Page 24 of Game On

“Gay, bi, pan,” Lin said. “Dunno.”

That made Coach Shore and Brawsiski who weren’t straight. Shore was obviously out to the team, so did that mean he’d fostered a safe space for queer players?

Jumping on that train of thought, he said, “I’m gay,” even though it wasn’t a secret. If anyone had looked him up before he’d arrived, they probably would’ve seen images of him and Scott at league events and fundraisers.

Jamie hadn’t seen any photos of Coach Shore with his guy when he’d looked up his coach, but he admittedly hadn’t searched too hard. He’d been more interested in Coach’s past as a hockey player, not his personal life.

Although, now that he was thinking about it, Skills Coach Stanton was married to an über-famous male singer-songwriter, and he didn’t seem like the type of guy who’d stick around if the people around him were homophobes.

“Me too,” Brawsiski said, easy as you please. He pointed at Archie with a grin. “Not this guy, though.”

“Straight as an arrow.” Archie said it with a put-upon sigh, as though it was the worst news in the world, making them laugh.

The server came by to take drink and dinner orders. Between the dozen or so players in attendance, Jamie estimated that they ordered twice that many dishes between them.

Hockey players were always hungry.

“Hey, guys!” Lewis-Nyawo, the Orcas’ goalie, waggled his phone from his seat in the middle of their row. “JJ’s intro post is up on our socials. Listen. ‘The Vancouver Orcas welcome Jamie Jamieson to the team! Get to know the BC native with his two truths and a lie. Can you guess which is the lie?’ Then there’s a graphic.”

“Read it out,” someone else said.

Lewis-Nyawo cleared his throat. “‘I do virtual yoga with my mom every week.’”

That was followed by a chorus of aw. Jamie rolled his eyes.

“‘I wandered away from my parents on a trip to Toronto when I was five and got lost in the city.’ And finally, we’ve got, ‘My brother and I built a tree fort with our own two hands when we were eleven and ten, respectively.’”

They stared at him.

He stared back.

“So?” McNicoll prompted. “Which one’s the lie?”

Jamie mock gasped, feigning affront. “I can’t tell you.”

“For shame, JJ.”

“You’ll tell us about your name though, right?” Toussaint asked.

A dozen heads swivelled in his direction.

Toussaint pumped his eyebrows. “About whether Jamie Jamieson is your real name?”

A dozen heads swivelled back toward Jamie.

“Like I said this morning, Toussaint.” Jamie sat back and toasted him with his water glass. “What will you give me for the answer?”

Toussaint groaned.

“You’ve got a bit of troublemaker in you, don’t you, JJ?” Archie muttered. “You’ll fit in here just fine.”

Jamie’s heart leapt.

Christ, he hoped so.

CHAPTER FIVE

In the bowels of the Agrodome on the Pacific National Exhibition grounds, Dorian stood off to the side of a wide hallway where he was recording some of the players, including Jamie, kicking a soccer ball around. Jamie’s first game as an Orca was a home game against Colorado. This was the Orcas’ first game against them this season, but last year, when the Orcas had come in at the bottom of the standings, Colorado had kicked their asses in all four games. Vancouver and Colorado were currently first and third in the Pacific Division, respectively, with Colorado less than ten points behind. Tonight’s game could go either way.

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