Page 35 of This is Me

“Oh well, Lover-boy.” Blaire shot me a wink before walking over and opening my bedroom door. “I’m going to annoy, Brad. Don’t be too long!” With that, she swept out of the room, leaving me sitting alone with a stupid smile on my face.

It was nice to have finally let someone in, it was refreshing, and the stupid smile on my face didn’t fade. It remained as Blaire and I left my house, and it stayed plastered on my face as we drove to pick Andy and Leroy up.

This Saturday night game for us was an away game. Meaning that we had to drive forty-five minutes to, what I’ve been told is, a rival school. It had been a long drive. Made even longer by the fact that Leroy had called “shotgun”, and nothing ever seemed to go by quickly when he was around. Not anymore.

However, it didn’t change my mood, nor did the sly glances from Blaire I caught in the rear-view mirror. I was feeling great and continued to feel that way as we finally pulled up to the school of our opponents.

All there was left to do now was get through the night without making a fool out of myself with Leroy. Which I knew would be difficult, because within the eight years that we had known each other, I had embarrassed myself in front of him almost every single day. Sadly, this day was no exception.

“You’re meant to mind your head when getting out of the car, Pete.” Leroy’s soft voice drifted into my ears, followed by a silky chuckle, as I held the top of my head, wincing slightly in pain and closing my car door.

“Yes, thank you, Leroy. I’ll keep that in mind for next time,” I responded coolly, doing my best to not light up at the sound of his laugh or the sight of his smile.

The throbbing on the top of my head was helping.

“Good start, Pete,” Blaire whispered in my ear as she settled into a walk beside me, watching Andy and Leroy walk ahead of us into the unknown school grounds.

“What happened to teasing in private?” I shot back at her in a low whisper, checking to make sure the two boys ahead of us couldn’t hear.

“Whispering indicates that it is private. We don’t need to literally be locked behind a door together.”

“Ugh, whatever.” I went to speed up and catch up to Andy and Leroy, but Blaire caught my arm.

“What’s your game plan, Pete?”

“My game plan?” I asked, still keeping my voice low.

“Yeah, like, are you gonna try to find a hot guy from the rival school to take your mind of Leroy? It’ll be like Romeo and Juliet, except with two Romeos. Romeo and Romeo.”

“Okay, I think you’re taking the whole gay thing very well. So, thank you for that. But everything you said is a big no.”

“What, why?” Blaire pulled my arm again, and we came to a halt. I noticed Leroy look back at us and give a confused look, though continued with Andy.

“I’m… not interested in that. Yet. I mean, I want to, but—"

“Pete, I know.” Blaire chuckled. “Teasing, remember?”

“You’re annoying. And now we’ve been left behind.” I gave Blaire an uneven smile, and she stuck her tongue out at me, before grabbing my arm again and dragging me onward.

Since we had stopped to have a small chat, and Andy and Leroy had decided to wait up for us, the seats we ended up getting were non-existent. Though standing beside the bleachers among a crowd of other people wasn’t the worst, and the night was still filled with yelling and screaming.

Our team lost again, of course, but it was surprisingly close, and the conversation of the game carried on throughout the car trip back into town and maintained itself as I pulled into the parking lot of The Coffee House.

“No, no, no. Our defence wasn’t the problem, Leroy. We’ve had this discussion before,” Andy argued as he stepped out of my car after Leroy. They had both been sitting the back seat as Blaire was getting quite good at calling “shotgun”.

“Usually, it isn’t. But this game, our defence was terrible. If they had played how they usually do, we probably would have won,” Leroy fought back, and Andy let out a deep sigh.

“I’m on Leroy’s side,” I chipped in, ignored Blaire’s subtle teasing. “But not entirely.”

“Pete… what the fuck does that even mean?” Andy asked, making a rather flamboyant hand gesture.

“It means that the defence was terrible this game. Like, really bad compared to how they usually are. But, even if they played better, I don’t think we could have won.” I shrugged as I spoke and left Andy and Leroy to ponder quietly, while I continued to ignore Blaire.

“I guess…” Leroy muttered. “Our offence couldn’t score in an open field.”

“Maybe you should go back to the coach, Leroy. They may be looking for new players.” Andy gave Leroy a light punch on the shoulder, which got him a glare.

“Maybe we should change the subject?” I suggested as I noticed Leroy getting uncomfortable with where the conversation was going. It may not have seemed like it, but I had a feeling not making the team had hit Leroy harder than he was showing.