Page 52 of The Poster Boy
He took his hat off and scratched his head, then put it on backwards. “You invited Marek. To Christmas.”
“He was going to be alone.”
“How do you know this? You barely talk to him.”
I waited for Boone to put the pieces together. It didn’t take long before the realization hit him.
“Holy shit.” Boone’s eyes widened like saucers. “He’s the guy. The one you’ve been texting with almost nonstop.”
He looked like he couldn’t be more surprised if I told him I’d invited an alien to Christmas.
I shrugged a shoulder, and Boone crossed the room and slugged me in the arm.
“Jesus Christ, Jay. What the fuck? Myers is your secret booty call? Since when?”
“You did tell me to be nicer to him,” I joked.
“Yeah, by not stomping around and scowling at him. This is not what I meant.” He wiped a hand down his face. “Does he really have nowhere to go?”
“Travel arrangements to see his sister got screwed up. He was going to be alone, Boone. I had to invite him.” I hated the idea of Marek being alone for Christmas. It wasn’t my favorite holiday, but having Boone’s family to be with had taken some of the curse off Christmas.
“And you didn’t tell me until the last minute because…” Boone made a circular motion with his hand, urging me to talk.
“Because I knew you’d come to the exact correct conclusion, and I wanted to give you the least amount of time possible to lecture me about it.” Tucking my hands in my pockets, I tried to act natural. I knew I was being weird about this whole thing with Marek, which was why I didn’t tell Boone about it until the last possible moment. The truth was that I was all tangled up about it. I knew it was a bad idea, for a lot of reasons, but all of them went out the window when I was with him.
“Why would I lecture you?” Boone appeared to be genuinely confused.
“Because I’m sneaking around with our back-up goalie? Because it could have a negative impact on the team if it goes sour? I’m sure there’s a bunch of other reasons.”
Boone tipped his head back and laughed, then slung an arm around my shoulders. “Jay, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you’re still a grumpy, closed-off bastard, and however long this thing between you and Marek has been going on, you’re still the same cantankerous asshole you’ve always been. If you’re soft for him, no one has noticed. Your reputation as a stone cold badass is safe.”
“My reputation as a what?”
Boone ruffled my hair. “You heard me.”
Shoving Boone off me, I checked my phone. “He’s downstairs.”
“So are you and Marek going to play boyfriends when we’re at my folk’s place?”
“As far as Marek is aware, no one knows anything about us. I told him that you know I’m gay, but he doesn’t know that I told you about us. I’m not sure I’m going to, to be honest.”
“And why not?”
“Because it’s not serious between us, and I don’t want to give him the wrong impression.” It wasn’t serious. It was a string of booty calls between teammates. Tentative friends with benefits wasn’t what I’d call a serious relationship.
Boone looked at me, his head tilted to the side and his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. Whatever skepticism I thought I saw on his face was fleeting, though. Boone grabbed his bag off the floor. “You do you, man. But I hope you know what you’re doing. Myers is still the media darling of the team. If the press gets wind of this…” He trailed off, not needing to describe the shit show it would be.
“I know,” I groaned. But I wasn’t going to let it get that far. Marek seemed like he needed a friend. He put on a good front to the rest of the team, but the transfer had been hard on him. As soon as he settled in more, I could break it off.
“As long as you know what you’re doing, man. Come on. Your boyfriend is waiting for us.”
Marek stood in the lobby of our building, a fat duffel bag at his feet. He was wearing a charcoal gray pea coat, black pants, and stylish but warm-looking boots. He wasdefinitely more presentable than Boone and me, both in ballcaps and hoodies.
“Marek, glad you could make it,” Boone said as if he hadn’t just learned that Marek would be coming a few minutes ago.
“Thanks for the invite. It was really nice of you and your family.”
“It’s my pleasure, believe me. You’re way cuter than this asshole, and not as old, so maybe my baby sister will stop crushing on Jay.”
