“You don’t want me to hide away, do you boy?”I plant a kiss on his head and, in turn, he licks practically my whole face.I wipe it away with my sleeve.Once he settles down, he sits next to me, slowly wagging his tail back and forth.I look up at the stars and wonder if Kyle is looking up at them too.I wonder how he is feeling.I want to know he’s okay.It’s been a few hours since he had his scheduled meeting with his manager.I pull out my phone, take a picture of the stars, and it actually turns out okay.I then send Kyle the picture with the caption: “Which one is you?”and send it before backing out and dying from the cringe.
I then open my notes up and come up with an action plan.There’s only one sentence, but it’s a good one:
Take control of the story and make history.
Chapter 26
Kyle
My face lights up like a Christmas tree.I don’t know how he has this effect on me, but he has his hooks in deep.He is decimating my walls, and now people are starting to notice.
“Got a text from AJ, I take it?”Trish says from the other side of the sofa.
“I have other friends, you know?”I say, almost grunting, but I’m not one to conform to other people's perceptions of me, so I scowl instead.
“No.You don’t.You have me, and you have AJ.”Her face turns into a grin that I don’t much care for.
“Bold of you to assume you’re a friend,” I say, making my scowl deeper, and this time, I add a grunt and sit further up on the sofa.
“Wanna make it one friend?”she says, staring me down.
“Good point.”My false bravado wiped out in an instant, I slide back down the sofa.Only a fool would be brave enough to take on Trish.She smirks at me, knowing she’s won the battle.
“So, was it AJ then?”
I sigh.“Yes, it was AJ.He sent me a picture.And no, not of his penis.Of the night sky.”
“Wow, I never took him for the romantic type.”
“He’s always been a dreamer.I swear he was the one who manifested our good fortunes.”
“And the fact you are both this generation's greatest prospects?”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”I groan, and stretch my leg out from under the blanket.Trish, with her odd concoction in her hands, is sitting cross-legged on the other side.She tuts at me as I almost knock her leg.I’ve been told about my ‘man spreading’ a few times.My mind races to AJ, and how he stretches out and how I curl into the nooks he makes.
“Are you not?”Her voice brings me back from my fantasy.
“It would be rather conceited of me to admit it, but that doesn’t matter after today anyway.”
“Why?You told me the manager said you can still play.”
“I know,” I say, shifting my position on the sofa and taking a sip of my water, again being mindful of her space.“But I still don’t know how my teammates are going to take it.”
“They’re not going to beat you up.It’s not some high school drama.”
I ponder for a moment, taking another sip of water and say, “They could uninvite me to things.”
“You don’t like being invited to them anyway.”
“True.But they could ignore me.”
“You hate people talking to you.”
“Also true.But okay, the media.They’re already winding up the flag shaggers and the ‘anti woke’ mob.”I cross my legs, put my drink down on the table, and mimic the ‘go woke; go broke’ army by wagging my finger and scrunching up my face.
“And the better you play, the more they’ll get wound up and fade into nothing.Also, most of them are calling for AJ’s head, wanting him suspended and put in jail for fighting.No one knows you’re gay for AJ.All they think is he tried to knock you out.So, all your worries are unfounded anyway.”She shrugs in a matter-of-fact way.
“Yes, I know, but you know what all this macho bullshit is like.Some people online think I’m gay anyway.Well, like I said, the flag shaggers and ‘anti wokers’ do and also thefirst name buncha numberslot.”
