I paused, understanding I’d been caught.
“Wait, sorry,” I said, “I mean, I’m theco-captain. My other co-captain is right here beside me.”
I hooked an arm around Erik and squeezed. I should’ve felt tense over what I was about to do but didn’t. It all felt so right.
So far, no one in the Larkin Lions home crowd had left, which was great. Even better, they were all in their seats with their focus on us. I wanted everyone to see what was about to come—and hoped they would remember where they were when they saw it.
“I couldn’t have done it without this guy,” I said. “He’s been with me through thick and thin, but especially through thick. He’s put up with me and totally changed me as a person.”
I knew what I wanted to say. The words sat on the tip of my tongue, ready to be said, but I couldn’t push them out. When I looked into Erik’s eyes, I gained the strength to finally say the things that needed to be said.
“At the beginning of the season,” I said, “I couldn’t even stand this guy. He drove me completely insane. And then things changed. A wholelotof things changed, actually. He challenged me. I challenged him. And then there was so much that turned my life upside down.”
And then I paused. I could do it. I knew I could. The real question was whether Erik would still be okay with it. So far, the reporter hadn’t taken the microphone from my face, so I knew I would have the chance to drop my bombshell.
“There’s no moment better than now to say what I’m really feeling.” And then I turned to Erik and gazed deep into his beautiful eyes, falling in love with him all over again. “Erik, there’s no way I could’ve done this without you. I don’t think I can doanythingwithout you ever again. I love you more than you will ever know.”
His expression didn’t change. No anger or panic at my words. I needed to go for it. I leaned in, kissing his lips. He didn’t flinch, didn’t push me away, didn’t try to escape. He hooked an arm around my neck as we sank into the kiss. Our lips broke apart for a half-second, and I found a satisfied, approving look in his eyes, before we fell deeply into another kiss.
For a moment, everything fell away—the crowd, our teammates, and the ESPN reporter. It was Erik and me, and nothing else mattered. The crowd roared at the kiss, and Iwouldn’t take my lips from Erik De Ruiter for a very long time. When our lips broke apart again, I looked around and surveyed everyone’s expressions.
I found mild surprise on the faces of our teammates and coach, but I wouldn’t call it outright shock. More like they didn’t know the right way to respond. I even found a few smiles. I hooked an arm around Erik again, squeezing him tight, and kissed his cheek. I’d finally taken the leap and had no regrets.
The locker room was filled with hugs, laughter, shouts, music, and champagne. Oh, and it was filled with speeches too. Someone had mentioned cigars, but that we would have to smoke them outside.
I guess I’d dropped the real bombshell in front of the Larkin Lions crowd—and on live TV—but there was plenty more to be said in the locker room. That was fine by me. There was no way what Erik and I just did could happen without us being asked more about it. When everything quieted down, Ryan Detenbeck looked at Erik and me with an odd look of pride on his face.
“So, Kayden, Erik, is there something you’ve been wanting to tell us?”
I glanced at Erik for approval. When he gave a tiny nod, I went ahead and spoke for both of us.
“Yeah,” I said, “there’s a whole lot of stuff we’ve wanted to tell everyone. We just never really knew how.”
“So, you guys are…?”
“A couple. Yeah, that’s right. I think that’s what we are.”
Detenbeck cocked an eyebrow like he didn’t quite know how to take that but would allow us to tell as much or as little as wewanted. Were we a couple, or weren’t we? How long had we been together?
No one had judged us. I could read the room. If our relationship bothered anyone, I would’ve picked up on it immediately. All indications said that our teammates were proud of us for being unafraid to be our true selves.
So far, so good.
“Yeah, totally,” I jumped in. “At the start of the season, he stole my locker and acted like it was nothing. I wanted to slug him.”
“Dude, it was my locker, and you know it.”
“Give me a break, De Ruiter. It was so totally my locker, and you know it.”
And then I stopped and stared deep into those eyes again. Some things never change, I guess. In a weird way, I didn’t want them to. What I really wanted was to kiss him again, but that would have to wait.
“It’s amazing,” Braxton Wilson said. “All this time, you guys have been packing fudge and we didn’t even know it!”
He couldn’t suppress his good-natured laughter when he said it. Ryan Detenbeck grabbed out teammate and practically dragged him away. I knew what he meant, though. Braxton was just a teammate saying dumbass teammate things. It didn’t mean anything. I couldn’t help laughing a little myself.
“Real funny, Braxton,” Erik said, unable to hold back his own laughter. “But yeah, we’ve been together most of the season. I wanted to tell all of you about this, but Kayden wouldn’t let me.”
I elbowed Erik in the ribs hard enough for him to get his attention.
