"Yeah. Ro says the hotel's only ten minutes away. They'll come by tomorrow before their flight."
Sarah dried her hands on a dish towel and kissed Derek on the cheek. "I'm going to check on Thomas. You two good?"
"We're good," Derek said.
She disappeared down the hall. The stairs creaked under her footsteps, and then a door closed.
Derek grabbed two beers from the fridge and handed me one. We moved to the couch without discussing it, the way we'd done a hundred times before. The refrigerator hummed. The heater kicked on with a low rumble.
Derek took a long pull of his beer and stared at the blank TV screen.
"Good party," he said.
"Yeah. Thanks for doing this."
"Sarah did most of it."
"Still."
We sat in silence for a moment. The beer was cold in my hand, condensation dripping down the glass. Somewhere outside, a car passed on the street, headlights sweeping briefly across the ceiling.
"Can I ask you something?" I said.
"Sure."
"Ro and Chase tonight. What did you think?"
Derek shrugged. "They seem happy. Relaxed."
"Yeah." I picked at the label on my beer, working a corner loose with my thumbnail. "I kept watching them. The way they touched each other without checking to see who was looking."
Derek was quiet, waiting.
"Ro didn't choose to come out," I said. "Someone else made that decision for him. He lost everything. His career, his team, his reputation. They traded him like he was damaged goods."
"But?"
"But he seems different now. Lighter. Like he finally put something down."
The label tore. I rolled the wet paper between my fingers.
"I've been thinking about it," I said. "Coming out. Publicly."
Derek nodded slowly, like he'd been expecting this for a while.
"Okay," he said. "What's making you think about it now?"
"I don't know. A lot of things." The beer label was in shreds now, scattered on my knee. "Watching them tonight. Thinking about Joel. Being tired of missing him and not being able to say that to anyone except you and Sarah and him." I exhaled. "Being tired in general."
"Have you talked to Joel about it?"
"Not yet. Wanted to figure out what I was actually circling first."
Derek was quiet for a moment. He turned his beer bottle in his hands, considering.
"You know Sarah and I will support you," he said. "Whatever you decide. If you want to stay private, that's your business. Nobody gets to tell you when or how or if."
"It scares me," I said. "I'd be lying if I said it didn't."
