‘Well, I’m not gonna wear it,’ I say flatly.
Hardwick leans back in his seat, his mouth a serious line but his eyes twinkling behind his specs.
‘Diversity and inclusion are indeed so important in the AFL, Hammer, yes,’ Katy interrupts, in a glossy newscaster voice. For a second, I wonder how she’s totally misunderstood me, but when I lock eyes with her, I realise she’s trying to save my arse. ‘Such a great comment you made earlier about bravery from LGBTQIA+ people, which I think we all recognise the AFL wants to celebrate. Thanks for joining us onThe Footy Bouncetoday!’
‘Cheers, Katy,’ I say, but my mic has already been turned off.
‘Coming up next, the match preview for today’s clash between the Doggies and Hawthorn – stay with us.’ Katy beams into the camera.
There’s a long pause, then a cameraman says, ‘We’re clear.’
Hardwick immediately sidles up beside me to ask me another question, but before he can, both Katy and Dunk pounce on him.
‘What the hell, Paul?’ Katy snaps. ‘Hanging him out to dry like that?’
‘Dog act,’ Dunk mutters. He looks at me. ‘Sorry, kiddo.’
‘I’m so sorry,’ Katy adds, to me. ‘That question wasnotmeant to be an ambush.’
Hardwick holds his hands up against both of them. ‘I’m a journalist, and I sniffed a story,’ he says. He smiles at me, ear to ear. ‘And it looks like we have a big one.’
My brain is still not functioning. The tech dude comes over and rips the mic roughly off my collar without looking me in the eye. It’s not like I said anything that bad, is it? I didn’t call anyone a faggot. I can’t get suspended for this, can I?
Usually, I would shake hands with the panellists, but Dunk and Katy are in an almost-shouting match with Hardwick, so the producer lady comes back to escort me out.
Tessa’s standing at the back of the studio, her face sheet-white as she nods solemnly with her phone to her ear. Uh oh.
As we pass the camera, the cameraman says to me, ‘Twenty-four is a hell of an age to ruin your career by being a homophobe.’
I stop in my tracks. I can’t believe he said that. I look at the producer lady to defend me. She tightens her mouth and raises her eyebrows at me like a schoolteacher.
I scowl at the cameraman and feel a darkness inside me pulsate out into the world. ‘Newsflash, mate,’ I say, ‘you’re on the wrong side of the camera for anyone to give a shit what you think.’
DM #2
Saw u on Fox Footy, Big Dog.
Now everyone’s seen what u are. But nobody knows what I know, do they?
I think u should walk back ur comments & apologise for what u said in that interview.
If u don’t, ur about to become the AFL’s first openly gay male player.
And not by choice.
Your Worst Nightmare
10
GIOCATORE
ZEKE
When I stumble into the living area on Saturday morning, everyone else is as hungover as I am. Charlie’s draped on the white leather sofa, watching a concert called Download Festival, his Gyroscope T-shirt littered with Maccas hash brown wrappers. Ahmed is on the opposite couch, eyes hidden by dark sunglasses as he sips a green juice that probably has kale in it.
The FIFO lodger I’ve only recently met, Rex, is out in the wooden-decked courtyard to the rear, visible through glass French doors. He’s a big brute in his thirties: a heavy vehicle mechanic, nearly seven feet tall, built like a brick shithouse, thick black beard, skin so sunburnt his sleeve tattoos are faded into an angry blur. His voice is deeper than Curtis’ but he almost never speaks. Charlie said Ahmed once claimed Rex had done jail time for assault, but Charlie isn’t sure if Ahmed was telling the truth or spreading rumours. Either way, Rex looks like a thug. He mostly sits in the courtyard smoking cigarettes and joints, and occasionally has a dude over. One time in the corridor I overheard him in his room calling a dude ‘faggot’. It would have scared me if it didn’t turn me on.
Rex looks tired from joining us at the Tool Shed’s opening night, but he’s gone hair of the dog, swigging from a can of Bundaberg rum.
