Istare at my drawing for a minute, not for the first time wishing that I could draw the imaginings in my head in a way that didn’t look like a three-year-old created this. Is it clear?
“What does this look like to you?” I ask Eddy and flip my paper over.
Eddy looks up, focusing on my paper. He leans forward and reaches for it. I watch as he studies it for several very long seconds.
“A car?”
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
He grins and tilts his head.
“You need to at least look at it in the right orientation,” I say and sit forward on the couch to turn the paper in his hand.
“Ah. Now your words read like English. I’m going to say… a house with hidden doors.”
Well, I suppose that’s not the worst thing in the world.
“Am I close?” Eddy asks.
“Kind of? It’s supposed to be a really cool library. I want it to be a whole experience, you know?”
Eddy nods as he continues to study the page. “Now that you tell me what I’m looking at, I can see it, and it looks really great.”
Eddy is a good person. He never makes me feel stupid. But I’ve always kind of felt like everyone in my life knows that I don’t necessarily follow along and that I need extra support for all my classes, which means I’ve always wondered how much they humor me. Can he really see my vision? Does he actually think it’s cool?
“This for a class?”
I shake my head. “I want to build it,” I tell him as he hands it back.
“I thought you wanted to go pro.”
“Oh, I do. But football doesn’t last forever. Full-contact sports are rough on your body, which is why players retire relatively young, depending on the position. I run, jump, fall, collide, get tackled, or do the tackling.” I shrug. “I’d like to play for a few years, but I need a plan for after. This is my dream, and I figure I need to start somewhere so I can find the beginning of that dream, you know?”
“Like a business model. How much the building is going to cost to build.”
“Yes, but in my case, I don’t want to build something new. I want to purchase an old mansion or an old castle. Maybe a Catholic cathedral.”
Eddy laughs. “Wow. One of those things is not like the others.”
I grin. “Okay, but it’s some of the most stunning architecture. They’re so iconic. How cool would it be to convert a huge cathedral into a stunning library?”
“And fill it with queer smut. Oh, we’re going to hell just thinking about it.”
Laughter bubbles out of me.
A knock on the door has Eddy getting to his feet. I stuff my paper into my notebook so no one else sees my toddler-esque art skills. He steps back, allowing Lane and Wulfe into the room.
“Hey,” I greet as they join me on the couch, sitting practically on top of each other.
“Hey, look what we just ordered,” Lane says and points his phone screen in my direction. I’m looking at an image of big foam… fingers? But they’re unicorns, and they say, ‘Give ’em rainbow hell, Brevan.’
“Okay, they’re really cool, but what are they and why did you order them?” I ask.
“I want one,” Eddy says with a giant grin.
“Since you’re taking Coach with you to the draft?—”
“Totally jealous, by the way,” Wulfe cuts in.
