Chapter Twenty-Seven #3
Elliot sighed and put his elbow on the table and his forehead on his fist. He took a deep breath while he studied the sidewalk through the table’s wooden slats. Finally, he said, “Soon. Hey, listen, I need to tell you something.”
Telling Diego he was gay was one of the scariest things he’d ever done.
Much scarier than telling Drew or his mom.
Because Diego was not all that different from Reef, in some ways.
But he was Elliot’s oldest friend. When Elliot got the call in Michigan that Sal had died, Diego was the first person he called.
He was usually the first person Elliot called, and if he was going to have a problem with this, then Elliot needed to know.
Diego listened to everything, and then sat in silence for a long time afterward. Eventually, he said, “So… Okay. So lemme get this straight. You…and Dustin Bennet…?” Elliot could practically hear him closing his eyes while he processed it. “Are you sucking his dick?”
“Diego–”
“Is he sucking your dick?!”
“I’m not gonna get into it–”
“Bro. That is – that is, honestly…like, that is outstanding. That is the most boss thing I ever heard in my life, dog.”
Elliot felt all the air go out of him and sank back in his chair.
“Holy shit, Mano! Are you kidding me? The Great Bendito is sucking your dick?! De la fucking madre, I gotta–” The phone went away from Diego’s ear and Elliot heard him moving around in his apartment. “I gotta tell someone!”
“What?” Elliot sat up. “No – Diego – Diego! You can’t tell anyone. Are you listening? This doesn’t get talked about at your fucking Honda meetup. Diego!”
Diego came back, breathless. “What? Yeah. Right. Okay, yeah, no you’re right. Sorry. But…y’all can tell people, right? Arsenault did it. Did you hear about Riley Webb?”
“Yeah.”
“But you’re not gonna tell anyone?”
Elliot sighed. “I don’t know.”
“Man, you really should. Because if you don’t, then I don’t get to. And I really need to tell people about this.”
Elliot laughed. He hadn’t realized how worried he’d been about this in the background for, like, weeks.
Diego was making a lot of noise on his end, and Elliot figured he was probably pacing around his apartment, holding himself back from yelling out the window that his boy Elliot Rodriguez was getting his dick sucked by the greatest hockey player of all time.
Honestly, he couldn’t have asked for a better reaction.
When Diego settled down, he came back to the phone and said, “Wait…so what happened with your bet?”
Elliot laughed again. He laughed a lot. When he was done, he said, “Yeah, that didn’t really work out.”
“Claro.” Diego laughed. “Oh man.”
“To be honest, that bet was pretty gross, anyway. It kind of made me realize…” Elliot paused.
He hadn’t meant to bring this up, but he’d been low key thinking about it since he talked to Drew.
Because it wasn’t just him who trash-talked women – that was where he and Diego had something in common with Reef.
“That whole thing just made me realize you probably shouldn’t treat people that way,” he said. And waited.
Diego said, “I guess.”
Elliot pushed. “Because you know. It’s not really okay.”
Diego sighed. “Man, I guess I just realized I lost my wingman. If you’re getting your dick sucked by Dustin Bennet, you’re probably not coming to the club anymore.”
“We can go to the club,” said Elliot, mildly offended. “I’m not dead, homes. I’m just saying…”
“Yeah. I hear you,” said Diego. “I know what you’re saying.” He was quiet again for a while, then he sighed and said, “Maybe I’m not doing this thing right with Renata.”
Elliot frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. Now you got me thinking…” Elliot heard the screen door bang and the creak of Diego sitting in the wicker chair on his patio.
“I been getting so mad about these guys she’s seeing.
Because it’s more than one, you know. And she keeps saying I’m getting in her business and talking about double standards and…
now I’m hearing about you and Bennet, and I’m thinking, like…
what if it was girls she was hooking up with?
Would I be grilling them? I don’t think so, but why not?
That seems like a double standard. So…I don’t know… maybe she’s right?”
Elliot sipped his smoothie. “Well, she’s pretty smart. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with worrying about her. Have you tried talking to her about it?”
He sighed. “No, not really. We just yell at each other while she’s walking out the door.”
“Right. Well…I’m starting to think talking might be the way to go. In general.”
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.”
They sat with the line humming between them and – ironically – said nothing while Elliot finished his smoothie. It felt good. He should’ve just told Diego about all this weeks ago. But at least he was figuring it out now.
They hung up and he walked back to Force.
Knowing Diego was in Tampa made him feel better about going back there. But there was a split in his mind about the city now that had never been there before. On one side of it was Diego, and his mom, and his team, and the place he’d grown up in and was proud to call home.
On the other side of that split…was Reef.