“So, I’m in Ross’s car, fully expecting him to take my virginity, when I see Rafael pull up to Ross’s window on a little girl’s bicycle,screamingfor him to pull over.”
“Wait, wait, wait, back up. Rafael, where the hell did you get the bike?” Theo asked.
Rafael had a guilty look on his face when we said, “It was sitting in someone’s front lawn…”
“You stole a little girl’s bike?” Theo was fully out of his seatat this point.
“Don’t give me that! You heard Cody, Ross was gonna take his virginity. I went nuclear, alright?”
“He chased after you?” Quincy asked.
Cody nodded, then wrapped his arm around Rafael. “Isn’t it the hottest fucking thing?”
“So then what happened?” I asked.
Cody started cackling and tried to speak through his laughter. “Ross pulled over, and Rafael threatened to murder him, basically.”
“Then,” Rafael added in a very pointed tone, “I told you I have feelings for you.” He turned to the rest of the group and added, “See? I’m not a complete asshole.”
“Then we went home, and Rafael took my virginity.”
“That is the greatest story I’ve ever heard,” Quincy yelled while bouncing up and down on the sofa.
“It’s like a movie or something,” I chimed in. “It’s seriously unhinged yet completely romantic at the same time.”
Cody nodded and said, “Unhinged and romantic. That’s Rafael in a nutshell.”
The whole room keeled over laughing when Cody said that, and Rafael, even with his olive skin, turned the color of a tomato.
Everyone went on chatting and laughing. A conversation among Cody, Rafael, and Quincy started, and Theo leaned over and asked, “How are you doing, baby?”
“I’m better. I’m really sorry about today. That had to have freaked you the hell out. I didn’t mean to do that. It was very dramatic of me.” I truly was embarrassed. There were a million and one things I could have done that weren’t throwing myself into the lake.
Jesus, I’m a mess.
“I get it, baby. You don’t have to apologize. This is all insane, and I was having my own little internal freak-out when Cody told us that. It’s all just… a lot.”
“Yeah. It’s a lot.” I agreed.
Theo hugged me tighter and kissed my head. “Look, we’ll just lay low. This is hot gossip for now, but it’ll die down. Once we get back on the ice, this will all be behind us. We can avoid this online bullshit by just ignoring it. We’ll keep our heads down and move on from this.”
Keep my head down.
Don’t show anything.
Don’t let the world see me.
Just make myself invisible.
Fuck. That.
As I looked at my amazing boyfriend’s kind eyes, I realized I didn’t want to hide anymore. I was done pretending.
“I have an idea, actually, but only if you’re okay with it,” I said to Theo.
“What is it?”
It was time to be me, and it was time to set the record straight. I didn’t want to let these rumors destroy my reputation any more than they already had. Sure, we made a mistake, but weneverpropositioned or touched anyone. I never made anyone feel uncomfortable. In fact, I’d done everything in my power to hide myself so I didn’t ruffle any feathers.
