I stare at the grass. At my cleats. Anywhere but at him.
"Just... crappy phone call from home. Before practice. Got in my head."
Coach is quiet for a moment. When I finally look up, his expression is softer than I expected.
"Family stuff?"
"Yeah."
He nods slowly. "That's tough. Family knows exactly where to hit to make it hurt."
Understatement of the century.
"Look." Coach crosses his arms. "I'm not going to pry. Whatever's going on at home is your business. But if you need to talk about anything, my door's open. Understood?"
I blink. That's... not what I expected.
"Understood, Coach."
"Good." He claps me on the shoulder. "Now go shower. You're done for today. Clear your head before the exhibition next week."
"But—"
"That's an order, Robins."
I don't argue. Just nod and head for the locker room, Coach's words rattling around in my head. 'My door's open.' Didn't expect that from him. Kind of makes me want to cry, which is stupid, so I shove it down and push through the doors.
The guys are loud and rowdy when I get in.
"Robins! Where'd you disappear to?"
"Coach wanted to chat." I keep it vague, head for my locker.
"Oooh, someone's in trouble," Devin sings from across the room. "What'd you do, big man?"
"Nothing. Just checking in."
"Boring." Devin throws a towel at me. I catch it without looking. "Hey, you still seeing that little dark-haired dude? The intense one?"
"Doc?" A smile breaks through despite everything. "Yeah. We've got dinner tonight."
"Damn, back-to-back dates." Jamal whistles. "Robins is whipped."
"Fully whipped," Wyatt agrees. "Saw him at the party last night. Had the guy in his lap all night like a lovesick puppy."
"Fuck off." But I'm grinning now. "He's just… we're taking things slow."
"Slow? Brother, you look at him like he was holding The Lombardi. That ain't slow, that's full on falling."
The guys erupt in kissy noises and wolf whistles. I flip them all off, but the weight in my chest eases up a bit. This is what I needed. Dumb jokes. Normal shit.
My dad's voice fades a little further into the background.
"You bringing him to the exhibition?" Omar asks.
"Maybe. Probably. He said he might come."
"Good. We need to properly vet this guy." Jamal grins. "Make sure he's good enough for our gentle giant."
