Chapter 6
Six
“Dude, pay attention,” Cody said, scratching Mitch’s head where it lay in Cody’s lap.
Mitch placed his cell phone on their living room table. “I am.”
He’d had good intentions and had started off multitasking: a textbook in front of him as he and Cody watched an NHL game on TV. Then Alex had texted him and Mitch had abandoned his textbook. Now he sprawled on the couch with his head in Cody’s lap, not paying much attention to the game.
“This was your idea, you know,” Cody said.
“Yeah, yeah.”
His idea had been for him and Cody to bring the homework they’d been working on in their rooms down to the living room so they could hang out after days of hardly seeing each other. But the game had proved to be a distraction, and Alex an even bigger one.
“Who were you talking to?” Cody asked.
“Alex.” Mitch had emailed him his revised short story yesterday and Alex wanted to see one more small revision before it was “good to go,” according to his text.
“Aww.” Cody pulled Mitch’s hair. “Monday can’t come soon enough?”
Mitch sighed and scratched an itch on his belly. Thinking of his pending date with Alex made his stomach flip, even though it was still four days away.
“What’s wrong?” Cody asked.
“I don’t know if asking him out was a good idea.”
“Why not?”
“He doesn’t even like me. I kind of forced it on him.” Mitch didn’t think Alex would’ve given in if he hadn’t wanted to, but he still felt like he’d steamrolled right over Alex.
“He said yes, didn’t he?” Cody said. “Means he must like you, to some degree.”
“He also said I have no substance.”
Cody scoffed. “He said the person you pretend to be, the person you are when your walls are up, has no substance.” Cody paused for a second. “He’s not wrong.”
“You’re an asshole,” he told Cody without any heat. “He wants me to be myself with him.” That was the scariest part of all this, never mind the fact that Mitch had never been on a date in his life and didn’t know what to expect. Or wear. Or how to behave.
“And you don’t think you can do that,” Cody intuited.
“I don’t know if I know who that is anymore.”
“Sure you do. It’s the same person you are with me.”
“Yeah, but I trust you.” There wasn’t anyone Mitch trusted more, except his dad.
“Nothing says you shouldn’t trust Alex. Maybe give him the benefit of the doubt?”
“What if he’s just being nice to humor me and he turns into a giant douchebag?”
Cody pulled Mitch’s hair again. “Not everyone is your brother.”
Sometimes it was really annoying to be around someone who knew him so well, when all Mitch wanted was for Cody to agree with him that the rest of the world wasn’t to be trusted.
When he told Cody that, his best friend held Mitch’s head in both hands and leaned over to peer at him upside down. “You’re a better judge of character than you give yourself credit for.”
Mitch snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“I’m serious. Yano’s your best friend on the team and he’s got your back about the gay thing.
Marco would too, and you know that. Your TA’s trying to help you pass his class, even though he probably should’ve failed you on that assignment.
Alex is tutoring you out of the goodness of his heart.
You knew, from your first practice, that Coach Spinney was the one to talk to about personal problems, just like you knew that Coach Bedley would be the one who’d improve your game.
And hell, you knew I was awesome right away. ”
Mitch sat up and rearranged himself, flopping onto the opposite end of the couch and tucking his bare feet under Cody’s thighs. “You punched a bully for me.”
“I’d do it again too. That kid was a fucker.” Cody slouched in his corner of the couch and kicked a textbook aside so he could put his feet up on the coffee table. “So, tell me. What is it about Alex?”
“He’s…” Mitch broke off and rolled his eyes at himself. “He’s real. What you see is what you get.”
Cody made a “hmm” sound. “Then he’s probably looking for someone who’s his equal, who’ll be just as real with him.”
Mitch debated not saying anything, seeing as it was none of Cody’s business, but Cody might actually have some useful advice. “He’s also demi.”
Cody cracked up. Okay, that wasn’t what Mitch expected.
“What the fuck is so funny?” Mitch poked Cody in the thigh with his foot. “Don’t laugh at him, you hypocrite.”
“I’m not laughing at him,” Cody finally calmed enough to say. “I’m laughing at you.”
Mitch threw a pillow at his so-called best friend. “Why?”
“Alex is demi.” Cody grinned and placed the pillow behind his head.
“That’s fucking perfect. Means you can’t be anything but real with him, otherwise he won’t give you the time of day.
It’s so completely opposite to your usual screw ‘em and leave ‘em routine. Man, he’s going to be so good for you. He’s going to turn you inside out and upside down. I can’t wait to see it.”
“First, you’re mean. Second, he already has. I asked him out, didn’t I? I’ve never done that before.”
“I wish I could record this.”
“Fuck you. Seriously.” Mitch reached for his phone. “Forget it, I’m cancelling.”
