muttered as he started rifling through the bag. “Uh, it looks like he charged you for an extra burger, too.”
Drew rolled her eyes. “Naturally. Bastard. Now, give me my food.”
Leo handed over her nuggets,but when he tried to give her the burger, she just glared at him until he stuffed it in his Happy Meal box. They ate in a silence broken only by the sound of one of Spotify’s stupidly niche playlists. Drew just kept driving, taking turns at random and not saying a word. Leo was about halfway through his second burger when he finally broke the silence. “So, uh, what are you doing out this late?”
“We really, really don’t have to do the whole small talk thing. Just saying,” Drew drawled. “But if you must know, I was over at Chiara’s house for a lab report we have to turn in on Monday. She was fucking useless all night, so I’m going to have to cancel my plans so we can work on it over the weekend. Now I’m avoiding going home because I know for a fact that Piper’s going to be up playing that stupid Pokemon game on the TV in her room and I can hear it through the wall.”
Leo perked up at that. “Which gen is she playing?”
“Like I know,” Drew scoffed. “All that shit’s the same to me.”
“Wow, you’re so useful.”
“More useful than Chiara and her waste of space boyfriend.”
Leo snorted out a hastily aborted laugh, then stared out the window so Drew couldn’t see his grin. Like she even needed to see it. They pulled to a stop at a red light, and Drew grabbed her phone.
From: Goose
what was w/ the kid?
that was Pipe’s friend yeah?
Me:
ya
long story
is it an INTERESTING story?
u’ll find out 2mrw
awwwwwwww
shut up
dnt u hv a job
only when i want to
watever
also thx 4 playing along
no prob
i’ll even count this as a freebie
i dnt need ur charity
you don’t but someone does
Drew stuck her phone back down in its slot in the center console and cast a glance over at Leo. He was still too skinny and bruised, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that. His cheeks had more color in them and he wasn’t shivering any more as he sipped on his sweet tea and traced a raindrop down the window, undoubtedly smudging the glass with his food-greasy finger. Whatever.
She heaved a sigh, and focused on the road again. “Alright, last call. Where do I need to drop your loser ass off? I’m getting tired of you stinking up my car.”
Leo froze and Drew thought that maybe he’d bristle up like he had before, so she made sure her expression stayed just as bored and disinterested as ever. Leo stayed silent, curling in on himself and gnawing on his plastic straw like that would help him somehow. Drew didn’t ask again or even look at him, she just kept driving. When he finally answered her, his voice was tiny. “I don’t have anywhere for you to take me.”
That got Drew’s attention, and before she could stop herself, she had her brow furrowed, scowling at Leo. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Leo shrugged, trying to look casual like he’d just professed to not liking ranch dressing or something equally banal. “I just… don’t have anywhere to go. Theresa kinda… kicked me out for the night, and the YMCA I usually stay at is closed for renovations.”
Drew’s ears were ringing. The YMCA he usually stayed at. He’d said it so casually, like it was nothing but a practiced routine for him. Like it was normal. She had to ignore that, though and focus on the moment. “You mean to say you’re homeless?”
“I’m not homeless!” Leo said defensively. “Theresa said I can go back tomorrow after school, she just had plans tonight and needed me out of the house.”
“Oh, because that makes it so much better,” Drew said, shoving down near-hysterical laughter. What the fuck. What the fuck? What was wrong with that woman? Drew had been practically eaten alive with guilt at the thought of ignoring a child in danger and that woman had been the one to callously put him there. And Leo was defending her! Drew had half a mind to call Piper and demand Theresa’s address so she could go kick down the door and discuss some parenting methods, ideally with her sneaker grinding into Theresa’s nose.
That’s not what Leo needs, her stepfather’s voice reminded her gently. She glanced over to see that Leo was curled up even more defensively, eyes bright with something like fear and hand twitching for the door handle. Drew sucked in a sharp breath, told herself to get a grip and shrugged. “Fine then.”
Leo looked at her suspiciously, still bristled for a fight that wasn’t coming. “What’s fine?”
“I’m going home,” she announced. “I’ll give you a ride there, but you’re going to have to figure out your own way from there.”
Leo stared at her for a moment, eyes and mouth a trio of perfect little ‘o’ shapes before he cleared his throat and looked out the window. “Uh, yeah, that’s fine, I guess. I’ll just… figure it out.”
“You are gonna have to go inside when we get there, of course,” Drew hummed. “I’m not dealing with Piper if she finds out that I brought you to the house and didn’t let you talk to her. She can tell you about her dumb game or whatever.”
Leo looked more than a little terrified at the idea, but he still gulped and nodded. “Um, uh, yeah. Yeah, okay. I can talk to her for a bit.”
Fortunately, they were already pretty close to the house (Drew realized that in her “random” driving, she’d been subconsciously heading home) so Leo didn’t have time to chicken out. She parked, turned off the car, and looked at Leo, completely deadpan. “Race you inside.” Then she flung open her door and ran for the porch, leaving Leo squawking his protest in her soggy dust.
“That was cheating,” Leo scowled when he finally made it to the front door. “I had to get my bag and you had a head start. You cheated.”
“Sounds like something a sore loser would say,” Drew sneered, pushing the door open. “Get in.” She followed him inside, and as soon as she did, she made a show of locking the door and kicking off her shoes. “Put your stuff here. I certainly don’t need you dripping all over the house. I vacuumed last night.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Leo dismissed, hanging up his coat on the hook and toeing off his sopping wet shoes. After a minute, he wrinkled his nose and took his socks off too. Good choice.
