Page 21 of Tumbling the Cornerback

“Just me today, right?” he asked, his voice bouncing off the high, empty walls. He sounded little wary, a little shaky, only easing further into the room once I nodded.

“Just the two of us. What’s up?” When he started to shake his head, I gave him a look. “Dude. I know the look of being picked on. I have a gold medal in being bullied. What’s going on, Kyle?”

I gestured for him to join me on the mats, and together we went through the drills and exercises I had planned for the day. As Kyle struggled with his form, I offered more encouragement and guidance than usual. Something about his determination resonated with me, a reminder of why I had fallen in love with cheer in the first place. It didn't erase my uneasy feeling entirely, but it soothed the anxiety to be reminded why I was doing this. Why I was cobbling together so many jobs to make the ends come even close to meeting.

After an hour of intense practice, Kyle finally nailed a solid back handspring. The look of pure joy on his face mirrored the buzzy flutter in my chest. “That was awesome, Kyle!” I enthused, raising my hands for a double high five.

Kyle grinned, the bright pink bands on his braces bright in his wide smile. “Am I gonna be ready for the tryouts, do you think? They’re in July so the squad can practice a lot before the season starts. I mean, it’s okay if I’m not. But I really want to be.”

“One step at a time,” I soothed, motioning for him to go grab his water bottle. “Honestly, about ninety percent of acing tryouts freshman year is enthusiasm.”

“But I want to be awesome,” he complained, dropping to sit on one of the folded mats. He shot me a plaintive look before adding, “I’m the only guy, you know? I’m already getting crap from my brothers about it and some of the guys on the soccer team.”

“And you want to make them eat their words?”

He huffed. “Eat something, alright.” After a noisy slurp from his water bottle, he gave me a sideways glance. “My brother Matt, his girlfriend Cara went to that fundraiser you did the other day. Her sister’s into soccer too and got a lot of crap about being trans and bi.”

“Ah, shit,” I sighed, sinking down to sit beside him. “She’s got a queer sister, and she’s dating your brother?”

Kyle shrugged. “Matt’s not a 'phobe. He’s just a jerk. He thinks me going into cheer is giving up soccer, and all the guys in my family play soccer.” Another slurp, then, “And maybe he’s a little phobic. He was all weird about that thing with Cooper Howard.”

The rush of defensiveness for Cooper surprised me. Well, annoyed me, then surprised me. He’s a bit boy, Lucas. He doesn’t need you defending him. Especially against some high schooler whose frontal cortex hasn’t finished forming. Still, I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “Weird how?”

Kyle shrugged. “Like, wondering why Coop was there, why did he have to shove in our faces, man,” he said in an obvious mockery of his brother’s tone and voice. After one more sip, he smirked. “That pissed Cara off. I think she’s gonna break up with him. She can do way better than Matt.”

“It definitely sounds like it,” I huffed.

“Is it true, though? That he’s helping out with Queering Sports now?” He scrubbed at a chalk mark on his shorts, affecting disinterest. “I knew Ash was, but he hasn’t been a player in a while. And those guys from the minors in San Antonio. My brother Rob is super into baseball and loves the Cottonmouths, so he was kinda excited they were in town but not enough to go to the event.” Frowning, he stared at his bare, chalky feet on the blue mat. “It’s really cool Cooper Howard’s helping out. My dad usually bitches about the whole Queering Sports thing whenever I bring home a flyer, but he was kind of excited that Coppertop was front and center, you know?”

“Yeah,” I sighed. “I’m hearing a lot of that lately.”

Kyle shrugged again. “Anyway. I know the other guys from the team were there, and you and the cheerleaders were there, but I was thinking maybe my dad would be cool with me going if he thought a lot of big sports guys were there too.”

“There were a lot of ‘sports guys,’” I laughed. “Tons!”

Kyle’s cheeks pinked, and he gave me another one of those teenager shrugs. “I know, but, like... my dad and his friends would be really excited, right? It’d be a good excuse to take the kids and whatever...”

I nodded. “Or whatever.” My phone beeped to signal the end of the break. “Well, he’s definitely helping out, and we’re definitely having more events soon so tell your dad Cooper Howard will be there. Maybe we’ll see you?”

Kyle smiled. “Maybe.”

We did another twenty minutes of practice before our time was up, but I spent most of it silently cursing everyone for being right about Cooper Howard and myself for not thinking of this sooner.

I dragged myself into the empty apartment after classes were done and I endured another lecture from Lynda about getting a real job, dedicating myself to the school, getting my MBA... I just nodded and wished for death for a good ten minutes until another student came in and I could make a break for it. The heat of the day was unrelenting, a thunderstorm threatening with crunchy black clouds overhead and oppressive humidity sticking to my skin even after I shut the door behind me.

I recited the prayer of all Texans—"Thank god for air conditioning!"—and headed for the bathroom in the hallway, shedding my clothes as I went. With Renata out of town, I could be an absolute slob for a few minutes, I reasoned. And if those few minutes turned into half an hour because I happened to glance at the sofa as I walked past and couldn't shake memories of the makeout session with Cooper... Well. No one was there to jump on my case about using so much water.

I was still riding a slightly guilty vibe when I padded out of the bathroom to grab my dirty clothes and toss them in the wash. Catching a glimpse of myself in the shiny surface of the fridge door, I pause to give my body an assessing glace. And okay, maybe a tiny bit admiring because damn I had been working hard to stay in shape for the squad, and it was showing. Maybe I got a little caught up in my kitchen posing because when my phone buzzed, I yelped and leaped about six inches in the air. Fumbling my phone from the pocket of the pants clutched in one hand, I saw Cooper's name on the screen. Heat rushed to my throat and face, the urge to cover my junk as I answered reflexive. "Hey," I breathed. "Um. What's up?"

Cooper's pause was weighty. When he finally replied, he sounded... lower. Like maybe a little gravelly? Like... really really sexy. "Well, a minute ago, I would've said nothing, but now I'm not so sure. Am I interrupting something?"

"Huh? Oh, er, no?" I winced, snagging a fallen sock from the floor and hustling through to the laundry room to toss everything in the open washer. "Just settling in for the evening. You?"

He sighed, sounding tired. I thought I heard fabric rustling on the other end of the line. "Same. I was going to ask if you wanted to grab a drink, but it sounds like you're in for the night."

"So do you."

Yeah, that was definitely fabric. Was he in bed? Oh my god, was he in bed? Not like I had room to talk—I was balls naked in the middle of my sister's kitchen. At least he had a sheet.

---