Chapter 16 #2
Alex kissed him, rolling on top of him, pushing Mitch into the mattress with his weight. It was glorious and fun and Mitch’s dick stiffened in his boxers. Surely Alex noticed, since Mitch had nowhere to go to hide it, but he didn’t mention it, didn’t react in any way.
He nipped Mitch’s lips, then pulled back to rest his head on his hand and stare down at Mitch. “You know, I never liked kissing before you.”
Mitch sputtered for a second. “You… What? Who doesn’t like kissing?”
“A lot of people, I assure you. It’s messy and gross and… It’s always felt like a chore to me. But don’t worry.” He gave Mitch a smacking kiss. “I like kissing you.”
“I wasn’t worried until now, you asshole.” In retaliation for the messy and gross comment, he pushed Alex off him. Alex fell onto the bed with a laugh. He tugged Mitch close with an arm around his shoulders.
“Here’s how it’s going to work, to answer your question,” Alex said.
“We’re going to compare calendars and pick weekends for me to visit you or for you to visit me when they make the most sense, like when we’ll actually have time to spend together instead of running around to practice or games or work or school or whatever. ”
Mitch nodded, following along.
“And we’ll do that for however long we have to.”
Mitch’s sigh was miserable to his own ears. “Could be a while.”
“It could, yeah. The next two and a half years for sure, while you’re still at GH.”
“And if I get drafted…”
“When you get drafted,” Alex corrected, his lips twitching into a lopsided smile. “We’ll make it work then too. Plus, we’ll have the summers, starting with this one.”
Mitch would finish finals in early May, and he wouldn’t need to be back for the new semester until early September.
He’d spent last summer working full-time at a café in Montpelier, earning next year’s tuition.
There was no reason he couldn’t do the same thing this year, but in Florida.
They had cafés in Tampa, right? He’d get to spend every day with Alex as a bonus.
“You talk about our future as if it’s a given,” Mitch said. “That we’ll still be together in a year, two years, more.”
“Yeah, and we might not be, I know that.” Alex ran the back of his hand over Mitch’s cheek. “But I have a feeling that since we were friends first, it’ll make our relationship stronger. The long-distance thing will suck at times, but I think we can make it work as long as we want it to.”
“I want it to. Work, I mean.”
“Me too.” Alex’s lips were soft on Mitch’s skin when he kissed the corner of his mouth. Mitch smiled because it was already a favorite spot of Alex’s and it made Mitch feel treasured.
“Does this mean I can call you my boyfriend?” Mitch asked the question with a teasing lilt to his voice, but he was dead serious.
Alex hugged him closer and kissed his temple. “Yes. Except, ah…” The arms around Mitch went taut. “Fuck, we definitely should’ve talked about this earlier.”
“What?” Mitch scooted backward an inch, anxiety snaking through him, causing his voice to shake. He’d fucked things up already, hadn’t he?
Alex rubbed his jaw, the sound of skin on beard scritch scritch scritching through the room.
“I was never going to… No, wait, let me back up.” He cleared his throat.
“Even though I’ve always been more attracted to men, I thought that being demi in the kind of life I have meant that I wouldn’t have this—” He waved a hand between the two of them.
“—until after I retired, when I’d have time to get to know someone.
There’s less than ten people who know about me—about me liking men, I mean, not the demi thing ’cause that’s a pain in the ass to explain.
My mom, some close friends, one of the PR people who works for the team that I trust, and…
” He flopped onto his back, an arm over his eyes, frustration evident in the hard lines of his body.
“Fuck, I’m not explaining this properly. ”
Mitch had a feeling he knew where Alex was going with this. He straddled Alex’s hips and took one of his hands. “I think what you’re trying to say is that you don’t want me to feel offended when you tell me that you have no intention of coming out to the world.”
“Mitch—”
“No, Alex, it’s fine. I’m not coming out either. The only people who know about me are my family, Cody, Yano, and you. You don’t come out in pro sports. It’s just not done. Maybe in ten years, but now? Yeah, no. It’s career suicide.”
Alex’s body deflated under Mitch, and he let out a relieved laugh. “You get it. I don’t know why I thought you wouldn’t.”
“I don’t know either. Give me some credit, would you?
” Mitch teased. He leaned down for a quick kiss.
“Besides, if you did come out, the press would be all up in your business, and I know how private you are about your personal life. I mean, do you know how much information there is about you online? Hardly anything.”
“You looked me up?”
Mitch chuckled and sank back onto Alex, his head on Alex’s shoulder. “No.”
“Liar.” Alex kissed the top of his head.
“Is that what you wanted to talk about the other day?”
“What? When?”
“Before you kissed me.” Mitch prodded him in the side. “You said you wanted to talk about something, but I wouldn’t let you because—”
“First crafts, then kissing,” Alex finished for him. “I remember. And no, that’s not what I wanted to talk about, although I think I might want to talk about that even less than the coming out thing.”
“Now you have to tell me.”
“It’s about sex.”
“Um, okay?” Shit, was this where Alex told him it was never going to happen?
“I know you want it.”
Mitch glanced down at himself, where his semi was surely poking Alex in the hip. “Well, my boners aren’t exactly subtle, so…”
“There’s nothing subtle about you.”
“I can be subtle.”
“You’re as subtle as an elephant.”
“Rude,” Mitch said. “Elephants are smart, though. And even the lions get out of the way of an elephant stampede. Talk about a charming animal. You know what, I take it back. It’s not rude. I’m flattered. Elephants are fierce.”
Alex’s laugh did something funny to Mitch’s stomach, and he propped himself up on an elbow to peer down at him. “What were you saying about sex?”
“I was saying,” Alex said, “that I don’t want it.
Not yet,” he added when he caught the wince Mitch couldn’t hide.
“Mitch, I’m attracted to you.” He took Mitch’s hand and kissed his palm.
Mitch’s breath caught. “Not your outside, but your inside. Who you are at the core, the person you are. You could gain two hundred pounds and go bald and I’d still be attracted to you.
So I can’t imagine that I won’t ever want to have sex with you, can’t imagine that I’ll never want to experience that kind of intimacy with you.
Just not yet. And it has nothing to do with you, or me.
It has to do with us mostly. I think I need us to be more solid first, as a couple. Does that make sense?”
Mitch ran his hand over Alex’s chest, his fingers catching in the material of Alex’s T-shirt. “Yeah. Thanks for telling me. I won’t push you. Much. Okay, I probably will, but feel free to tell me to fuck off.”
Alex’s laugh vibrated through his chest and into Mitch’s hand. He shifted onto his side so they were once again face-to-face and kissed Mitch’s nose. “I’m not going to tell you to fuck off. Besides, I’m not afraid of your boners. Please.”
“M’kay. Are we done with the serious talk now?” Mitch asked. “Is it almost countdown time?”
Grunting, Alex rolled over to reach for his phone on the nightstand, then turned the lit face toward Mitch. “Twelve-oh-six. We missed it.”
“Man, talking about serious stuff takes forever.”
Alex put his phone away, and yanked Mitch on top of him with one arm. Fuck, he was strong! It was seriously hot that he could maneuver Mitch around without effort.
“Give me a New Year’s kiss,” Alex said.
So Mitch did.