Love At First Snapshot
Chapter 01 OLLIE
Lottie , Mr. Caldwell has requested you in his office as soon as you’re available.
I reread the text for probably the twentieth time since I saw it after our morning skate as I head further into the maze of offices that make up the Werewolves’ corporate side of things. I can't imagine working somewhere like this. Being trapped at a desk all day sounds like torture. I’m so glad I get to be on the ice instead.
I didn’t even know the team’s president was in town, and I have no idea why he’d want to talk to me so urgently. Fuck. Did he come back to Chicago just to talk to me? What the hell did I do? And why is Lottie the one texting me about it and not Mr. Caldwell’s assistant, Adrian? Lottie works for the PR department running the team’s socials. She’s actually super cool, and I would even say we’re friends, but if she’s telling me to meet Beckett Caldwell, that has to mean I’m in trouble, right? Some sort of PR crisis, but I don’t think I did anything.
Still, as I knock on Mr. Caldwell’s door, I can’t help but feel like I’m about to get in trouble for something. It’s not like I was ever sent to the principal’s office, I needed to be well-behaved in school if I wanted to be drafted, but that’s exactly what this feels like.
“Come on in!“
Adrian calls out, and whatever’s happening is definitely a big deal, because Mr. Caldwell, Adrian, Lottie, and her boss, Megan, are all waiting for me.
I stiffly take the open seat on the end of the small conference table that’s in the front of the large office, and quickly regret my position. Not only am I at the end, opposite Mr. Caldwell, but I feel like everyone is ganging up on me as they all turn to my way. “Whatever I did. I’m sorry,“
I blurt out, unable to hold back any longer from trying to please the people who could get in the way of my ice time.
I might not have done anything wrong, but I can’t stop the question playing over and over in my mind: Did someone find out I’m gay?
I’m always so careful. The profile I have on a hookup app doesn’t have any pictures of my face, and I don’t have any identifying scars or tattoos or anything. I always try to gauge if people are potential hockey fans before I meet up with them, and even then, I wear fake glasses and a hat whenever I do.
It’s ridiculous, but my agent has been drilling it into my head since I was fifteen that I needed to hide my sexuality until after I made it big in the NHL. He insists that he’s supportive and just looking out for my career, but I’ve been fed up with that plan since my first NHL game two years ago. Now that the Werewolves are playoff bound, hiding things feels less important than ever. Isn’t this “making it big” enough?
My phone isn’t blowing up, though, so maybe that isn’t what’s happening here. Thank god everyone in this room already knows, so if it is, at least they aren’t surprised.
Mr. Caldwell snorts a laugh, and I have no idea how to interpret that. He’s pretty intimidating with his icy-blue stare, dark hair, and tattoos peeking out of his collar and wrist cuffs. If I’m being perfectly honest, though, that only makes him hotter. That’s probably the biggest reason I’m always so nervous around the team’s president. He might be engaged now, not that I ever had a chance with him, but I can’t help acting like an idiot around people I’m attracted to, and Mr. Caldwell is exactly my type.
“Oliver, you didn’t do anything. You don’t need to be sorry,“
Adrian assures me. “We think it might be time to talk more about your coming out announcement, if you’re still wanting to do that.”
I immediately sink into the seat as my posture relaxes. “Really? I definitely still want to! It’s time?”
“Well, it’s time to start planning it,“
Megan, the head of the PR department, says. “Go ahead, Lottie.”
She sits up straighter, tucking a few of her braids that have the Werewolves’ team colors in them behind her ear before she begins. “Okay, so you know how you told me that you wanted to be the one to tell everyone so they know you aren’t ashamed of your sexuality or who you’re attracted to, but that you hate it has to be a big announcement at all?”
I nod. I told Lottie everything a few months ago after I finally came out to our team captain, Hudson Roy. He was so supportive, and he and Adrian are close—I’m pretty sure they’re more than the roommates they’re claiming to be, but that’s not my business—so I ended up telling Adrian, and eventually Mr. Caldwell as well.
They’ve all been amazing, and they’re excited for me to no longer have to hide who I am, but we all understand that even if I don’t want it to be, as the first out player at the NHL level, it will be a big deal to a lot of people, so we’ve been discussing the best approach for months now.
“So, I thought maybe we could include it more casually in a larger campaign to try to shift the focus,“
Lottie continues, obviously excited about whatever her idea is. “We all know that it still will be what gets the most attention, but if we include a suggestive photo with you and another man in a charity campaign, at least we’d also be drawing attention to a good cause!”
I know I’m so lucky to have the support that I do, and I’m so relieved to finally stop hiding that I know I’ll go along with whatever their plan is. Still, I can’t help but ask. “A suggestive photo? For charity?”
She nods enthusiastically. “Have you seen those stranger photoshoot sessions that are trending all over socials?”
I nod, pretty sure I know what she’s talking about. “When two people sign up to do a photoshoot with someone they’ve never met and then they end up making out by the end of it?“
I perk up as I realize what she’s suggesting. “You want to share pictures of me kissing a random guy for my announcement? That’s way more in-your-face than what I was picturing. Hell yeah, let’s do it!”
There are a few laughs from around the table. “I’d like to be very clear that you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to,“
Mr. Caldwell says seriously. “This is entirely up to you, and you can change your mind at any time. The team doesn’t want to pressure you into doing anything.”
I’m shaking my head before he even finishes. “No, I definitely like this option. How will it work?”
“I saw an ad for a photographer doing queer stranger sessions, and I reached out to see if they’d work with our idea. They’ve agreed to fit us into their busy schedule if you’re willing,“
Adrian explains. “We thought we could see if any of the other players wanted to volunteer too. These shoots don’t need to be romantic, even though the ones online tend to go that way, but if any of the single guys are interested, they’d obviously be matched with someone of their own orientation preference. Then maybe the guys in relationships could take non-romantic pictures with a surprised fan.”
“That sounds cool,” I agree.
“For fans to enter for a chance to be a part of the photoshoots, we thought we could ask for a small charity donation,“
Adrian continues. “They won’t know the specifics of what we have planned for yours, but they’ll know it’s for a special meet-and-greet experience with a player. Since we don’t want to give away our motivation for the campaign ahead of time by choosing a queer charity, we thought we could support the one that Hudson is on the board for that provides the community with stroke education and coordinates help for people who have had strokes and their families. We would match all donations, of course.”
Lottie takes over. “Most of the winners will actually be totally random. But we’re going to ask for a short intro video as a part of the submission, and if any of the fans volunteer that they’re gay or bi or into men, and especially if I think they’re your type,“
she adds the last part quieter, making me laugh, “we’ll ask them to come in.”
“Then when they get here, we’ll have them sign an NDA and see if they’ll agree to be a part of the plan! You definitely don’t need to kiss them or anything if you don’t want to, but if you happen to have chemistry with them to get a photo that has obvious tension or something, we can use that. And if it doesn’t work, then we can come up with another plan entirely, but if it does, we’ll release all the images on our website together with information on the charity. Yours will randomly be in the mix, and we can let the fans realize that you’re not as straight as they’d assumed.”
This definitely isn’t what I had imagined when I pictured my coming out announcement. But I really do love it.
Hopefully it’ll work.