Chapter 27 #2
“The Warriors are behind Stephen one hundred percent.” His voice commands their attention, and it gives me some room to breathe.
“We are proud to say that we’re an LGBTQ+ inclusive team, and we hope our fans will continue to support us on our journey to the Super Bowl.
We’re lucky to have Stephen as a player, and I consider myself lucky to call him a friend. ”
Coach Matthews nods his head in agreement. “We can open to questions now.”
Hands fly up across the room, and he nods to one of them.
“Stephen, what response do you have for the people who outed you on the gossip site?”
“Um…” I say, “well I’m not very happy with them.”
Ted places his hand on my shoulder and whispers, “May I?”
I nod, honestly not knowing how I want to answer that question.
Ted faces the cameras. “There were two individuals involved, one of whom was an acquaintance from Stephen’s time at Winbrook, who we believe acted out of revenge after an altercation between them, where Stephen was protecting someone important to him.
And the other, I’m ashamed to say, was a Warrior.
As we speak, he is currently being let go from the team and is no longer a part of this organization. I won’t be naming names at this time.”
Coach Matthews nods at another reporter who stands to ask their question.
“What will happen when you come across teams where it’s been said that they wouldn’t play another team if one of the players was gay?”
Feelings of guilt rise inside me, knowing this is a genuine concern. I offered to step down from the team so many times, to prevent them from having to deal with this in the future.
Coach sits a bit taller as he answers. “Those teams are within their rights to choose who they play and when, if they want to forfeit that’s their choice, we’ll take the win.”
Another reporter stands with a question. “Stephen, does it not make you nervous that you’ll be playing such a physical game with people who might believe that gay men, or bisexual or pansexual men, don’t belong in this sport?”
All eyes turn to me, and something inside me clicks. All of the questions, their thoughts, they’re all fear based, and I’m done being scared.
“Not really,” I say, “a tackle is a tackle in football, if they want to try a bit harder to get the ball from me they can bring it on.” A few of the reporters chuckle at that, so I continue.
“Look, in an ideal world, I wouldn’t have to hold a press conference about the fact that I’m in love with someone, and my team wouldn’t have to make an official statement saying that they support me.
“But the world we live in isn’t perfect.
It’s a privilege to be able to sit here today and openly say that I have a boyfriend, when there are still so many people in the LGBTQ+ community that have to hide who they are, for fear of losing their lives, their jobs, or being ostracized by the people around them, all because of who they love, their gender, or how they identify.
“When it comes to how we’ll deal with other teams who don’t want to play us because I’m here, or players who want to take me out because of who I love, honestly, it sounds like a ‘them’ problem, and they need to get over it.
LGBTQ+ athletes are here, we’ve always been here, and the world needs to catch up with us, because we’re ready to play.
If people don’t like it, they’re the ones narrowing their world, they’re the ones missing out, it’s their loss, not ours.
“I just want to play football, and I want my family, my friends, and my boyfriend in the crowd to watch me, and cheer me on while I do. I’m not hurting anyone, and I hope that everyone can see that and understand.”
Applause erupts from the members of staff at the back of the room, and it ripples through the reporters, all the way up to Coach Matthews, Ted, and Marcus beside me.
“And I think that is the perfect place to wrap this up,” Coach says. “We’ll see you all next week for the game!”
As soon as the reporters have left the room, Donovan is in my arms, telling me how proud he is, and how amazingly I did. I don’t even remember what I said, I just know it felt right.
“Without a doubt, the scariest thing I’ve ever done,” I say, leaning my head on his while he hugs me.
“But you did it, and you were incredible,” he says.
“Donovan’s right, you were incredible,” Mindy says, walking over to us. “And we’re not the only ones who think so. You’re trending, Stephen, and it’s overwhelmingly positive. Look at our follower count.”
She holds up her phone and the Warriors social media page, the follower number literally increasing in real time. Her notifications are moving so fast I can’t take them in, but I catch glimpses of the pride flag emoji, hearts, and smiley faces.
“Wow,” I murmur, “we did that?”
“You did that,” she says, squeezing my arm. “Right, I’m going to go and lock myself in a room and respond to all of this.”
“Will you be okay?” Donovan asks. “That’s a lot of messages.”
“Please,” she smirks, “I live for this shit; I’ve got this. You go and enjoy your evening, celebrate!”
“We will,” I chuckle, “but I promised Donovan a tour first; he doesn’t believe me that the players have scented candles in the meeting rooms.”
Mindy laughs and hugs us both goodbye, before Marcus takes her place.
