Well, technically, he’s not the best dancer.
In fact, he’s probably the worst dancer I’ve encountered.
Actually, I know he’s the worst. By far.
He’s stepped on my toes multiple times.
He is surprisingly terrible. He cranes his neck up at me, and he clutches hold of my shirt, as if he thinks he might fallwith each dip if he doesn’t do that. I won’t let him fall though.
We glide around the apartment. Mama and Papa look delighted, and even Annika smiles.
Maybe she is wondering how Mateo can be such a terrible dancer even though this was one of our favorite activities. I smile when Mateo steps on my toe for the sixth time. What might Mateo have been like before we started to dance together? He would have been even worse.
I grin. No wonder Mateo was embarrassed about dancing in front of my family.
When the music ends, I put on another romantic song. Then another.
The doorbell rings, and Mateo leaps from my arms. He bounds toward the door, then picks up the receiver.
“Who is it?” I ask.
“Um…”
I narrow the distance between us. He covers the receiver with his hands. “Some of your teammates came to visit. But I can tell them you’re not well…”
“They know I am not well and are coming to see me anyway. Please tell them to come up.”
Mateo nods. “Okay.”
Mateo says something into the receiver, then puts it down.
To tell the truth, I am nervous about meeting my teammates. But it is very nice they wanted to visit me. I do not feel good about turning them away.
Mateo’s body flutters, and I pull him back into my arms. I squeeze him tightly, and his eyes do some sort of rolling back thing, as my parents and Gina coo in the distance.
My parents have been so accepting. It is wonderful. Truly wonderful.
Perhaps I should have told them ages ago that I was gay.
But then they might not have understood why I didn’t wantto tell anyone.
I told myself that there was no point in telling them anything when I did not have a boyfriend. That it was fine if I went through life speaking only of sports and small-talk. If I did not correct people when they asked me why I did not have a girlfriend and tell them that one day I wanted a boyfriend, that one day my deepest desire was to meet someone like Mateo.
Someone so beautiful and so sweet.
All I want to do is hold him in my arms and tell him how amazing he is.
The doorbell sounds again, and then a group of men my age stomp into the room. These must be my teammates.
They grin when they see me.
“You’re up!” one says.
“I am standing, yes.”
“Come in guys,” Mateo says, and I am relieved he is taking charge. “I’ll introduce you. Florian’s memory isn’t back yet.”
My teammates’ faces sober.
