Rentboy

shiny to their waists. But there was no
    expression on their beautiful faces. “Hello.” Edward stuck out his hand. Neither twin reacted. “Are
    they shy? I was very shy myself as a teenager.”
    “They’re a bit different,” Fox said.
    “You’re both very pretty,” Edward said, trying to find the right words to make himself likable.
    “For some reason I was expecting boys. Probably the names.”
    “Alder is a boy. Arden is a girl,” Fox said.
    Edward stared at the teenagers. “But they can’t be opposite sexes. They’re identical.”
    “I know. Strange, isn’t it? But not below the waist. Trust me, I changed their nappies till they
    were six.”
    Edward looked anew at the twins. “Six? That’s a bit old for nappies.”
    “Like I said, they’re a bit different.”
    Fox was different, so it should not be a complete surprise that his siblings were too. “Right,
    well, let’s get on the road, then. It’s a couple of hours’ drive. Will the twins be okay that long?”
    “You won’t hear a peep out of them.”
    Fox tossed their bag into the boot with his backpack and loaded the twins in the backseat,
    carefully buckling them in. They made no attempt to do anything for themselves. Edward watched in
    despair. How could he explain a boy in a skirt and a pair of nonverbal twins? Yet every time his gaze
    met Fox’s, Edward felt he could cope with anything.
    The village of Mitton was extremely well kept and obviously affluent. Thatched cottages and big
    old manor-style houses lined the winding streets. The green in the middle of the village was
    surrounded by high-end shops catering to the tourist trade, as well as a supermarket, a bakery, and a
    chemist. A wrought iron sign rose up beside the market cross, declaring, MITTON, BEST-KEPT
    VILLAGE. Edward pointed at it, making the car veer slightly. “Look, we won last year.”
    “Keep your eyes on the road, mate,” Fox said.
    Edward had loved living here as a child, but as he got older and knew he was gay, it became
    claustrophobic. You just couldn’t be different in a place that insular. But he felt proud to show it off
    to Fox until a moment of panic set in. Fox lived on the street most of the time, and the twins probably
    lived in a flat with their mum and her boyfriend. He hoped they didn’t think he was showing off taking
    them to his big old farmhouse to meet his well-educated, well-heeled parents.
    “There’s a little pond on the green,” Fox said. “Look, aliens, black swans. Aren’t they beautiful?
    They must be Goth swans.”
    For the entire journey Fox had chatted alternately to him and the twins. The twins never
    responded, but that seemed to have no effect on Fox, who acted as though they had talked intelligently
    all the way.
    “Why do you call them aliens?”
    “Because they have pale skin and big eyes, and they act like they’re from another planet.” He
    gave a small laugh, but there was no humor in it. “If your family is mean to them, I’ll take the twins
    and leave. We’ll hitch back to London.”
    “Nobody will be mean about them in my house. My parents are both educators,” Edward
    reassured him. “I suppose you’ve spent a lot of time protecting them.”
    “You got no idea,” Fox said.
    The farm was on Cowbell Lane on the outskirts of the village. Edward’s parents must have been
    looking out for him as they always did, because the front door opened as soon as he pulled into the
    courtyard. Smiling, his parents walked out to greet him. Those smiles wouldn’t last long when they
    got wind of their houseguests. They all piled out of the car, and his mother’s face fell when she saw
    Fox and then Edward’s black eye. Despite the fact that their nearest neighbor was a mile away, she
    glanced quickly right and left. His father just stared.
    Lurching forward, Edward made a grab for his mother. He had always been physically
    awkward, but when he was nervous, his gait and gross motor skills went haywire.
    “Careful, Edward,” she warned, taking a step back.
    Edward paused before proceeding with caution to peck her on the cheek. “Hello, Mum.”
    “Happy birthday, darling. Were you in a fight? No, of course you weren’t. You walked into the
    kitchen cupboard again, didn’t you?”
    Edward shrugged.
    Keeping his distance from his father because that was what they always did, he extended his
    hand. “Hello, Dad.”
    “Good man,” his father said, shaking hands with him. “Happy birthday, son.”
    “Mum,