Now, to figure out said backup plan.
CHAPTER 24
ROUX
It’s been four days on campus, and I love every minute of it. I love to stand under this one enormous tree and stare at the rows of flags in front of the administrative building. Every pride flag you could think of is represented here, lined up like the flags of the United Nations.
I’ll be honest. I’ve never been hugely into participating in Pride events. I don’t think there’s any reason why. They’re important, and I support them. I understandwhythey’re important. They’re even important to me.
Maybe it’s never come up. Maybe I just choose to support my community in different ways. Lix has always been “out,” and I wear the demisexual colors far more in support of him. I even commissioned his Edmonton Razors jersey in the demisexual colors as a surprise for him one year. I have probably a dozen jerseys of my brother as he’s moved around in the NHL, but I wear the demisexual Edmonton one most. It means the most.
It works out since that’s where he retired from as well.
Maybe I’ve always felt comfortable in my skin, and it’s just more important to me to support those I care about. The only time I’ve ever felt that Pride and supporting someone else hastruly impactedmespecifically is when I’m wearing my demisexual Edmonton jersey.
Until I stood in front of this building three days ago for the first time and looked up at all the flags. I could feel it resonate in my chest. It’s bigger than I am. My entire body breaks out in chills every time I look up at all the flags.
The rainbow flag is front and center, a little bigger than the rest, a little taller. The flag that holds all the others within it. On either side are the L and G—the pinks and oranges of the lesbian flag and the blues and greens of the gay flag. Flanking them are bisexual and transgender, and then they just keep going.
There’s a large informational panel beyond the flag park where they’re flying that talks about each flag, when they were adopted, and who designed them. There’s information there about the colors and what they represent. There are far, far more than I ever imagined there were.
Maybe that’s why I suddenly feel like Pride is so much bigger than I had thought. It’s not just a small handful of identities. It’s an enormous community of people who are all fighting the same fights.
My phone pings, and I fish it out of my pocket. My heart races in my chest, hoping it’s going to be Alka. He’s supposed to text me when he’s available for a quick kiss. It’s not him. It’s an email notification from admin telling me that they’ve reset my Pride Room password. Again.
One of the coolest things about the school is that they have their own social media and communication app called The Pride Room. It’s a no-holds-barred app, meaning anything goes. It’s also completely and utterly safe. Theonlyway to gain access is to be actively enrolled or employed.
However, I keep locking myself out of it, which is why I’m not going to reset my password right now. I’m going to wait until I’m back in my dorm, so I can think about what to change it to and, most importantly, remember!
Before I can put my phone away, Alka texts me.
Alka
Office is empty.
Grinning, I slip my phone back into my pocket and head around the admin building toward the athletic building.
Having a secret boyfriend is turning out to be a lot of fun. There’s something especially hot about it. It’s not like I didn’t think Alka and Oscar were hot on Kala. I definitely did. They were. Are. And yeah, I felt many stirrings inside me when I was with them. Or thinking of them.
But it felt like we were building something deeper on Kala. The foundation wasn’t“You’re hot. Let’s fuck.”Attraction was never missing, but it just wasn’t as important as everything else we were forming.
I’m not saying it’s still not important, but the way my blood races as I pull the athletic building door open has me holding my breath to try to calm down.
In every building, the halls aren’t simply painted a solid color. There’s a theme in every one of them. Some of them are murals. Some are art. Each one has to do with Pride. The athletic building’s walls are painted as the flags themselves. They’re pretty cool. Two days ago, I wandered around the building just to look at them all.
Then I was almost late for practice because I couldn’t find my way back to the locker room. Serves me right for being curious. I had to call Alka and ask him how to get back to the locker room from the non-binary painted hall.
At least I have a good handle on how to move around the building now. I pass Alka’s door, peeking inside at him. He meets my eyes as I walk by. Down the hall is the door to the stairwell, and I push it open, making my way around the corner and into the empty space behind it.
Alka’s right after me. His arms come around me as his mouth lands on my neck. I drop my bags and spin in his arms. Our mouths come together.
He hums into my mouth as he presses closer. Closer. Our bodies are flush. Combined with the way he’s devouring me, there’s really no surprise that my dick is happy right now.
I turn us around and press him against the wall. Alka grins into my mouth before turning his full attention to kissing me thoroughly. He’s a master kisser. It’s like he took lessons. I love everything about it.
His hands run over my chest and down to my stomach where he lifts up my shirt. The feel of his hot hand against my abdomen makes me groan. My hips rock against him.
He smiles again.
