“No, baby, it’s not your fault. She loves you, I know I don’t know her, but I don’t imagine she’d want to be with someone who doesn’t accept you.”
“But if I hadn’t come out… or if I hadn’t asked her to do it—”
“You can’t keep yourself hidden for someone else, what were you supposed to do, not come out in case it ruined her relationship? Donovan, that wouldn’t have been fair on either of you. And whether she told him, or you told him, or he found out some other way, would his reaction have been any different?”
“No, I guess not.”
“None of this is your fault.” He nods, but I can tell he doesn’t believe me. “So, it went okay with your mom and stepdad?”
“Yeah,” he smiles, “Mom actually seemed happy about it, we had to drink champagne and everything.”
I chuckle, “That sounds like a win to me. Baby, they know about you, and they love you.”
“Yeah,” he grins, “I don’t need to hide anymore.”
My stomach drops, he must see something flash across my face before I’m able to control my expression.
“What?” he asks.
“Um… I got a call yesterday, and it was all made official today, one of my teammates, Isaac, was injured during practice—”
“Oh my god, is he okay?”
“No, he needs surgery, and he’ll be out of action for the rest of the season.”
“Oh that sucks, I remember you saying what a decent guy he is.”
“Yeah…” I say. “Well, we play the same position, and they’ve asked me to take his place.”
“What? Stephen, that’s incredible!” He throws his arms around me, so hard that we fall back onto the bed. “This is what you’ve worked for, you’re going to play in the NFL!”
“Yeah…”
“Why aren’t you happier about this? We should be celebrating!”
“Donovan, it’s complicated… I’m moving to Tynerston this Saturday—”
“Are you forgetting that I live there?” he chuckles. “My semester here ends in five weeks, so I’ll soon be back there with you full-time.”
“I know, but I also had media training today…” My words trail off; I’ve got no idea how to say this.
“Media training, go on…” he prompts.
“There’s a chance the press are going to ask me about my relationship status. Mindy, the media person, said it would be better if I portray myself as single; a secret relationship will basically invite the press to pry into my private life. And I was warned…”
“Warned about what?”
“About not doing anything to cause a scandal.”
“A scandal? Stephen, what are you saying?”
“Sorry,” I sigh, “I’m tired, I’m doing a shit job of explaining this, today has just been constant.”
I rub my face with my hands, trying to jolt myself into finding the right words.
“Hey, come on,” he says, “we’ve both had a long weekend, emotion overload for sure on my part. Let’s get some sleep, and we’ll figure this all out tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” I say, “that sounds great.”
