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“Wow, that’s fast. It’s good to know people.”
“It comes in handy sometimes. So, when do you think I’ll see you?”
“How about I send you a text?” I told him.
“Oh! Okay. Yeah, send me a text.”
I smiled, kissed him one more time, and then watched him walk away. He was the sexiest person I had ever seen. I couldn’t believe that someone like him wanted to be with me.
It wasn’t until Quin was out of my sight that pain shot up my broken leg. I flinched. Where had that come from? All weekend I hadn’t felt a thing. Suddenly, the ache was overwhelming.
It took everything I had to focus on the road instead of the pain in my leg. 40 minutes of it was enough to wipe me out. So, when I got home and found the house as empty as I had left it, I dragged myself to bed and collapsed.
I had told Quin that I needed to sleep at home because I had an early class. That was true, but the next morning I didn’t make it. I was in too much pain. I could barely make it to the bathroom to find my painkillers. They were the strong stuff so they kicked in pretty quickly. But not before I missed my only other class for the day and guaranteed I would be late for work.
‘I sent it! Not long now!’ Quin texted.
Reading the text was immediately followed by a clench in my chest. Why was I feeling this? Yeah, something was wrong, but what? I mean, I knew what was wrong, but what was I going to do about it?
‘He sent it off,’ I texted Nero. ‘Not long now.’
‘Cool,’ he texted back a few hours later. ‘When do you think you will know?’
‘Quin guessed Friday.’
I didn’t hear back from him after that. I wasn’t sure why. I also didn’t know why I didn’t text Quin back. I wanted to text him back. I wanted to pull him into my arms and hold him like I had in Snow Tip Falls. Why wasn’t I?
As I thought about it, I considered if it was because my life was in limbo. Maybe I had made a mistake to give up on football. I didn’t love it but wouldn’t me being a starting quarterback in the NFL be something Quin could be proud of? Wouldn’t our pairing make more sense like that?
I could never be equal to Quin. No one could. But couldn’t my fame help contribute something to a life like his?
As much as that seemed to make sense, there was still the problem that I didn’t want to do it. I stepped away from football for a reason. I gave up the money, the lifestyle, even my relationship with my father, or whoever he was, to be rid of it. But, would it be worth the fight to get back to it for Quin?
If anyone, I would do it for him. I would probably have to do it if I wanted to be with him. I absolutely wanted to be with him. Maybe I wasn’t texting him back because I wasn’t ready to make that commitment. I just wish there was any other way for us to be together forever other than committing to a life I didn’t want.
The week went by without me texting him yet I thought about him every day. I longed to see him, to hold him in my arms. I felt like my skin was being peeled from my body without him. I felt paralyzed without him, yet I couldn’t get myself to reach out.
I was going through the motions of life knowing that I would eventually hear from him again. Finding out whether Nero was my brother would put Quin and me in contact one way or another.
On Friday when I woke up, I grabbed my crutches and drove to campus. After my classes ended, I headed to the student activity center for my shift at work. Today was a day when the pain from my leg radiated into my thigh and hips. Even sitting didn’t relieve the pain.
Despite how loopy they made me, I was thinking about popping a pill. I had been trying to cut back on how many I had been taking. It felt like I was getting a little dependent on them. They didn’t just make the pain in my leg go away. They briefly allowed me to forget how much I needed Quin.
Deciding I couldn’t take the ache anymore, I eased over to my backpack and reached for my prescription. I was fumbling with the cap when I heard the beep of someone scanning their I.D. card to enter.
My eyes flicked up to the computer and saw a face I hadn’t seen in a while. It was Lou, Quin’s roommate. My heart sank because the last time he had signed in, it had been with…
I looked past the monitor to the entrance. Quin was standing behind Lou with his head down. Seeing him made my heart race. I shot up feeling none of the pain I had felt moments before.
“Quin!”
“Oh, you remember his name now?” Lou said pissed.
“What?”
“You call him your boyfriend, you take his…” Lou lowered his voice. “You take his virginity, and then you don’t contact him for 5 days? What type of shit is that? You know, if you just wanted to get your dick wet, you didn’t have to play with his emotions to get it. Guys like you think you can treat people however you want…”
“Lou, it’s not like that. I’ve been wanting to contact Quin every day.”
