AllFreeNovel
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NoAgenda:Look what Margie had in storage all this time! It’s completely out of tune but the 1980 LU-101s are great for semi-professionals. It’s a Yamaha with a German walnut cabinet; they legit don’t make them like this anymore!
Hungrygabriel73:Ihave no idea what any of that means but it is a beautiful majestic piano!
NoAgenda:I’ll have to record a piece for you when it’s tuned. How are you holding up after the ice torture?
Hungrygabriel73:Still cold. In bed but still cold.
Hungrygabriel73:Wish you’d stayed to warm me up
Hungrygabriel73:That feels cringe Iregret writing
NoAgenda:Wish Icould have stayed too—are you a big spoon or a little spoon?
Hungrygabriel73:Don’t know. Pros and cons of each?
NoAgenda:Little spoon pros are obvious—u are hugged. Big spoon pros are you get to do the hugging, initiate things but cons are you get a mouthful of hair.
Hungrygabriel73:Ihave a lot of hair. Feels like it’s safer for me to be the big spoon.
NoAgenda:You do give off big spoon energy.
Hungrygabriel73:Icould be ur big spoon.
NoAgenda:Gabriel.
Hungrygabriel73:Ye?
NoAgenda:Yesterday in the locker rooms. Idon’t want to get into our entire dating history but have you ever . . . been with anyone?
He doesn’t reply for a moment, and I panic.
It doesn’t matter, I’m being rude and it’s none of my business, I type, just as Gabriel replies,Ihaven’t . . .
Gabriel’s name appears on the screen a second later. He’s calling me.
‘Gabi,’ I say, picking up. ‘It’s none of my business, I’m sorry I asked.’
‘It’s okay,’ Gabriel whispers and I imagine him in his room, in the dark with the door closed, speaking under the covers. ‘The truth is I’m a bit embarrassed.’
‘Embarrassed?’ I reply.
‘Ishouldhave.’ He sighs. ‘Been with someone, I mean. I don’t know . . . it feels like I’ve missed a boat that everyone else’s been on.’
‘You haven’t,’ I say, turning on my side and curling in on myself. ‘If anything, you’re about to board abetterboat; having your first time with someone who cares about you. You get to avoid all the weird awkward embarrassing sex. All the emotions that come with it.’
‘Do you care about me?’ Gabriel asks.
I press my face into the pillow. ‘You know I do.’
‘I meant what I said about staying longer. After the tournament. We could go somewhere. Together.’
‘What about after that?’ There’s silence on the other end, and it’s like a punch in the gut. This is not where I expected the conversation to go, and I’m not sure if I’m really ready to discuss it, but we’re here now. ‘Is there going to be an after?’
‘I don’t know,’ Gabriel whispers.
I know why he doesn’t know. Because Gabriel’s not out on the circuit; he’s not even out to his dad. And being together—really being together, long-term—means changing his entire reality.
‘I don’t want to force—’
