He gave Trevor a pointed glance and moved his hand under the table to Trevor’s knee and squeezed. Giving him as much of a heads-up as he could.
But maybe he didn’t really need one; Trevor had been wanting to do this for awhile now, and it had been Lane holding them back.
No more.
“Actually,” Lane said, “funny story about what a great team we are. Not just a team.”
“No?” Delia didn’t look like she had any idea what was coming and maybe that kind of sucked, Lanewasworried she’d be shocked and even angry, but Tom was straight-up smirking now, so clearly he had some concept of what Lane was about to say.
Trevor’s hand found Lane’s under the table and squeezed it hard.
At the last second he thought maybe his voice was going to fail him, not because he didn’t want to say the words, but because he wanted to say the words too much. Like he’d been holding them back for an eternity, and now that he didn’t have to, it wasn’t just Lane wanting to say them, but Laneneedingto say them.
He pulled their intertwined hands up and set them gently on the table.
“Not just a team, no,” Lane admitted.
His mom’s jaw dropped. “You’re what? What is this?”
She didn’t sound pissed off, at least, just shocked. Concerned, maybe, that she was putting two and two together and getting five.
“Lane and I are together,” Trevor said.
Trust him to cut right through everything and lay it out there. He’d been the brave one here, this whole time. Telling Lane the truth about his sexuality. Telling Lane what he wanted. Pushing them forward, when it was something they’dbothwanted.
God, Lane loved him so much.
If Trevor could do all of that, then Lane could not just meet him halfway but give a little back, too.
“Yeah,” Lane said, “Trevor’smyguy, now. Never thought it would happen, but we got there, eventually.”
If Lane had thought Trevor had looked happy after scoring the touchdown, it was nothing compared to how thrilled he looked right now, grinning at Lane like he was the most amazing person in the whole world.
Trevor nudged him. “Love beingyourguy,” he said softly.
“You’re not joking,” Delia said uncertainly. For a second, Lane’s heart skipped a beat, but then he told himself that she didn’t lookangry, just mystified. Shocked, really.
Tom looked over at his mom. “I really don’t think they are,” he said.
“Wait,wait,” she said, “you’renotsurprised.”
Tom just shrugged. “I’ve suspected for awhile that Lane had a soft spot for Trevor.”
“What,” she said. “Awhile? And you never said anything!”
“It was their business, and I assumed they’d figure it out without us interfering, and look, they did,” Tom told her.
“We did,” Trevor confirmed. “But you should’ve said something. I spent too much time wondering what I was thinking. What I wasfeeling.”
Lane shrugged. “But we’re here now.” He looked over at his mom. “I tried not to for a long time,” he admitted, which washard, but the point of coming clean was tocome clean. And not just about all the convenient, easy-to-admit shit, butall of it.
“Oh, honey.” Delia’s eyes softened. She didn’t look upset, she actually looked distraught. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Maybe, maybe not, but he’d certainly felt that way at the time, like it was all resting on his shoulders, and if he admitted that kind of weakness, if he screwed up the best thing that had ever happened to his mom, he’d never have forgiven himself.
The risk had felt terrifying enough that he hadn’t been willing to bet on it.
And maybe he shouldn’t admit that all to her, but again, thewhole pointwas that Lane didn’t want to hide anymore. Not from their parents, not from the world.
