Chapter 37
AHMED GIVES ME THIS smirky half smile as he tilts his head toward the stairs, like, ?Corre, puto! And, as I do just that, he pats my back, giving me a “Good luck” as I rush down to the second floor and then the first floor and—
“Hi,” Vale says, standing near the front door with P é rez and Nguyen nearby.
“I—hi.” I force myself to take slow steps toward him, as if they didn’t hear me sprinting and nearly falling down the stairs just now.
I give my boys eyes that are telling them I’ve got this from here .
And both of them, too, give me a solidarity back pat on their way up, leaving the two of us alone.
I try my best to stay cool. To be prepared for the worst even if I’m hoping for the best. If Vale is only stopping by to give me a solid “No thanks” on us getting back together, I will respect that. I’ve got my boys, my Pops; they’ll all comfort me through the heartbreak.
But every second that goes by with neither of us saying anything is making it harder to remain cool. I’ve got this. I’ll survive. Just let me down easy, Vale.
And every second that goes by in silence has me more and more confident that that’s what’s going to happen. I’m almost sure of it. I—
I start to see a smile growing on Vale’s face.
A soft one. Not the sort of beaming smile that first caught me off guard and woke up some feelings that had been asleep and buried deep down inside me for a while.
But the kind of smile that is just as good.
Just as beautiful. That made me fall so hard for him.
It’s warm and cozy and looks like the feeling of holding him.
The kind of smile he gives me when we’re lying in bed cuddling.
“So,” he starts. “You think we could have a happily ever after?”
“I … I think ever after is a long time. A real long time.” My entire body is buzzing.
I want to hold him. Just his hand, even.
A finger. I want it so badly I have to remind myself to breathe.
And thinking about it—about a few months, half a year, a year, maybe even more than that—my own smile stretches across my face.
“But I know that I’m not done being in love with you, Vale.
And I could see myself being in love with you for a real long time.
I don’t want to rule out happily ever after. If you’re down.”
He takes those couple of steps left between us, slowly raising his hands, letting them wrap around the back of my neck. The tension in my body, from head to toe, all goes away at his touch. As his eyes, beautiful and brown, stare right into mine.
He gives me a small nod.
And he kisses me.
And I kiss him back, my hands landing at his waist. Again and again and again. Enough for him to (hopefully) know how sorry I am. How much I missed him. How much I want him. How ready I am to show him off to the world.
“I could see myself being in love with you for a long time too.”
“And I want to tell you again, I’m sorry. You—you’ve been such a great friend and tutor and boyfriend, and I let you go way too easily. I’m not doing that again. I’m keeping you. No one is taking you away from me again.”
“You promise?”
“With all my heart. My entire heart. I’m going to fight for us. For me. And I—I was actually going to do something really big to hopefully get you back but—”
“I beat you to it?”
“Kinda.”
“What were you going to do?”
“Hadn’t thought it all the way through yet.
Boba, for sure, was going to be involved.
And, like, maybe get you to show up to the pitch, have flowers waiting for you where you always sat at my games.
Lots of flowers, even. And I’d be in the middle of the field holding up a giant Bluetooth speaker that’s playing a really romantic song.
Something slow, heartfelt. Had a few options. Maybe a whole playlist.”
“Yeah, that definitely would’ve worked on me.”
“I can still go do it. If you want to give me a few hours, I can go by a couple H-E-B’s, buy out all their flowers.
Honestly, everyone was asking—my boys here, our new squad captain, my Pops—and they probably expect me to come back to them with a really epic story about how I earned your forgiveness and—”
Vale laughs, his hand going to my chin, forcing my mouth to stop talking and pay attention to his.
“As long as you really mean it,” he says quietly, his lips close to mine. “That’s all I need. That this time we’re not letting go.”
“I promise. You’re stuck with me, baby. You good with that?”
“I can think of worse things,” he teases.
“You know it’s not always going to be easy though, right? People are going to have a lot to say about us. About you. And it’s only going to get louder the further I go.”
“Then we’ll fight for each other. For us. ”
“For us.”
This time when we kiss, it’s all about how much I want him. How I want to make up for every day I haven’t been able to kiss him. Every time I’ve dreamed about it but couldn’t. And I—
A loud, rowdy cough comes from behind me, making both of us jump.
And then, through the coughing, P é rez’s muffled voice says, “Blow Vale’s back out now.
” And then more coughs as he’s all, “Sorry. Allergies. North Carolina’s got lots of allergies.
