"What's an air mattress?" I asked, swatting at Elio when he ruffled my hair. Even though I was getting taller, when he did something like that, it made me feel like a little kid. That wasn't the worst thing that had ever happened to me, but I had seen other kids with their parents or their older siblings, and they always did things like that. Tried to squirm away from the touch when it was embarrassing.

I wasn't embarrassed. It was rather nice. But it was also nice to be normal.

"And what's wrong with the couch? I like it." I just liked being able to sleep next to Eddie. The Home was trying to make it very difficult for us and I knew it was still another whole year before I would be out on my own and able to have Eddie stay with me.