“You did it, bro!” He pulls me into a hug, before hugging Donovan too.
“I couldn’t have done it without you; you saved me up there. Thank you.”
“No thanks needed, you know I’ve got your back. Anyway, I’m gonna head home, enjoy the peace and quiet before you move in tomorrow.” He nudges Donovan and winks. “Are we gonna need to set up some kind of signal, in case you two are getting busy in the communal areas?”
Donovan practically chokes on the bottle of water he’s taking a sip from, and I chuckle. “No communal area stuff, I promise, we’ll keep it to my room.”
Marcus laughs and slaps me on the shoulder. “You say that now, just let me know if it changes.”
Donovan stays quiet as we say goodbye, just nodding and holding onto me.
“You okay, baby?”
“Yeah,” he murmurs, “I’m just not used to everyone knowing about us and talking so openly about, well, us getting busy around the house.”
Everyone else is preoccupied and not paying us any attention, so I pull him into me and cup his face while I kiss him.
“It’s just player banter, it’s their way of showing they accept you, that they accept us, they’re joking with me how they would anyone else on the team. But if anyone ever says anything that makes you uncomfortable, you let me know.”
“Okay,” he says, smiling and kissing me back.
“Now, how about that tour?”
He nods and I take his hand, leading him out of the press room. I show him the gym and a few of the therapy rooms, before we head towards our wide receiver meeting room, which is where I spend most of my time if I’m not in the gym or at practice.
Before we reach the door, it opens and Joel walks out, followed by a member of our legal team, who I vaguely recognize from other meetings I’ve been a part of.
“Shit,” he murmurs. “Are we going to have a problem here?”
“Not from me,” I say, looking at Joel.
“Me neither,” he says.
“Okay, don’t make me regret leaving you both to it,” the guy from legal says as he walks off down the corridor.
I shield Donovan with my body, not wanting Joel to even look at him.
“I take it you’re off the team then,” I say, and he just nods, all traces of his cocky arrogance gone, he seems deflated, even defeated.
“Why did you do it, Joel? I know I shouldn’t even bother asking, I should just say good riddance and never see you again, but I can’t get my head around why? What did I ever do to you?”
“It wasn’t just you,” he murmurs, looking everywhere except at me.
“I was sick of getting overlooked, and I was always getting benched. Then you came along, and even though you weren’t even training with us full time, I could see it all happening again.
My dreams were slipping further away from me, so when that gossip column reached out… ” His words trail off, and he sighs.
“What? You thought telling them that I’m gay would somehow get you on the starting team?”
“I didn’t tell them anything.” He faces me, his eyes full of tears, but I have no sympathy for him.
“I just confirmed that the stuff they were saying was true. They asked me if you’d ever been to a club called Prism, and I said I heard you talking about it one time on the phone and that… well… that you went there.”
“I went there? That isn’t what you heard, and you know it, so you lied to them. And you shouldn’t have been talking about me anyway; you should have ignored them like everyone else on the team did.”
“You think I don’t know that? I made a mistake, okay? Now the rest of the team hates me for what I did, and I’ve lost my job, everything.”
“It’s called facing the consequences, Joel. Yes you made a mistake, but they were still your actions, it was your choice to do what you did. You let your jealousy and entitlement eat you up inside until it exploded, and now you have to deal with that.”
He slumps against the wall, head hung low, not even bothering to wipe away his tears. Fuck.
“Look, you’re not a bad player,” I say, “your attitude fucking sucks, and that makes you a dick to be around. But maybe this is the wake-up call you needed to work on that, and when you get signed to a new team, you can start fresh.”
“Please,” he scoffs, “what are the chances of me getting signed again?”
“Well they’re low with that attitude, but that’s exactly what I’m talking about.
You know what, fuck it, I’ve been civil, I’ve even tried to help you, and you’re still being an asshole.
You need to grow up and figure out your shit.
I’ve got my life to live, and I’m not letting you get in the way of that anymore.
” I turn to Donovan and reach for his hand. “Come on, baby, let’s go home.”
Donovan smiles and lets me lead him away, not saying anything, just gently squeezing my hand as we walk.
“Stephen,” Joel calls out, and I slow down. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
I nod, but don’t look back as we continue to make our way out of the stadium.
I’m not sure if his apology is genuine or not, but regardless, I don’t need it.
I’ve got Donovan back, I’m living my dream playing in the NFL, and I’m surrounded by people who care about me.
I’ve got everything I need, and right now, that’s all I want to focus on.