Think I brought them back with me. Need some Benadryl or something. ”
“Go to your fucking room, P é rez.”
Vale laughs, bringing my attention back to him. The way he looks at me, his eyes drinking me in, his hand rubbing my shoulders and going down to my chest, he’s got me thinking my teammate might be on to something here.
And that I want him to look at me like this for a long, long time.
“Actually, I heard you got MVP or something like that?”
“ MOP , technically. Most Outstanding Player.”
“Well, I can think of a couple ways to congratulate you, show you how outstanding I think you are, but it’d probably be better we go up to your room.”
“Oh yeah?” I say, my brow perking up as my hands head back toward his ass. “What about … would you want to stay the rest of the weekend? I think an achievement this big might need a couple days to really celebrate fully.”
“You going to remember to lock the door this time?”
“Yes. Definitely. Will be locking that door. Will put a chair and my desk and dresser and all my books in front of it too.”
“Dick him down, papi!”
“Rock his world, Gabo!”
“ P é rez. Fucking—Ahmed. I swear to—when I do, multiple times between now and Monday morning, I’m not apologizing for anything y’all hear.”
Vale lets out a hmm as his arms fall and one of his hands takes mine. And, damn, that feels good. I can’t wait to hold his hand all the time. Everywhere. In front of everyone.
“And that paper that’s due Monday?”
“Just finished and sent it to Coolidge. Solid A material. I’m officially done with Intro Philosophy.
” I know he can see how relieved I am to finally be saying those words.
And, when I come closer, my lips at his ear, the way his hand grips mine tighter nearly has me too impatient to keep talking.
But—“Now it’s time to show my tutor how much I appreciate him.
All weekend. Maybe celebrate the future A by you handing over your A and I’ll give you this—”
“I get it,” Vale groans, acting like he’s not into where that was going. “All y’all futbolistas are the same. You’re really no better than Orlando, you know that?”
“You hate it because you’re into it,” I say back, biting my lip while I smirk. “But I’m your favorite futbolista still, right?”
Vale shakes his head, tugging on my arm as he starts walking toward the stairs. “Come on, National Champion, MOP. And favorite futbolista.”
Not to boost my own ego too much, but I do rock Vale’s world.
Got his eyes rolling back and toes curling until he’s barely able to speak.
The feeling of being inside him again is so good I can’t help the I love you s that come out of my mouth.
I want him to hear them. I want him to know that I mean those words.
And, afterward, when we hear an “ ?A huevo, Gabo! That’s my boy!
” coming from underneath us, Ahmed cackling from across the hall, and Nguyen’s “Shut up!” I can’t help but laugh into Vale’s neck while catching my breath, resting on top of him, inhaling that cologne, arms wrapped around him as I pull him with me so we’re lying on our sides, legs tangled together.
He turns around to face me and my hands go right to his ass that I just got through lovingly wrecking and am already looking forward to lovingly wrecking again as soon as possible.
I kiss that spot on his neck, gently sucking it, slowly making a mark on his skin, the sound of his quiet moans going straight from my ears to my dick.
I’m going to be so annoying about it later. Yeah, I did that. To my boyfriend.
And give me a solid five minutes and some water, and I’ll do it all over again.
At least twice today. All weekend too. And when we’re not, I’ll fall asleep sharing a pillow with him and wake up cuddling him.
I’ll get him those flowers—I don’t know what kind of flowers they have for sale right now besides poinsettias, but I’ll find some.
I’ll watch him walk around in just his underwear and one of my kits.
We’ll binge episodes of that X-Men series where they’re all in high school.
Maybe I’ll even finally take him to the beach.
I’ll bring my boys and my Pops back a story that will top any romance ever told.
“I can’t wait to hold your hand everywhere we go,” I say as my lips softly press at his. “And kiss you when I walk you to class. And see you wear my jacket anytime you want. And take you out.” In between each line, another kiss. “And go through lots and lots of lube.”
He chuckles into my lips, kissing me back. “I like the sound of that.”
If this is what it’s like to have it all, to have my worlds so close and be worried that they might violently collide, only to realize they can coexist; if this is what I have to look forward to for the next semester and next year or even the next three and a half years (and, who knows, maybe forever after); if this is what greatness looks like—Vale, naked on my bed and my Most Outstanding Player trophy on my desk, only a couple feet away—if this is existing in the sun and never looking back, the romantic and the dreamer in me will happily take it.
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” Vale whispers back, his lips coming to my cheek, my nose, my forehead, my lips. “I love you, mi futbolista.”