should I go or should I stay

Shan wished he lived with Fish's family.

"I'm still... shocked that your Dad is so cool." Shan couldn't get over their hospitality to let him stay.

Fish could talk to his Dad, and he'd told him about Shan's situation at home. Shan's Dad was rather hostile to him, lately. Fortunately, they hadn't had a physical fight.

"Its like, how..how did he know..about you and ..." He didn't want to say the word. It was something he didn't talk about at home because that stirred up trouble. "you know, you were gay."

It was a touchy subject, and he'd never actually talked about it before. Yet, here he was in Fish's room practically taking over. He was sure Fish probably wanted his room back, but Shan really wasn't ready to go home.

"I dunno." Fish winced. "We talked about it when I was kid. It was like he knew before I did." He shrugged. "I think it was more important to him that I just be myself. He's always looked out for me."

Now he was looking out for Shan, too, Fish's dad called Shan's dad. They'd had a serious talk about Shan's education. Shan wasn't sure it did any good. As it was, his step-mom and step-sister moved out, too. His Dad lost his job at the insurance place. Shan did not want to be alone with him, especially when his Dad drank, so they let him stay.

There was graduation to look forward, too. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite as giddy about it as he'd expected. He guessed he was ready be on his own. Except, there was no money to go to the University of Texas, thanks to his Dad using up his college fund. A part of him would feel lost if Fish wasn't around.

His cell buzzed. It was a phone call from Henry's Dad. Shan looked at the number not even sure he wanted to take it, but he felt it must be urgent.

"Have you seen Henry?"

 Shan felt his stomach do a flip-flop when he heard a father's concern. Henry didn't come home last night. "Do you have any idea where he might be?"

Shan set down on Fish's bed ready to crumble. He told Henry's dad to check at Cedric's.

"There's..there is this guy, he's..he's been hanging around with." Shan described him. If only he could give his Dad a real name to go on. Suddenly, Shan felt he knew nothing about Henry, anymore.