Grown-up Read Online Free PDF Page A

Austin. And I know Sam thinks the world of you.”
    Austin sighed. “Sam sees his sons through rainbow-colored glasses. I wish….”
    Bang! Just as the realization of his fucked-up-ness had suddenly landed on his head, now an epiphany rocked him so hard he almost fell off his father’s chair. He was going to be emotionally bruised in the morning due to all these revelations, but for now he was just dizzy and gasping for breath.
    “Austin?” Ben said, looking alarmed.
    “I need you to help me!”
    With a look of near panic on his face, Ben took a quick step back. “Help?” he squeaked.
    “Yes!” Austin leaped to his feet, making Ben scramble backward even more. “How old are you, Ben?”
    “I’m, uh… what?”
    “Your age. How old are you?”
    “I turned thirty-two last month.”
    Austin winced. Thirty-two sounded so ancient . But the truth was, his birthday was in three months, and when he reached that date, his driver’s license would announce to the world that he was twenty-nine—only three years younger than Ben. They could have attended the same high school at the same time. Could even have been in a few of the same classes, except Austin suspected Ben had gravitated toward honors and advanced-placement courses, whereas Austin had been content sliding by with Bs and Cs in the easiest classes he could get away with.
    “Is that a problem?” Ben asked. His brows were creased in a worried frown.
    “Nope. It’s perfect. Look, Ben. I need you to teach me how to be a grown-up.” Austin grinned triumphantly, a man who had solved his greatest problem. Or, well, nearly.
    Ben’s gray-blue eyes looked almost impossibly big behind his glasses. “Pardon me?”
    Austin nodded eagerly as if his point were already made. “I need someone to teach me how to get my shit together and be a genuine grown-up. Someone to… mentor me. Thing is, I don’t actually know that many mature people. There’s my brother—he’s so mature it’s almost painful—but he lives in Indiana. Plus we tend to fight a lot when we’re in the same time zone. There’s my boss at the deli, Gopal, but he’s too busy. The guy works, like, a hundred hours a week. And there’s Dad and Bill, of course, but they’re a little too close to me. I need a mentor with objectivity.” He nodded again. Yeah. He was sounding less fucked-up already.
    “But… why me?”
    “Because you’re the most grown-up person I know.”
    Not only did Ben blink this time, he actually recoiled slightly. “Is that what you think of me?”
    “Yeah. Sure. I mean, you’ve worked here for years, and Dad says if it wasn’t for you, everything would come to a grinding halt. You keep Sam’s together. I bet you’ve never once showed up late for work. Am I right?”
    “Uh… I guess not.” Ben sat down and adjusted his glasses.
    “Thought so. You wear grown-up clothes and you eat grown-up lunches. Do you live in a house?”
    “Yeah. I bought a place a couple of years ago.”
    Austin ignored the tiny twinge of envy. “Right. And… you pay off your credit cards every month. You eat properly and get a good night’s sleep. You… are you married, Ben?”
    “No.”
    Hmm. “Long-time girlfriend, then.”
    “I’m gay!” Ben said, kind of loudly.
    That announcement momentarily derailed Austin’s maturity-seeking train. “Really, dude? ’Cause you don’t ping my gaydar even a little. Are you sure?”
    Ben glared. “I’ve been secure in my sexual orientation since I was a teenager, Austin.”
    “Well, okay. If you say so. So… long-term boyfriend?”
    “No,” said Ben, still frowning. Then he seemed to wilt a little. “I was seeing someone for a long time. But we broke up a couple of years ago.”
    Austin had never dated the same man for longer than a few weeks, so he didn’t know what it would feel like to end a relationship like that. Shitty, he guessed. “I’m sorry,” he said sincerely.
    “Thanks,” said Ben, shrugging one shoulder. “It