“What codeword?”
“You know. You want to Netflix and chill, right?”
I lifted an eyebrow, mostly because that was the dumbest thing I’d ever heard. The only thing I found stupider was that he honestly seemed to think he could fool me so easily.
Now Kayden lifted his shirt over his head and tossed it aside, revealing that perfectly sculpted physique. I knew his restraintwouldn’t last forever…or more than five minutes. I would have to exercise willpower for both of us.
“Put your shirt back on, Kayden.”
He froze, looking a little stunned. Then he picked up his shirt but didn’t put it back on.
“Erik,” he said. “Bro. You weren’t really serious when you said you wouldn’t have any more sex with me until?—”
“I was serious, dude. I’ve got to protect myself.”
“But you can’t resist forever. Look at you, you’re getting a raging hard-on.”
He pointed towards my crotch. I looked down. No hard-on.
“You can argue with me all you want. I’m sticking to my guns.”
I waited for a look of frustration to appear on Kayden’s face. I pictured him pulling his hair out by the fistful and screaming maniacally because I was driving him crazy. None of those things happened, which felt like a small blessing.
Kayden glanced around the room, looking hesitant, but I knew he had plenty to say.
“Don’t you know there will be consequences to starting a relationship?” he asked. “I mean, people are going to find out.”
“Not if we keep it secret.”
“I’m serious, Erik. The whole team will find out. Maybe the whole school.”
“So?”
His eyes widened only a little.
“I think it’s a bigger deal than you do,” he said. “And I’m worried about how the guys will react to it.”
“Why do you care about what they think?”
“Hold on a second, timeout. Why wouldn’t I care what they think?”
“If we’re in a relationship, that’s our business and no one else’s.”
“Right,” Kayden said. “So, they don’t need to know.”
“But the whole point is we shouldn’t have to hide. We shouldn’t feel ashamed.”
Kayden didn’t respond.
I didn’t mean to be such a pain. That really was how I felt. On the other hand, I couldn’t deny that he had a point. Of course I’d considered that stuff. The world was in a better place now, even for athletes, but there would always be haters. We could even lose friends for being our authentic selves. I wanted to think that would be worth it, though.
“Who knows?” I asked. “Maybe they’ve known about us all along.”
“Fat chance.”
“You know we’re going to have to take a step like this eventually, don’t you?”
He shrugged like he knew but probably hated to admit it.