Drew led the way to the living room where they were met with the sight of Tristan’s favorite recliner spinning around dramatically to show a very smug-looking Piper. “You’re late,” she said with obvious satisfaction. “You were supposed to be home, like, an hour ago.”
“And you were supposed to be in bed an hour ago, but you don’t see me snitching about it when you stay up playing video games, do you?” Drew shot right back. “Now shut up and go get your pull out bed set up.”
Piper’s face puffed up, clearly displeased that she’d gotten such a subdued reaction for her practiced dramatics. “What? Why do you want me to do something dumb like that?”
Drew stepped to the side, unveiling Leo, who’d been practically hiding behind her the whole conversation. “Uh, hi?”
“Leo?” Piper squawked. She looked between him and Drew probably close to a hundred times in three seconds. “Why do you have Leo?”
“None of your business until someone who’s not me bothers to tell you,” Drew said. “Now. Go. Set. Up. The. Bed.”
Piper’s eyes suddenly widened with horror and she scrambled down the hall. “Wait! Don’t come in! My room’s a mess!”
Drew snorted, then glanced down at Leo, who was also smothering a grin. She gestured down the hall towards the slammed door. “Well? What are you waiting for?”
“Piper said her room was a mess.”
“That sounds like a her problem. I told her to get it picked up this weekend and she ignored me. If she’s gonna be a freak about people seeing her mess, she shouldn’t make one in the first place”
Leo grinned and took a few steps and then froze. Before Drew could even think to ask what his problem was, he’d darted right back, arms wrapped around her in a tight, soggy hug. “Thank you,” he said, voice tiny and soft.
Drew was stiff as a board, but before she could come up with something unpleasant to say, Leo was taking care of it, backing away from her, shaking his hands and gagging loudly. “Gross. That never happened.”
Drew rolled her eyes and flipped him off. “Whatever, Valdez. Now, go bother Piper or something.”
Leo’s face lit up and he nodded, tearing down the hall. Drew heard Piper’s scandalized shouts and Leo’s laughter, and she was suddenly very glad that hers and Piper’s rooms were so far from Mitchell, Valentina, and Lacy’s. She didn’t want to be the one responsible for coaxing a cranky Lacy back to sleep.
That left just one person. Drew steeled her nerves and headed into her stepfather’s study, knocking on the heavy door as she went in. “Uh, Tristan?”
Tristan looked up from his computer, glasses perched at the end of his nose, and he smiled at her. “Drew. Glad you’re home. Have you had dinner yet?”
Drew nodded. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“Don’t worry about staying out past curfew,” he said. “Things happen, I understand. Try to text me next time, though.”
“It’s not about that. Well, I mean, it’s kinda related, but not exactly.” Tristan just waited patiently for her so she took a deep breath. “Leo’s in Piper’s room right now. He’s spending the night.”
Tristan froze and his face fell. “Ah.”
“I just– I couldn’t leave him,” she said. “I was driving home and I saw him sitting alone at a fucking bus shelter in the rain, so I picked him up and got him some food. I was gonna take him home, but he said he’d been kicked out, so I just–” Drew cut herself off, horrified to realize that her vision was getting a little blurry, so she swallowed thickly and squared her jaw. “He didn’t have anywhere to go, so I brought him here. Sorry if that messes things up or something.”
“No, no, you did the absolute right thing,” Tristan assured her. He suddenly looked like he’d aged ten years, but he still smiled at her. “Thank you for taking care of the situation.”
Drew nodded again, and that should have been the end of it, but she felt rooted to the ground. “Can’t we do something?”
Tristan sighed and dragged a hand down his face. “I’m afraid it’s not that simple. Leo’s in a delicate situation and we can’t just–”
“She hit him, Tristan!” Drew interrupted sharply. Her eyes were stinging again, but she didn’t pay any attention to it. “He’s a fucking middle schooler and she sent him out into the fucking rain with nothing. That’s-That’s not right! She should have to pay for that!”
Tristan pursed his lips, and stood. He slowly circled the desk and pulled Drew in for a hug. She didn’t return it, she never did, hadn’t since she was six, but she pressed her face into his shirt, furiously pretending that any dampness was from the rain. “I know,” he said softly. “It’s not fair, and it’s not right. But I need you to trust me and know that I’m doing what I can, okay? It’s going to take a long time, but nights like this are the best thing we can do for him right now.”
“It doesn’t feel like I did much of anything.”
Tristan chuckled and pulled her back so that she could clearly see the full force of his beaming pride. “Oh, Drew. Tonight meant more to Leo than a thousand acts of vengeance ever could.”
Drew sniffled. Tristan’s office was always so dusty and it messed with her allergies. “Okay. I’ll just do the stupid little things. You promise you’re fixing it, though, right?”
“I promise,” he swore. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “Now, go to bed. I’m going to let you and Piper skip school tomorrow, but you don’t need to be messing with your sleep schedule too much, okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I hear you,” she sighed. She turned to leave the room, but paused at the door, offering him a rare smile. “G’night, Tristan.”
“Good night, Drew.”
With that, Drew made her way back to her room. She quickly washed her face, brushed her teeth, and braided her hair for bed. As she laid there in the dark between her clean sheets and beneath her warm, heavy quilt, she heard noise filtering into the silence from Piper’s room. The sound of cheesy video game music and monster cries. Then, mixed into it, she heard laughter and voices that were too hushed to be made out, but too loud to be whispers. She’d heard that soundscape many, many times over the years, and she waited for the familiar irritation to bubble up in her chest, but it never came. Maybe they were quieter than usual, maybe she’d finally gotten used to it. Whatever it was, she just rolled over and cozied deeper into her blankets, content to just let them play while her good mood lasted.
That night, she fell asleep with a smile on her face.