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“Okay. Whatever,” I told him not wanting to fight anymore.
“So that’s it, huh?”
“You’re the one who said you wanted to break up.”
I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I heard Jason begin to cry.
“Fine. Bye, Merri.”
“Bye, Jason,” I said ending the call.
Tears rolled down my cheeks before I could do anything to stop them. The reason I hadn’t spoken to Jason before leaving was because I was trying to avoid this. The reason why my tear-stained cheeks had been broadcast nationwide was because the season was over, and I knew that we would eventually get to here.
Jason had been my first gay relationship. I had started dating him when I thought being cute and gay was enough to sustain a partnership. After a year together, I realized that it wasn’t.
We were different people. If we were stereotypes, he would be the sassy, party gay while I was the closet-case. It wasn’t like I was ashamed of him or anything. He was successful and hot. I just wasn’t looking for our families to get together at Christmas.
The truth was that he deserved better than me. Everyone did. I was a lousy boyfriend. I worked all of the time. I didn’t like PDA. And I was hung up on my straight best friend who I hadn’t talked to in two years. Why would anyone want to be with me?
I sniffled and wiped the tears from my face. I had created this situation and now I had to deal with it. I had created everything bad that had happened to me recently, and I was going to have to figure my way out of it.
So although it seemed daunting, there was no better place to start than where it all began, with Claude. Knowing him, he walked away from the team and me and had never looked back.
I guess I should just be grateful that he still remembered my name. Claude had a way of blocking out anything that he didn’t like. And for the past two years, I was sure that he didn’t like me.
Feeling my phone buzz, I looked at it expecting it to be Jason again. It wasn’t. It was a text from Papa.
‘Make any progress with Claude?’
I had been honest with Claude when I told him that both Papa and I wanted him back. Sure, we each had our own reasons, but the desire was real.
If I wanted to figure my way out of the mess I was in with Claude, I was going to have to start with a few truths. Because on top of being gorgeous and a super athlete, he was also one of the smartest guys I knew.
He had to know that I wouldn’t have shown up out of the blue like I had just to offer him a workout. And if I was going to go from closeted-gay to well-adjusted gay, I had a lot of work to do. That work was going to start with Claude.
Crap – why was my life always such a drama? I guess I really was a stereotype. But that ended tonight.
Chapter 6
Claude
Having arrived at the diner early, I sat at a booth that faced the wall of glass and the door. Having seen the car he had driven away in, I knew what I was looking for. When it arrived, I felt a tightness in my chest and a lump in my throat.
I didn’t know why I felt like this, but I did. I would like to say that it was because of the inevitable confrontation we would have. But I knew that feeling. It would have felt like stress. I was feeling something else. Something I hadn’t felt in a while.
Waving to him when he turned my way, he smiled and came over. He looked way too happy to be here. Maybe Titus was right. Maybe this conversation was going in a direction I didn’t foresee. How did I feel about that?
“You’re here,” he said looking down at me from the other side of the table.
“I said I would be.”
“You did. And, you always do what you say you’re gonna do.”
“I try.”
Nodding with a grin on his face, Merri stared at me awkwardly.
“Are you going to sit?”
