Page 46 of Bend Him, Break Him
“Come on.” Isaac slipped into the bed. “You need to sleep if you’re gonna do well in your first game or whatever.”
“Opening game, start of the season.” Colton chuckled as he hopped into the bed. “Not my first game.”
“Not your first time pitching?” Isaac teased.
“Ha! Just because I haven’t pitched with you doesn’t mean I haven’t pitched.”
“Guess I’ll see how your reputation holds up,” Isaac said. “Well, with the baseball pitching, at the very least.”
“Wait, what?”
“GSA is talking about making it a group thing, whatever.” Isaac huffed, dramatic and unnecessary, but it was too late to undo his behavior, so he leaned into the whiny reaction. “Get some sleep and prepare for the imminent gay invasion about to puke rainbows all over your bases and stuff.”
He expected a frown to fill Colton’s face, a sign this was an intrusive overstep and something to encourage Isaac to ruin the GSA’s game spirit plans for tomorrow. Colton didn’t frown, though. Instead, he released a breathy chuckle as his eyes glazed over with the possibilities, and then he smiled. Oh, how he smiled. It was as big and bright and carefree as the one he’d arrived with tonight. The same smile Isaac had studied for years,analyzing the layers of genuine joy to the many facades Colton would put up. Isaac liked how captivating and charming Colton’s smiles could be when he basked in the simple things that made him happy.
Without a retort or final word, Colton rolled over and went to sleep, leaving Isaac awake with his thoughts. His fingers nearly brushed against Colton’s back when he hesitated. It’d be so easy to slide over and cuddle. Maybe even blame it on a restless sleeping body and a tiny twin bed. Isaac longed to touch Colton again, to hold him, to kiss him, to talk with him all night.
Chapter Fifteen
Coltonlost himself to the opening game of the season. When he pitched, the world and all the problems fell away. Family who didn’t support his goals. Gone. Family who didn’t acknowledge his identity. Gone. The uncomfortable truth surrounding his outing. Gone. Difficult classes. Struggling academics. Hot goth guys. Gone. Gone. Gone. All in all, Colton let it all vanish when he stepped onto the field. All except for players who still resented him as the starting pitcher.
Teammates who created conflict were really the only thing locked in Colton’s head during a game because their arrogance or showboating or plain indifference usually cost the rest of the team. He didn’t have the energy or desire to rally the players who hated him for something he couldn’t control, so he focused his efforts of morale on the teammates who didn’t judge, who stillrespected Colton, and who played with all their hearts even if they were up by eight.
During the seventh-inning stretch, Colton took the time to stretch and search the stands. He’d long since given up on finding his family in the stands, but it didn’t take long to spot the GSA members sitting close to the railing and taking up a few rows. He scanned the group of nearly twenty members who’d shown up, which was close to half of the overall members. Lots of them were holding signs for the Batting Beavers or for Player 33, which was Colton’s number. His heart skipped a beat when he spotted Isaac sitting squarely between Jazz and Carlos, almost unnoticed. Isaac didn’t care about the no-smoking policy or Carlos’ exaggerated coughs. He simply sat hunched on the bleachers with his gaze locked onto Colton.
Colton pretended not to care, keeping his expression calm as he waved to his cheering audience. It took all his strength not to jump up and down. Colton had tons of fans, friends, and loyal teammates, but he’d never had people genuinely go out of their way to see him play. In high school, it was usually just school spirit that brought folks out, people who rooted for Colton even though they didn’t know him. It was nice having people who saw Colton for who he really was, accepted that, and came to support him.
“Woooooo!” Jazz shouted, leading the GSA into a ridiculous cheer.
Okay, the calm demeanor he kept definitely broke as Mina led moves the GSA members couldn’t sync up with for the life of them, making the routine a terrible mess. Still, it was way more fun to watch than the half-time performance or the fawning cleat chasers who didn’t so much like Colton as they did his standing, popularity, and, honestly, any boy wearing baseball gear.
As Colton lingered close to the stands, he noticed Isaac didn’t have on his usual heavy black eye makeup. Instead, he wore the school colors for his eyeshadow, and it matched everyone else on the GSA team who also sported Colton’s player number on their cheeks.
A warm buzz hit, and Colton casually wandered in the direction where his friends were lined up, a bit more excited than he expected but hopeful to make some idle chitchat during the break.
Unfortunately, Leon took the opportunity to speed walk in Colton’s direction, preventing him from casually striking up a conversation with the GSA.
“Looks like you got yourself some queer groupies.” Leon slapped Colton’s back, intentionally too hard but smiling all playful and phony as per usual. “They’re all rawr rawr something something blah blah for you.”
Colton ground his teeth, fighting back an angry expression, but he knew his eyes shot daggers. He knew because of the glint of satisfaction in Leon’s gaze. He was provoking a rise out of Colton and taking pure sadistic joy in it.
His roommates, Tim and Devon, stood halfway across the field, talking to each other, but their eyes pressed onto Colton and Leon. Chances were, they were both looking for an excuse to mosey on over to offer backup. Tim always managed to shut Leon down quickly and Devon successfully warped Leon’s words, painting them as friendly instead of fucked up.
“You think any of ‘em actually know how the game is played?” Leon asked loudly, drawing the GSA’s attention and definitely hoping to make them squirm as he went to work cutting down Colton.
It was something Colton had experienced in the locker rooms before, Leon saying something spiteful to get a rise out of players who weren’t bothered by Colton’s sexuality while feeding into the discomfort of those who did have a problem with it. Now, he sought to pour his venomous feelings for Colton out on the GSA members, who would probably never attend another game under the assumption that everyone on the baseball team was like this. They weren’t. Most players were fine.
It was Leon who fanned the flames of hate—more for his craving to be the starting pitcher and less because of any actual homophobia. Not that it was an excuse in Colton’s eyes, but he wondered what tricks Leon would’ve resorted to if he didn’t have Colton’s bisexuality to use against him.
“Any of y’all actually know what’s going on?” Leon gestured to the field, the scoreboard, and the dugouts. “Or you just looking for a reason to get all dolled up and play cheerleaders?”
Leon laughed loudly, forcing it at first but then getting into a real obnoxious rhythm of taunting the queer crowd.
“And what the fuck do you know about baseball?” Isaac leaned over the railing, ready to lunge from above and tackle Leon.
He had wild eyes, like a deranged tiger on the prowl…or what Colton would assume a large cat about to pounce looked like. It startled the laughter out of Leon’s lungs.
“Yeah, punk ass.” Mina lounged on the railing beside Isaac, tapping her nails to draw Leon’s attention. “You’ve been sitting side-bitch all night long.”