“Oh, hell no.” Cody ripped the phone out of Mitch’s hands and tossed it onto the loveseat. Then he grabbed Mitch by the arm and hauled him up. When they were sitting face-to-face on the couch, Cody said, “Tell me honestly. Do you like him?”
Sighing in misery, Mitch nodded. “At first, I just wanted to do him. Now I want to do him and be his friend.”
“Aww, you’re smitten.”
Groaning, Mitch flopped backward. “Nobody uses that word, except old-fashioned moms.”
“Mitch, do me a favor, okay?”
Mitch locked eyes with him.
“Give Alex a chance. Hell, give yourself a chance. Do you want to wonder ‘what if’ for the rest of your life?”
“No, but what if he never feels anything more than friendship for me?”
“Then you’ll have gained a new friend. One who knows you the way I do and who likes you for you.”
If Mitch couldn’t get a nice guy like Alex to fall for him, what did that say about him? He rubbed his face and, hidden behind his hands, mumbled, “What if I disappoint him?”
“Like I said.” Cody rubbed Mitch’s knee.
“Give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe you shouldn’t go into this with the expectation that Alex will develop feelings for you.
That way if he doesn’t, you’re not too disappointed.
And don’t call it a date. Just call it hanging out and pretend you’re getting to know a new friend, which is basically what you’re doing anyway. ”
“You’re not going to tell me that if Alex can’t see how great I am, he’s a jerk who doesn’t deserve me?” Mitch teased.
“Nope. For a demisexual, an emotional connection doesn’t automatically equal sexual attraction. I’m emotionally connected to you, but I’ve never been sexually attracted to you.”
“Really?” Mildly insulted, Mitch glared at Cody. “Not once in the thirteen years we’ve known each other?”
Cody shook his head in mock sadness, his amber eyes lit with laughter.
“Stomp all over my pride, why don’t you?”
“You’ve never been attracted to me, either.”
“That’s not true,” Mitch protested.
Cody’s eyes went wide.
“I was attracted to you for, like, five minutes.” Mitch said. “Before I realized you could eat me for breakfast.”
“Damn right. So could Alex.”
Yeah, Mitch knew it.
“You’ll probably find yourself liking it,” Cody predicted.
Mitch threw another pillow at him.
* * *
Mitch strolled into The Green Onion the next afternoon at four thirty on the dot. It smelled like frying onions and grilling meat, and Mitch’s empty stomach made itself heard. His dad, Geoff Greyson, was easy to spot in the tiny six-table restaurant.
“Hey, kiddo.” His dad’s smile was huge as he stood and engulfed Mitch in a hug.
Mitch dropped his equipment bag next to their table and hung on to his dad for an extra few seconds. The feeling of being in the arms of one of only two people who actually loved him was overwhelming and comforting at the same time.
“What’s wrong?” his dad asked.
“Nothing.” Mitch shook his head and sat. “It’s just good to see you, that’s all.”
His dad had that expression on his face—his lips pressed in a tight line, brow furrowed—the one that said “my son is hiding something.” Mitch knew that face well.
His dad crossed his arms over his chest and peered at him from narrowed eyes. “Want to try again?”
Chuckling wryly, Mitch played with his napkin. “I’m just tired. Overworked and…” He traced a scratch on the table.
“You always did push yourself harder than anybody I’ve ever known.”
How else was he supposed to prove that he was worth it? To his mother, his brother, his coaches, and NHL scouts.
“How are your classes?”
“Good.” Mitch nodded absently. “Really good, actually. Except creative writing, which I apparently suck at.”
His dad laughed. “That doesn’t surprise me, to be honest. Good for you, though, for getting out of your comfort zone.”
“My academic advisor bullied me into it. Should’ve taken physics or something.”
“Only you would think physics is an easy elective.”
Their server arrived, delivered two ice waters and a bread basket, and took their orders.
The Green Onion was their standard dinner spot whenever Mitch’s dad was in town.
It was quieter than Mama Jean’s and Mitch unashamedly took advantage of his dad’s attempt at feeding him something other than pizza and cafeteria smoothies.
“Your mom says hello,” his dad said when the server left.
Like hell she did.
His dad shrugged when Mitch did nothing but stare at him. “Fine, that’s a lie.”
“She left me a wonderfully uplifting voicemail after we lost to Denver last week,” Mitch said.
His dad’s raised eyebrow told Mitch he didn’t miss the sarcasm.
Mitch played with the straw in his glass. “What’s her problem with hockey, anyway?”
“Kiddo, that’s a complicated answer.” His dad leaned his forearms on the table. “Did you know that your grandfather, your mother’s father, was a professional athlete?”