“Howdoyou feel?”
“Wait, how doeshefeel?”
“He likes him, duh.”
“Well, duh.”
Bash had rolled his eyes, but secretly enjoyed how invested Robbie and Clarisse were. It was nice knowing that, if there were a world where he and Adonis could be a couple, their friends would approve.
The crowded teammates weren’t getting any quieter, and finally, Bash stood up on the couch, braced by Robbie’s hands on his ankles. “OY!” he shouted. “SHUT UP AND WATCH THE TV, OR PLEASE LEAVE.”
Everyone shut up and watched the TV.
The opening ceremony was, as was expected, a gorgeous spectacle. When Team USA appeared, Bash once again shushed everyone in the apartment. The camera briefly focused on Adonis’s face, walking jauntily with the rest of the team in their smart uniforms. Adonis was grinning widely, his eyes bright.
Clarisse leaned across Robbie to squeeze Bash’s arm. “You have heart eyes,” she said with a delighted smile. “And it’s adorable.”
“I donothave heart eyes.”
“You absolutely do,” Robbie said in solemn agreement.
“Fuck off,” Bash said jovially, and his friends laughed.
When the ceremony finally finished, the guests in Bash’s apartment began to disperse. Some of them sat at the bar or at the kitchen table, picking at their snacks and continuing their conversations. Some said goodbye, disappearing into the cold afternoon. Robbie and Clarisse began to clean up, and Bash waved at them to stop that. He would take care of it.
“I’m going to call Adonis,” he whispered to Clarisse. “Do you want to talk to him?”
“I’ll talk to him later,” she said with a small smile. “You enjoy talking to him.”
Bash threw on a coat and went outside into the snowy afternoon. The sky was pure white, and there were several inches of snow on the ground. Light flurries fell, giving the landscape a soft effect. From Bash’s apartment, he could see just the edges of Bellford’s main campus. In the snow, it was harder to see.
He opened Adonis’s contact on his phone and called him.
It took several rings, but Adonis picked up. He sounded breathless. “Hey!” he said.
“Hey, TV star,” Bash said. “How is it being famous?”
Adonis, on the other side of the world, laughed. “I’m hardly famous.”
“I would say you are. I just saw your face on my TV.”
“How did I look?”
“Very handsome.”
“You’re too kind.”
“I only speak the truth. How is it going over there?”
“The other athletes are a lot nicer than I expected. I don’t think I needed to be as worried as I was.”
“That is a good lesson for all of us, at all times.”
“It is, isn’t it.”
“How’s the village?”
“It’s fine. It feels a lot like being in a dormitory, again. It’s not as comfortable as your apartment.”
