Being Wrong | ✓

Epilogue

Charlie wiggled his toes in the pale sand and sent another glance out towards where Robby was standing in the water up to his waist, jumping over waves. Charlie had watched enough episodes of Bondi Rescue — all of them, every single one — to know how dangerous it was to swim at the beach outside of the red and yellow flags. Robby had insisted, though, so now Charlie was keeping a close eye on him.

Charlie patted his pocket and felt the lump of his phone. It was still there. If Robby started drowning, he'd call 000. He wasn't exactly sure which emergency department was responsible for rescuing drowning people, but he was sure they'd figure it out.

Travis brushed up against his side, bare shoulder against bare shoulder, and handed him another sand dollar. Charlie turned it over in his fingers, checking for damage, but both sides were intact. He added it to the small collection in his pocket.

Things were better now, for all of them. They weren't perfect, and some days were still a nightmare to get through, but he was having more and more days that felt like new high points in his life. Today, his seventeenth birthday, felt like one of them.

Charlie had wanted to go to the beach for the first time since he was a kid, and Robby had borrowed his friend's car and made it happen. It wasn't too windy, clouds had muted the intensity of the sun, and his boyfriend was wonderfully shirtless.

Charlie had a diagnosis now — Autism Spectrum Disorder. It wasn't curable, but it was manageable. Most days, anyway. Some days things still built up until they collapsed on top of him, crushing him with an intensity that he couldn't fight against. But even then, he was doing better. His psychiatrist had helped him learn to view his emotions as a temporary experience, to ride the wave of them until they settled again. It was still awful, but it wasn't as awful.

Things with his grandparents were getting better, too. His grandma still slipped up sometimes, but she understood now that trying to control everything he did wasn't for his own good. There were still rules, of course, but they'd been established through conversation and compromise. Though it wasn't in his grandma's nature to not be in control all the time, she seemed calmer now, too.

Travis had been having his own sessions with Lydia, and he'd been doing better now, too. He'd started opening up to Charlie more and more, sharing his most painful memories. At first Charlie hadn't known what to say, what to do, but he'd eventually realised that all Travis needed was for Charlie to hear him, to share his burden, and to still be there after he'd cried himself dry.

Travis was currently going through the process of reporting Jax, the man who had sexually abused him when he was fourteen, to the police. They didn't know what would come of it yet, but Travis couldn't deal with the idea of him doing the same thing to someone else.

When Charlie glanced up again to check on Robby, he had already made his way out of the water and was heading up the beach towards them.

"Oh, good," Charlie said. "You didn't drown."

"Aw." Robby grinned. "Would you have jumped in to rescue me?"

"No, that's a terrible idea. That's how you get two people drowned. I would have called triple zero."

Robby's eyebrow quirked up and he turned his gaze to Travis. "You know, I can never tell if he's kidding."

Travis tucked something into Charlie's pocket — presumably another sand dollar for his collection. "The answer is that he's usually not, but on the rare occasion that he is he'll get you every time."

"Huh." Robby was drying himself off with a towel, but he hadn't shaken it off first so he was rubbing sand all over himself. It was terrible. "You guys want ice cream? I'll pay."

They both expressed their desire for ice cream.

"Can I have a chocolate flake in mine?" Charlie asked.

"Sure." Robby draped his towel over his shoulders and then started heading up the beach, towards the shops.

"Robby!" Charlie called out before Robby got too far away. "Can I have... two flakes?"

Robby gave him a thumbs up, turned back around, and kept walking.

Travis brushed a kiss against Charlie's shoulder after his brother was gone. "How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay."

Charlie looked out at the water. The sun had started to set and stained the clouds a fiery orange. He reached into his pocket and felt something heavy and smooth that didn't belong among his collection of sand dollars. He pulled it out and discovered it was a vaguely heart shaped rock. This must have been what Travis had tucked into his pocket while they were talking to Robby.

"No..." Charlie corrected as he turned the rock in his fingers. "I think I'm good."

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Author's note: Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the story! If you'd like to read it again some time, consider checking out the published version. The writing is more polished and there are a few extended scenes. Find out how Travis got Artemis, and more! Links in my profile.