“Hey,” I murmur, getting up from the chair to wrap my arms around Olli’s shoulders. For several moments, I hug him, humming quietly, also to keep my mind together.TheSebastian Davenport, quarterback of B-Tech’s football team, never struck me as someone who’d so much as consider getting with a guy, threesome rumors be damned.
Especially not with someone as out and proud as Olli.
Not to mention, I cannot even imagine what my friend and roommate saw in that ever-frowning face.
“Ugh,” Olli eventually huffs, rubbing one hand over his face. “I don’t even…it’s just so stupid!”
“Guys, huh?” I mutter, encouraged by the half-laugh-half-snort that escapes Olli.
“Yeah.” Olli groans. “Yeah. Promise you’ll look after yourself, okay? I don’t want to be hard on Micah, but no matter how it’ll go between you two, football isn’t an inclusive or tolerant space.”
I bite my tongue to not jump to Micah’s defense, because this isn’t really about him. Olli’s hurt, and from what I’ve seen of Davenport, I can believe that no matter what went down between them, he probably put that scowl to good use.
“I…it isn’t like that between us. Like I said, I haven’t even—” I flinch when the door opens behind me, and Barb enters the office.
“There you are! Are our little patients big enough for their vaccines already?” she asks, all cheer.
“Yeah! Absolute troopers, the lot of them.” Olli neatly picks up the conversation, smiling at her like someone flipped a switch. I quickly turn back to the desk to gather myself and sort the tables to make sure everything is ready for the vet. Now that Barb is back, there’s no way to finish my talk with Olli, so I return to the front desk with even more questions to keep me occupied for the rest of my shift.
Micah, July 31st
“Maaan, it’s good to be back here!”
I don’t have enough strength left in me to respond to Evander’s enthusiastic statement. Instead, I slump onto the bench in front of my locker, completely drained. My arms are shaking just as badly as my knees, and it takes a second try to uncap my water bottle. I greedily gulp the water down while the locker room slowly fills, player after player trotting in with red cheeks and hanging shoulders. There are a lot of new faces among them—some will stick around, and some will disappear before the start of the season. I know that, as their captain, I should make an effort to get to know the rookies and integrate them into the team, but I can’t be bothered today.
“Think Coach is legit trying to kill us this season?” Felix groans as he sinks onto the bench beside me. It’s Seb’s place, but it doesn’t matter—he’s still out there running extra drills for once again being late for practice.
“He’s trying to kill Seb for sure,” Evander mutters, his excitement suddenly gone.
“Someone should talk to him about this,” Felix points out, his knee bumping against mine.
“Seb or Coach?” I ask since I already know whosomeoneis.
“Seb,” Evander suggests, the exact moment Felix says, “Coach.” I raise my brows at them, causing Felix to sigh.
“Both, probably. I don’t think Coach realizes Seb hasproblems. And I’m worried about him. Like…did you hear from him at all while you were gone? He barely showed his face around here, man.”
I bite the inside of my cheek, trying to press down on my guilty conscience. No, I didn’t hear from Seb at all over the summer, and yes, maybe that should’ve worried me, but with everything going on—the farm work, my father, Mia, Mike, andLinden—I didn’t pay it enough attention.
Putting my elbows on my thighs, I bury my sweaty face in my palms. “I’ll try to talk to them both,” I promise. “But not today.”
“Something wrong between Seb and you?” Evander asks, sinking down on my right.
I chuckle at his question, so carefully worded; it reminds me of a child asking their parents why they fought.
“Not really; it’s just…I’m mad at him,” I admit, my voice kept to a murmur. I probably don’t need to bother, though. Everywhere around us, lockers slam shut. Somewhere on the other side of the room, our fullback is playing rap music on his cell phone. The guys around him start vibing, the gloomy mood slowly fading away.
“He got my car fixed and didn’t tell me,” I explain before they can ask. To be fair, I’m not sure it was Seb, but I can’t think of anyone else. I left my keys with him since I knew I wouldn’t need them on the farm, and he could use them to look after the kittens when Olli wasn’t around. When we came back, I found my keychain on the living room table, and my car stood exactly where I’d left it, so I didn’t bother trying to use it. It wasonly yesterday when I had to make room in our driveway for Vince’s Mazda that my little ball of scrap metal started smoothly, purring like a cat. No weird noises, no more coughing up dust.
“Aw shit, Seb,” Felix groans while Evander shrugs.
“He probably meant well, and it’s not like he doesn’t have the money. He saw it needed fixing and thought you’d appreciate it.”
“I’d have appreciated it if he’daskedme first,” I huff. It’s not the first time something like this has happened. And I know he can afford it, but I don’t. I almost cried with relief when the scholarship money dropped into my bank account last week. My first action was to send Dad the sum for his generator, survival kit, or what-the-fuck-ever, just to have some peace until he hits me with his next idea. But I still need to budget for a new dress shirt for game days—the suit is still fine, but Marisol accidentally shrank one of my good shirts in the wash last season, and I anticipate my cell giving up on me any day. On top of that, I can now also worry about paying Seb back.
“Would you have let him fix it for you had he talked to you first?” Evander asks. We’ve managed to get back onto our feet by now, slowly peeling our jerseys off the pads and getting out of our cleats.
“No,” I growl, impatiently tearing at the knotted string that is holding my pads together.
