He placed a hand on the man’s shoulder and gave a friendly squeeze. “Hey, man. I wanted to say thanks for doing the alumni game. It’s been a huge deal for Sophie so I’m really thankful.”
Tobias’ eyes snapped to Riley’s and quickly turned back to his computer screen.
“I’m happy to make others look good,” he said.
Chase appeared on the other side of Tobias, making him flinch but keeping his eyes on his screen. “You’re gonna be the one looking good when it comes to the game.”
Tobias stared at Chase, but Riley couldn’t see his expression. Something in it made Chase falter.
“N-not that you don’t always look good,” he said, stumbling through his words. “I mean, you actually make everyone else look bad. You’re so…” Chase looked at Riley for help, but he had no clue what to say.
Unluckily for them, Cole chose that moment to shift the focus, putting an arm around both Chase and Tobias.
“Tobes, heard you were gonna play in the Philly alumni game,” Cole said, loudly enough for everyone in the gym to hear. “Did you know that Chase is a trained goalie? For soccer, but same idea. You should totally train together. Get Chase to help you shake off all that rust.”
Josh came and threw another wrench into the cogs of the conversation. “It’s so cool how you guys can still be friends even though you dated for so long. None of my exes ever wanted to stick around.”
Tobias stiffened, which confused Riley because the man was already stiff. How did he suddenly become stiffer?
“Who dated?” Tobias asked.
“Cole and Chase, in, like, high school,” Josh said as if it was no big deal. By the expression on Tobias’ face, it totally was. “They were cute together too.”
“Ah. Gotcha.” Tobias glanced around. He noticed the rest of the members were crowded around the computer and he stepped back. “Go ahead and enter your scores, everyone. See ya tomorrow.”
Without another glance, he walked away toward his office.
“Did I say something wrong?” Josh asked, turning to Riley for answers, everyone around them shifting to enter their scores one at a time.
Chase stepped away from the group and quietly made his way toward the office without saying another word.
If there was tension between Chase and Tobias, like Josh thought, Tobias might be a little thrown off at the fact Chase used to date Cole. It probably didn’t help that Cole drove Tobias insane, usually on purpose. Hopefully, he wouldn’t hold that againstChase. There was a reason they broke up, after all. Well, a few reasons, but that wasn’t his business.
Instead, Riley entered his score and threw his arm around Josh’s shoulders, leading him toward the cubbies so they could bundle up before going outside.
“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Riley said once they were away from the rest of the group. “I think Tobias is feeling feelings he doesn’t understand. Everything will be okay.”
“Okay, good. Tobias is already struggling with something. I don’t want to make anything worse.”
Riley stopped walking and shifted so he could look at Josh better.
“How do you know he’s struggling with something?”
Josh shrugged. “I don’t know, I can see it on his face when he comes in or when he’s thinking about stuff. He’s got this haunted look.”
After running over every interaction he’d ever had with Tobias, Riley couldn’t think of anything that stuck out. He always thought the man was a robot, hardly showing any feelings toward anyone. First, Tobias laughed during class, then Josh psychoanalyzed feelings Riley didn’t think he was capable of?
Nope, it was too early in the morning for that kind of heavy thinking. He was sure that if things were that bad, it would come out anyway. Hopefully, Tobias would let them be there for him if he needed it.
Based on history, though, he doubted it.
————————
“Seriously, who the fuck is this guy?”
Riley was staring at a picture of him and Josh leaving the gymthat morning. They looked tired and worn out from the workout, but otherwise happy.
Reallyhappy actually. And the way Josh was looking at him…
