Page 79 of Playing the Field
‘Shall we go and get a pint then?’ Bailey suggests. ‘I think I could use one after that.’
I tell them I’ll cough up for the first round. It beats another night of moping about Ben.
The team all give Bailey supportive slaps on the back as we turn towards the exit, and because The Fox isn’t busy and raucous like on match days, we’re all able to sit round one big table together. As we discuss everything from childhood misdemeanours to relationship disasters, I really get that sense of being one big family Dad and I always hoped to achieve, so it ends up being one of my favourite nights at The Fox ever.
I even manage to push Ben out of my mind for a few hours, giving me some much-needed headspace. But it’s only a temporary reprieve– he comes crashing back into my life just two days later.
I flounder for a moment when an incoming call from him pops up on my phone screen, because although I miss him like crazy, I do think having no contact will help us heal. It would be lovely if we could find our way to being friends at some point in the future, but right now I’d just spend all my time secretly wanting more from him. And if he got into a real relationship with someone else, especially if that person were Georgina, it would hurt too much to hear about it.
But his call is hard to ignore. If what Bailey said is true and he’s struggling with the split as much I have been, I don’t want to leave him hanging. So I take a deep breath and click ‘connect’, my heart rate spiking even though, as it’s early in the morning, I’m still lying in bed.
His voice sets off a familiar flutter in my stomach as he opens with, ‘I didn’t wake you, did I?’
‘No. Is everything okay?’
‘I’m worried about Bailey. I can’t get hold of him. I take it you haven’t looked at this morning’s headlines yet? He’s only gone and spoken to a reporter. It’s getting picked up everywhere.’
I sit up straighter and reach for my laptop on the bedside table, quickly bringing the screen to life. A search for Bailey’s name brings up stories ranging from ‘Ben Pryce’s fight for LGBTQ+ rights’ to ‘I did it for my brother’.
‘I’m scanning,’ I tell him, skim-reading to get the gist of the story.
Bailey says he wants to ‘set the record straight’ about when Ben lashed out at that fan, saying it’s high time his brother’s reputation stopped getting dragged through the mud. He describes how the fan, an old classmate of Bailey’s who had spotted him holding hands with his new partner, was spouting such homophobic poison about him that Ben felt compelled to step in.
It continues,I know a lot of people will still say he should have ignored it, but it’s hard not to see red when someone’s badmouthing your family. And if you ask me, he was right to call that person out for the disgusting things he was saying. No one should have to listen to that kind of hate.
He goes into more detail about how his brother couldn’t be more caring or supportive, even willing to let his own career suffer so as not to have to out Bailey, who at that point hadn’t felt ready to talk about it openly.
But things have changed now and I want people to stop blaming my brother because he’s never been the real villain of this story.
‘Is that true?’ I ask Ben.
‘Yes, and I’m sorry I didn’t explain it to you, but Bailey has always kept his private life to himself before, so I didn’t feel like it was for me to share. I was trying to be the protective big brother as usual, even though I know he’s perfectly capable of looking after himself. I have no idea why he’s suddenly decided to talk about it so publicly now.’
I tell him Bailey announced it to the team on Tuesday and seemed relieved to have done so. ‘I think he just wants to be able to bring his boyfriend to The Fox and before this maybe he felt like he couldn’t.’
‘How did the others react when he told them?’
‘They just cracked a few jokes then got on with it.’
‘Well that’s one less thing to worry about. But I’m concerned he might be under siege by the press. Our parents are on holiday this week and he’s not answering his phone. And I can’t go round and check on him when I’m so far away.’
There’s an unspoken question there and I offer to pop over, to put his mind at rest.
‘It feels cheeky asking you under the circumstances, but I’d be eternally grateful. And if you could drop me a message afterwards, or get him to call me, that would be amazing.’
‘Consider it done,’ I tell him, already reaching for the joggers and T-shirt on the top of my yet-to-be-put-away laundry pile as an image of Bailey cowering behind a curtain to hide from a pack of nosy journalists flashes into my head.
But despite Ben’s fears, there’s not a single reporter camped outside his parents’ place. I ring the doorbell anyway. Now I’m here I might as well check everything else is okay.
Bailey doesn’t answer on the first two rings, but the door finally flies open just as I’m about to leave. He has a towel knotted round his waist and his hair is sticking up all over the place. ‘Lily? What brings you here?’
‘Your brother. He’s been trying to call you since he saw your story in the papers.’
‘Ah,’ he says, looking sheepish. ‘I probably should have warned him. But I didn’t want him to try and talk me out of it. I wanted to get it out there.’
‘Who is it?’ a voice calls from down the corridor. Deep. Booming. Male.
My cheeks redden instantly. ‘You’ve got company? I’m sorry.’
