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“I don’t know.” Oliver shrugged philosophically. “But did he actually come out and say it?”
Come out, ha.Not the time for puns.
“I mean…” Lee shifted. “It was implied.”
“Implied.” Oliver sounded rather unimpressed.
“Why else would he have gone all weird?” Lee repeated. It was his line and he was sticking with it. Too bad that defence had never been his strongest suit.
“I don’t know,” Oliver said, just like before. “Did youaskhim?”
“Ask him whether he knew I had a big gay crush on him?” Lee scoffed. “Yeah, no. I’d barely admitted the word to myself—I wasn’t going to say it out loud.”
“Did you ask him why his behaviour towards you had changed is what I meant.” Oliver made it sound obvious, his eyes kind, and Lee looked away after a moment.
“Just so you know? Marrying a psychiatrist has broken your ability to have a normal, bro-style conversation with a lot of manly grunting and awkwardly skirting around emotions.”
“Sorry for your loss.” Oliver sounded decidedly not sorry.
“No, you’re not.”
“True.” Oliver’s voice was light. “Makes me a better team captain though, doesn’t it?”
Valid.
Lee carded a hand through hair that was starting to grow out when he preferred it fairly short. He made a mental note to have his hairdresser visit before they left for Spain. “Okay,” he told Oliver. “I’ll take what you said into consideration.”
“Good.” Oliver smiled at him with all the pride of the additional four years he had on Lee. “Who knows—maybe you got it wrong. Jeff’s brother is gay, and I doubt he’d be great mates with Alex if there was a real issue there.”
Another valid point. Lee remembered Jeff being quite vocal about equality issues at the last World Cup, to the point where he’d nearly decked another player for a thoughtless comment that Lee couldn’t even remember. It had been some minor everyday slight that Lee had grown immune to over the years, until he’d arrived in Manchester to a team where Ben Jimmer had banned that kind of talk.
“Maybe,” Lee allowed.
“I’m not saying become best friends with Alex, yeah? Just … try to get along, I guess. We’re all in this together.”
Someone knocked on their door to announce that lunch was ready. Lee called out a confirmation that they’d be right down before he turned back to Oliver. “Are you speaking as the captain right now, or as my friend?”
“That’s fair.” Oliver smiled. “A little bit of both, I suppose. You’ve got an almost guaranteed spot in the starting eleven, and I think Alex’s got a very good chance and could be a great asset to the team—if the two of you can figure out how to work together.”
“That’s if he doesn’t crack under pressure,” Lee pointed out. “He’s just twenty-three.”
“And you were, what, twenty-one when you made your World Cup debut?”
“You mean those final fifteen minutes in the last group match? Didn’t exactly turn the game around, did I?”
“You scored.”
“And we still got sent home.”
“We’ll do better this time.”
Lee cut Oliver a lopsided grin. “At least if we all manage to work together as a team—that’s what you were gonna say next, right?”
“And now I won't have to.” Oliver grinned back. “Good talk, thanks for your openness. Let’s go have some lunch.”
After the discussion they’d just had, Lee didn’t feel particularly hungry, but he got up regardless and followed Oliver out of the room and down to the dining area. They were among the last to arrive, with only a few free seats left at the table set out for the team, coaches, and supporting staff. Fortunately, the table that held Alex and Jeff was already full.
Lee had promised to take Oliver’s words into consideration, and he would. Voluntarily sitting next to Alex would have gone above and beyond the call of duty, though. Also, Alex might have fainted with shock, and someone probably would have found a way to blame Lee for it.
