Page 216 of Off the Pitch

“I’m really sorry,” Liam said. “I was a complete dickhead to you. Like a proper asshole. I should have realised that just because you didn’t tell me you’re bi, doesn’t mean you don’t trust me, or you think I won’t accept you. You don’t have to tell me everything, and I should’ve been happy that you trusted me, instead of getting mad that it took you so long to tell me. I’m sorry, man.”

“Thanks. I’m sorry too. I should have told you. I was just nervous, you know? You’re my best mate, and I didn’t want anything to change between us.”

“Nothing’s ever gonna change that.”

“I know,” I said, nodding and shooting him a smile. “And I’m sorry I said I didn’t tell you ’cos you’ve been busy. I know you’ll always make time for me. And I probably should have told you before springing Félix on you. I just… he turned up, and I’d missed him, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Mate, you don’t have to apologise. He’s obviously important to you.”

“Yeah… I think he might be.”

“I’m so happy for you,” Liam said. He put the plate on the floor and reached out for me. I went willingly and we met in the middle in a giant, crushing hug. “I love you, man.”

“I love you too.”

The door behind Liam creaked, and I looked over Liam’s shoulder to see Christian’s head peeking around the door. “Are you friends again now? Can I come in?”

“Only if you keep your thieving hands off my snacks,” Liam said, breaking the hug and looking at Christian.

“They’re not just your snacks. They’re for all of us.”

“Then why did you eat all the chocolate?”

“It’s my fee for putting up with you two,” Christian said, dropping onto the sofa next to us in the seat I’d been occupying before Liam had pulled me into a hug and dragged me across the sofa.

“We’d have gotten there eventually,” I said.

“Yeah, but we’d all have had to put up with you two looking pitiful and sighing forlornly at your lost love.”

“Shut up!” I grabbed a cushion from behind me and hit Christian with it. He laughed, tugging it out of my hands. “I wasn’t pining.”

“Yes, you were! And Jamal said Liam couldn’t stop sighing every time he saw you. I did it for the good of everyone.”

Liam snorted. “You’re the hero they needed.”

“Yup, and now I can tell everyone you made up,” Christian said, reaching for his phone, probably to text Micah who was the biggest gossip I’d ever met. Once Micah knew, everyone else would know within five minutes.

“I thought we were here to help you plan?” Liam asked.

“Oh, yeah. We can do that in a minute.”

“So,” Liam said, looking at me and raising an eyebrow. “Who’s Félix? I’m sure I recognised him from somewhere.”

“I recognised the name,” Christian said, putting his phone on the arm of the sofa. “But it’s bugging me because I can’t remember.”

“You’d know if you saw him,” Liam said. “Have you got a picture?”

“Not one I’m showing you.” Christian snorted, and Liam went pink around the ears. The only photos I had of Félix were the ones he’d sent me while he was in America, and I didn’t think any of them had his face in them.

“Well, he’s like Jordan’s height, older, dark hair. He was wearing a white shirt and jeans when I saw him.”

“That could be lots of people,” Christian said with an exasperated sigh. “It could be David for all the use that description was.”

“Nah, I mean likeolder, older. Like forty or something.”

“Oh my God, really?” Christian’s face was a picture and I suddenly wondered where his mind had gone. I wondered if I should tell them or let them continue to guess for a little while longer. It was pretty entertaining watching them flounder.

“Yeah.”

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