“No. I’m having chicken wings, double cheeseburger, and two chocolate brownies. You’re having the fish tacos.”
Pi’s mouth falls open. He stares at me and then back at his menu, then he closes it. “Thank you.”
Heat rises in my cheeks, but I don’t look at anyone. Not Abs, not his mannequin-like boyfriend, not Pi. I simply nod like it was nothing, and I don’t in fact spend every second of every day thinking about the intricacies of my one particular teammate.
04/05/27 21:06 Finn: Can u come over?
04/05/27 21:22 Megs: I’m in Tunbridge Wells rn
04/05/27 21:24 Finn: We need to talk
04/05/27 21:26 Megs: You breaking up with me?
…
…
04/05/27 21:38 Finn: Yes
04/05/27 21:38 Finn: Sorry
04/05/27 21:40 Megs: Ok, I lied. I’m in Bristol.
Give me an hour and I’ll be over.
04/05/27 21:42 Finn: See you then
Sorry again
04/05/27 21:44 Megs: Is this about Aiden?
Are you finally going to make things official between you?
…
Chapter 6
Finn
Sunday 9th May 2027
Pi’s leaning against the wall of the old lice room, like he does before every Cents home game.
It isn’t in fact a room full of lice, but an ancient deserted sluice room which sits in a part of the stadium that nobody hasaccess to any more, down a long dark corridor that now leads to nowhere. Back in the good old days, like pre-Covid, it was another entry passage to the stands, serviced by a small snack kiosk and an even smaller bar, but following a few catastrophic worldwide events, there’d been a massive security overhaul in the stadium, and the entryway had subsequently been bricked up, the kiosk unplugged, and the accompanying stock cupboard and sluice room abandoned forever.
During that time, two of the vinyl stickers from the sluice room door signage have peeled off, leaving only the letters L and ICE.
It has become our well-practiced routine to meet here and suck the souls out of each other’s bodies before a home game. Pi loves routine, and I am more than happy to oblige on these occasions.
Sometimes there’s a little chitchat before the soul sucking begins, sometimes not. Today needs to be a chitchat kind of day.
I broke up with Megan last week. After seeing Orlando and Abs so sickeningly in love at Teach’s, Megs came over to my house. We stayed up until the early hours of the morning talking about us, or what was once us. There were a few tears from both sides, but ultimately we agreed it was for the best that we parted ways.
But Pi doesn’t know that we broke up. For some reason, I couldn’t tell him even though I’d planned to. I imagined phoning him the moment Megs drove away from my house for the last time and inviting him over, but my phone had sat in my hand while I stared at the thumbnail of his goofy blonde head until the screen switched itself to black. I wrote him a text message. Then deleted it. I typed an email, pouring my heart out because I thought I’d be able to express myself better with more than one thousand and twenty-four characters. I never pressed send. It’s been sitting in my drafts box untouched since.
I know what I want to say to him. I’m just not sure how to say it. Or when. I only know that it should be sooner rather than later.
“Wasson?” I ask.
