“Just the football,” I say. “I can get myself home, and Mom will want me to have dinner there.” Ellis is being nice, but I don’t need him to try and save me.
“Your parents are okay with it?” Abbie asks.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Okay, then. Climb in.”
Ellis opens the back door, and for the first time, I notice the boy there—his brother, I assume. He looks younger than Ellis, but not by much. He’s got blond hair that’s longer and messier than Ellis’s. He’s wearing all black, has headphones on and a scowl on his face. There’s a camera on his lap—a really nice one.
“Will you sit in the back, Lucas?” Ellis asks him, and the kid climbs to the next row so Ellis and I can sit in the center.
Abbie engages us in conversation on the way to their house, and while Ellis and I both talk to her, Lucas keeps to himself.
I get more and more nervous as we pull into a neighborhood with houses bigger than any I’ve ever seen in person, bigger than any I’ve ever been inside of. The entryway alone could swallow our whole apartment, with its huge, curving staircase and an enormous chandelier dangling over our heads.
“No, I don’t want to play football with Ellis,” Lucas tellsAbbie. “I’m gonna go take photos.”
Abbie cups his cheek. “I wasn’t going to ask you. Be good. Don’t stay out late.”
Clearly, there’s some issue there.
Abbie says she’ll start dinner, and Ellis leads me through his massive house, which I have no business being in, and out to the backyard.
“My brother is really good at football but hates it. He refused to play this year. He’s in eighth grade, and he’s already had talk about him. It’s like, a whole thing,” Ellis explains.
“How can anyone hate football?” I ask, making Ellis chuckle.
“Right? My dad gets pissed because Lucas wastes his talent, ya know? And then there’s me, trying but remaining shitty no matter how much he practices with me. As a professional football coach, he had higher hopes for us.” Ellis digs the tip of his toe into the grass.
My gaze shoots to his face.Professional football coach…The pieces begin to fall into place. Ellis Blake. Head coach of Kansas City. Our city. Ellis’s dad istheEllis Blake.
“Holy shit.”
His nose wrinkles up. “You didn’t know?”
I shake my head.
“Oh. I figured that’s why you wanted to hang out with me.”
“No.” A picture begins to form. “Wait. Why would you want to hang out with me if you thought I was only doing it because of who your dad is?”
Ellis shrugs. “I’m used to it.”
“That’s not me. That’s not who I am.”
He smiles. “Okay.”
I smile back. “Okay.”
We play football in the backyard for over an hour. I mostlytry to help Ellis work on his skills. No idea how I expect to make him improve when his coach father can’t, but I want to. It’s common knowledge he’s on the team because of his father, and I can’t imagine how that feels to Ellis.
He talks me into staying for dinner, but I get a little annoyed when he tries to convince me to let his mom drive me home. I don’t need Ellis to take care of me. I just want to be his friend.
And that’s exactly what I become—his best friend, and he mine. Our families couldn’t be more different, yet his mom befriends mine. His dad loves talking football with me, playing with me, helping me out with what to expect and how the league works, but he’s not nice to Lucas, that’s for sure. The two are like oil and water. We all know he wishes Ellis had Lucas’s talent, and I don’t understand how someone who’s as good as Lucas doesn’t want football.
But he doesn’t. He’s always carrying his camera around or getting into trouble. He and Ellis don’t get along all that well, and sometimes I feel sad for Lucas. The only person in their family who doesn’t ever give Lucas a hard time is their mom.
Our senior year of high school, Ellis becomes my boyfriend. It was a whole thing at first, but I’ve known I’m bi since I was young, and dating Ellis feels natural, like this thing I’m supposed to do. Plus, when I make it in professional football, I want to do it as an out bisexual man, even though Ellis Sr. thinks it’s a bad idea.
