CHAPTER 1
ETNA YREKA
I don’t knowwhy we were so lucky to have fourteen consecutive away games, but we’ve only just finished the first in DC and I’m already exhausted. The anticipation of knowing I won’t be home for a month is daunting.
Falling into my seat on the bus, I pull out my phone and open my ShareIt app to doomscroll mindlessly. We just landed in Buffalo and are loading onto the bus to head to the hotel. It’s early in the day, so we have some time before the need to turn in for the night hits. I try to be a responsible adult, sometimes—usually the night before a game, at least.
We won the first game in this fourteen-game stretch, so at least we’re getting off to a good start. Hopefully, the win sets the tone for the entire trip. Our current standings in our division aren’t the best, but they’re not quite the worst either, so… there’s that.
I’m seriously just mindlessly scrolling without pausing to really look at any posts as my teammates load on the bus. It’s constantly rocking from the big guys climbing on.
Owen Vincent posted about a gala event he’ll be attending for a good cause. Like. Scroll on.
Toby Eads’—a hockey enthusiast now working for Sports Spot with his scarily accurate predictions—post about current standings is next in my feed. I pause long enough to find our little log on his graphic. We’re under ‘doing better than expected, but still not great.’ I snort. Yeah, no kidding. Like. Scroll on.
An ad about a weight loss shot. Sighing, I hit the three little dots, choose ‘Not Interested,’ and then follow up with ‘Irrelevant.’ It disappears with the message telling me I will see fewer of those ads for the next thirty days.
If I’m blocking an ad, it should be indefinite. Fucking bots forcing their bullshit down my throat.
I scroll on quickly for several seconds until I see an all-too-familiar clip. It’s always curiosity that makes me stop. It’s Keno and me on the beach. I’m sitting on the sand and he’s kneeling over me, one of his legs between mine as he kisses me, pushing me back in the sand.
It’s a short, three-second GIF. This one says, ‘When he won’t give the bubble gum back.’ I snort and scroll on. I don’t even bother to stop and read the post to see why it’s relevant.
Keno and I have been inseparable from the moment he was traded to Arizona. We were instant best friends. Like, immediately. As if we’ve known each other our entire lives.
So, over the summer, we hung out. While we were in Myrtle Beach, we got absolutely hammered and apparently made out on the beach. Someone caught eighteen seconds of that, and it went viral.
Mind you, neither of us has any recollection of it. Like, none. Which is a little scary. We were at the fucking beach. We could have drowned! Seriously, one of the most irresponsible things I’ve ever done. Needless to say, we’ve drank very little since then. The video is nothing, really. It’s whatever. But the fact we could have drowned? Yeah, that was a life-changing moment.
Anyway, as soon as we heard about the video, we searched until we found the full clip. There’s not a whole lot to it. I’m sitting on the beach. Someone recognizes us and starts filming as Keno walks toward me. He stands over me, drops into the sand so one of his knees is between mine, and then kisses me.
It’s like… filthy kissing, too. He kisses me like that for a good eight seconds before pushing me back into the sand, where we kiss for a few more seconds. Just as nasty. Just as needy. Then I push him off me and he rolls away, both of us laughing about it.
The entire video makes it insanely clear we’re drunk out of our minds. There’s nothing more obvious than that. However, the backlash was the constant allegations that Keno is gay. Or bi. Or pan. Or, or, or.
The very first person who confronted him about it, he told them the truth. He was drunk and didn’t even remember it. He’s straight.
Well, their argument? There’s video evidence of the contrary. So Keno didn’t bother correcting anyone after that. He simply doesn’t respond when someone comments on his sexuality. What’s the point? They’re going to believe what they want.
Including the rest of the players on the Arizona team. No one bothered to ask him. They just started including him in the Gays Can Play agenda and Keno, finding it amusing, goes along with it. He’s convinced most of the guys in the gay club know it’s just shit and they find it as amusing as he does.
The last time we talked about it was when he came home from one of the Gays Can Play youth events. I’m not sure what went down, but I could tell as soon as he walked in the door that it had affected him.
“You know, there are worse things than being called gay,” he said. “So I’m mislabeled, but today, I could see just how much it meant to some of these kids to see people like them—gay and a minority—playing hockey. If they need that role model so itinspires them to keep fighting, I’m not in a hurry to prove I’m straight.”
I guess as a straight white guy, I can’t relate all that much, though I’d like to say I’m an avid supporter of equality for everyone. Opportunities should be based on talent and skill alone. Nothing else. I will scream this until the day I die. Most of the charity I do is fighting for equal rights for everyone. I don’t care if it’s based on gender, ethnicity, sexuality, or whatever. No one class is better than another. I will die on this hill.
The thing that always gets me is that I was bypassed with all the accusations. Keno came on to me. He ‘overpowered’me. He pushed me back and pinned me down.
I pushed him away.
I mean, it’s a load of shit. Yes, I pushed him away, but no matter how many times you watch the video, none of the other shit is true.
Well, except him coming on to me, maybe. I suppose that might be the one truth. Not that we could hear what I said to him leading up to it. Maybe I was actually coming on to him.
The only things circling us now are the new questions about Keno because we’re always together. Which is true. He’s my best friend. Ride-or-die, best friend. So yeah, we’re together all the time. But it’s not romantic. Nothing we do is romantic. Or sexual.
We’re just best friends. The world needs to find something better to do and mind their own damn business.
