“Do you want me to?”
He shrugs. “I don’t particularly want to go, but I was told it wasn’t optional. So, yeah, I think you should be forced to come with me.”
I laugh before letting out a dramatic sigh. “Fine, I’ll go.”
He laughs too. “You don’t really need to if you have plans or something.”
“Hot date with myself, actually. I was hoping to be asleep in the next hour.” I should be scheduling real dates, but this morning when I was telling myself to go through other profiles on the dating app to try to get matches, it sounded way too overwhelming to do on my own.
Adrian was so helpful with setting it all up, maybe he’ll help me with this part too?
“Come on, you’re not that old,” Ollie teases, lightly shoving my shoulder. “You should be going on a real date.”
“Oh yeah, and what about you?”
His expression falls, and his face pales. “Me?”
Shit. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him look like that before. Almost like he’s scared? I hold my hands up in surrender. “Whoa, whatever I just said to make you that upset after a hat trick, I’m sorry.”
“Fuck,” he mutters, burying his face in his hands. “Why am I so awkward?”
“Hey, man, you’re not awkward.” I shift closer to him on the bench so I can put a comforting hand on his back. “What is it?”
He looks back up at me, and then glances around the empty locker room. “It’s nothing. Sorry, I misunderstood.”
“You seemed pretty upset for a second, are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” He glances at the door again, so I try a different approach. “Maybe I could drive you to the bar? If you change your mind, we can chat on theway.”
He takes a deep breath before finally nodding. “Yeah, okay. I probably should have told you by now anyway.”
Well, that sounds ominous.
“Perfect. You ready to go?” He nods so I grab my stuff and head toward the exit. After walking in silence for a bit, I decide to change the topic, hoping small talk will get him to relax before whatever it is he wants to tell me. “Any idea if staff are coming?” I ask.
“Not sure. Is there someone specific you’re hoping is there?”
“Just wondering if I should text Adrian that I’ll be home late or if he’ll also be out.”
He stops walking. “You’re still living with Adrian?” Ollie sounds shocked, but I have no idea why.
“Uh, yeah, I would have mentioned it if I moved,” I say with a short laugh as we start walking again. “What’s that look for?” He doesn’t say anything, staring at me like he has no idea what I’m talking about, but when we get to my car, he shakes his head and gets in.
“Seriously, what did I say wrong?” I push when we're settled and I’m pulling out of the lot.
“Nothing… I just—” His shoulders sink before he turns to look at me. “Can we be honest with each other? Like totally off the record? I feel like we’ve known each other for long enough, and we’re friends, not just teammates, right? You’re not going to say anything?”
“Of course I wouldn’t say anything.” I assure him, although I have no idea what he’s talking about, so hopefully I’m not agreeing to anything illegal.
“Are you dating him?”
“Dating who?” I ask. I thought he was about to tell me some big secret, so I’m surprised by the question, although as I say that, I immediately realize I know who he’s talking about. “Adrian?”
“Yes, Adrian! The gay man you’ve been living with for almost a month now.”
Why would he think we’re dating? Because he’s gay? I thought we went over this… “No, we’re just friends,” I remind him. I’d like to lecture him again about making those kinds of assumptions, but he already seems upset, so I’ll save that for a better time when he’ll be more likely to listen to my feedback.
Ollie hangs his head back against his seat with a groan. “And we’re being honest here. This isn’t a ‘just friends’ situation that’s hiding more?”
“Yeah, I’m being honest. Why are you even asking?” I’m focusing on the road, but in my periphery, I see him turn to look at me again.
