21. Twenty-One
Twenty-One
Seth
I bite my lip rereading the message on my phone.
Maddy: A little warning might have been nice. Just saw you and my brother. I need to bleach my eyes after seeing the two of you kiss in the parking lot.
In typical Maddy fashion, I can read the sarcasm in her message. There’s a part of me that knew she wouldn’t be bothered by what’s happening between me and Ty, but it still didn’t feel like my place to tell her. Ty hasn’t come out to anyone in his family as far as I know. Things between us are on a friends-with-benefits basis even if we did kinda go on a date. It complicates things that Maddy saw us.
Me: Didn’t want to out him before he got the chance. This is still new to him, being attracted to guys.
A knock on my door pulls my attention from my phone. When I open the door, I see my frat brother Keith. “Hey man, just got done getting the okay for a party after your next game. Boss man said we’re good.”
And now I’m kinda wishing I held off on immediately following through on Ty’s idea of a party. We need to have a talk, and that isn’t going to be the best option. Sure, it’s a good excuse for the two of us to sneak off to my room and lose our clothes, but we’re avoiding the inevitable. Especially now that Maddy knows. Maybe I should just take the opportunity to ask him to be my boyfriend. From the playful way he reacted earlier, it seemed like he might be into the idea. He didn’t freak out about the two of us being on a date.
“Thanks, man. I’ll help plan in a bit, I just uh, need a moment.” The chime of my phone getting a new message distracts me again.
Maddy: Okay, fine. I know how to keep a secret. I thought you two hated each other from the way you’re always bickering. Should’ve known it was just all that sexual tension.
There’s a smirking emoji at the end of her text. No point in replying to this one. Besides, it’s not like she’s wrong. On my side, at least. Maddy might give me shit, but I know she’s not going to out Ty.
Koch sits up, pressing a quick kiss to his boyfriend’s lips each time he completes a crunch. Bennett laughs, not seeming to care that they’ve caught the attention of a few guys on the team, including me. It’s probably a good thing Ty isn’t holding my feet because I’m tempted to copy Koch. I look over my shoulder in the other direction, catching Tyler’s eyes as he looks past me at Koch. His cheeks blush the slightest bit as his eyes meet mine, and I wonder if he had the same thought.
Jackson tightens his grip on my feet, and we look at each other before his eyebrows raise in question. I don’t know if he caught me looking at Tyler or watching the lovebirds. Either way, an idea pops in my head. I pucker my lips and blow Jackson a kiss on the next sit-up. A few of the guys near us laugh as Jackson shoves my shoulder in return.
“Knock it off,” Bennett chides his boyfriend. He seems more bothered by the audience than his boyfriend.
Koch sighs, rolling his eyes, but he doesn’t kiss him again. Practice continues, but my mind is elsewhere. Watching how carefree Bennett and Koch are with their relationship has me wishing that I could have the same with Ty. Of course, that means that first we’d have to admit we’re doing more than hooking up.
Coach blows his whistle, and the team switches to the next drill. I fall in line beside Ty as we run laps. “Can we talk after practice?” I ask. Hopefully Maddy hasn’t said anything she shouldn’t. I’m hoping to tell Tyler first that she saw us.
Ty glances at me before looking forward, keeping pace with the rest of the team. “Sure.”
I wipe the sweat off my forehead with the back of my hand as I step into the locker room. Coach worked us hard today in preparation for the game on Friday. I know the stakes are high as we approach the last couple of games of the season, but I’m starting to look forward to the offseason. I’m on autopilot as I strip off my clothes and grab my things to shower, following my routine as usual. I almost don’t notice Ty taking the shower next to me until the curtain shifts, showing me his naked ass. My dick jumps to attention, remembering the last time we fooled around in these showers. There are too many people for a repeat, but Ty catches my look with a smirk on his face as he wraps his hand around his cock. He gives himself one firm stroke and blows me a kiss before he turns around and pulls the curtain into place, blocking my view.
Even if he isn’t ready to come out, Ty has gained a lot of confidence since we started fooling around. I’m loving seeing our old playful taunting rear up again as he becomes more comfortable with the new aspect of our relationship. Even if it means I’m hard as a rock in the gym shower and trying to will my dick down by sheer mind power.
It takes me longer than planned to finish up and be able to walk out of the showers without a tented towel. Most of the guys have left, but there’s still a few lingering, including Ty. He’s fully dressed, standing in front of his open locker. I do my best to ignore him and head to my locker, pulling on my clothes in a hurry.
“So, what’s up?” Ty asks. I turn around to find him leaning on one of the nearby lockers and watching me. I slam my locker shut and grab his wrist. The previous conversation I had planned is going to have to wait. We barely make it out the door and to the side of the building before I’m pushing him into the wall and kissing him.
Ty lets out a groan, but his hand goes to my hair, curling his fingers to grab hold and pull me deeper into the kiss. His hips push forward as Ty grinds his hard-on into my thigh. “You want to take this back to my room?” I ask.
“I wish,” Ty says with a laugh. “I’ve got class soon, but you said you wanted to talk? Or was that code for something else?”
“Maddy knows,” I blurt out. It’s probably better to break the news like ripping off a bandage. Ty’s eyebrow raises as he processes what I just said. “She saw us kissing the other day in the parking lot. I know you’re not out, so I asked her to keep quiet.”
“Maddy?” Ty lets go of my hair and breaks the contact between us. “My sister saw us kissing? Shit. Okay, um, thanks for telling me. I really do need to get to class, but I’ll see you Friday? Party at your place, right?”
I move aside to let Ty go. “Yeah, I’ll see you there. We can meet at the party and talk after the game.”
The corner of Ty’s lips peaks up in a half grin. “ Talk, yeah, sure.” He turns around and walks off without waiting for me to reply.
It’s not like it matters. We both know we’ll be busy doing other things after the game. There will be time to talk after we get off. It’s hard enough right now to keep my eyes off his ass as he walks away. I just want to grab him and drag him back to my room. I know we need to stop avoiding the elephant in the room and talk about where we’re going with this, but that’s a problem for future Seth and Ty.