“Go get some clothes on,” Astor says. “There’s a time for that.”
“You mean when we were in bed before you showed up uninvited at my door?” I ask. “Yes, therewasa time for it.”
“There will be time later,” he says, shrugging. “We’re making you plates. Hurry up. No stuffing sausage or anything.”
“I used to like them,” I mutter again and turn down the hall. Lo follows, now wearing his smirk that I’ve come to love so much.
“They’re good people,” Lo says.
I chuck off my shorts as I step into my room, hearing the catcall since I’m still mostly visible from the other room. I flip them off but don’t bother shutting the door. My clothes are in the closet anyway.
Lo joins me, pulling me against him and kissing me softly. “I’m really glad they dropped in on you, Caulder. I’ve been worried about you not eating.”
“You don’t need to be,” I insist but stop trying to pull on my underwear and lean against him. “I admit the first couple weekswere rough, and I probably didn’t eat a lot. But I’m eating closer to normal again.”
“Still. I love that someone is here to take care of you when I can’t be.”
I twist to look at him. Our eyes meet and last night’s conversation floods my mind. “They are. You have friends like that too, right?”
“Yep. Some good friends.”
“Okay good.”
“Stop fucking and get your asses out here!” Three calls.
“Do not think I won’t come in and drag you out,” Sacha adds. “You will eat, Caulder Haines.”
I sigh and step away from Lo. We dress and return to them. Astor hands me a plate right away and Three hands one to Lo. Then we’re crowded around the living room floor. It’s a hodgepodge of different foods that mostly don’t work together, but it’s really good.
“So… you come out and show up with a boyfriend all within a couple of weeks,” Ethan says.
“Yeah, about that. This isn’t something we’re making public,” I explain, glancing at Lo.
“Your boyfriend is still inside closet,” Sacha guesses.
“Yes, but for the same reasons I was. It’s not fear or shame or whatever. It’s attention where it shouldn’t belong.”
“We get it,” Jakub says. “Really. I was there not long ago.”
“Are you going to keep it hidden like Jakub and Ethan did?” Creed asks.
I shrug. “For now, yeah.” This isn’t something we’ve actually talked about. But Lo told me when we met that he hasn’t shared his sexuality with anyone connected to hockey in any way. I understand that to mean he doesn’t want to make it known now, either.
“For now,” Lo repeats and it sounds a lot more temporary than when I said it. “Definitely not the right time to let the world get wind of this and listen to the crazy pregnant lady somehow twist this to be a result of her bullshit too.”
“Saying someone is your boyfriend doesn’t prove you’re gay,”Three mimics.
Astor snorts. “You sound uncannily like her, dude. How many of her videos have you watched?”
“Enough,” Three says. “It drives me crazy that we’re not supposed to comment.”
“Right?!” Ethan agrees.
“I have given to temptation,” Sacha admits. “Once, maybe twice. But I delete comment soon after.”
I lean into Lo’s side as we eat quietly, listening to my teammates bitch about the pregnant lady and then moving on to something else. It’s hockey gossip for a while as they talk about Max having a kid that no one knew about, despite the kid being a year old. How has he kept that from the media?! They talk about Winnipeg’s new owner coming back from his Christmas vacation in the mountains married to a man in January. That was wild to see that spread all over the news.
Sacha announces that he got a star tattoo on his hip to show solidarity to Felton Badcock and he’s offended no one’s noticed yet.
