Page 119 of Role Model

Harris glanced away from the road for a moment. “Yeah?”

“When’s our Pride Night game?”

“The end of February, but—”

“I want to come out before then. Maybe the same day.” Troy was excited now. “Every Pride game I’ve ever played in has felt so weird. Like I was hiding in plain sight or something. I hated it. But this time I can just...be proud. Actually be proud.”

Harris, for some reason, wasn’t smiling. “That’s awesome, and I want that for you. But you should know, the Pride game is against Toronto.”

A heavy silence hung in the air as all the joy drained from Troy’s body. Finally he managed to say, “Well, that’s stupid.”

Harris smiled sadly. “I know. I wish it was against any other team.”

Troy could not believe that the Pride game was against Toronto. “I don’t care,” he decided. “I still want to do it. But I need to come out to my mom first. I’ll do that soon. I wanted to do it in person, but phone will have to do.”

“What about your dad?” Harris asked carefully.

Troy had told himself for months that he didn’t care if he never spoke to Dad again, but was that true? Because coming out really would end his relationship with his father. He had no doubts about that.

“I guess that’s up to him. But I don’t expect he’ll talk to me again once he knows.” He sighed. “It’s for the best. I know not everyone is going to accept me, but I can’t live like this anymore.” He huffed out a surprised little laugh. “I almost can’t wait to do it, actually. It’s weird because I never thought I would want to do this, but if it wasn’t for the fact that I want to tell my mom first, I’d probably post something on Instagram right now.”

“Yeah, don’t do that. But I’m glad you feel that you’re ready. And...” Harris reached over and squeezed Troy’s hand. “I’m going to make sure this is the best Pride Night ever.”

Troy squeezed back. “I’m glad you’ll be a part of it.” He stared at their joined hands in the dim light of the truck. “I’m glad I met you. That you’re here. With me.”

“Me too.” Harris retrieved his hand. “We’re going to have sex when we get back, right?”

Troy laughed. “I fucking hope so.”

They went to Harris’s place because Troy wanted to keep the homey good vibes going. He wanted to make love to Harris under a homemade quilt and surrounded by colorful pillows. And a weird stuffed giraffe.

Now they were both naked in Harris’s bed, and had been taking their time kissing and warming each other’s bodies up.

“I really like you as a person,” Harris said in between the kisses he was peppering Troy’s belly with. “I like everything about you, including the weird way you smile and the way you pretend not to like sweets.”

Troy huffed. “Okay.”

“I just want to make that clear, so you don’t get any wrong ideas here. Because, holy hell, Troy. Your body is ridiculous.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“What exercises do you even need to do to get this muscle here?” Harris trailed a finger over Troy’s right oblique.

Troy shivered. “You have that muscle too, you know.”

“It’s probably buried in there somewhere, yeah. But yours are so...bumpy.”

“I work out for a living.”

Harris kissed Troy’s hip, and then across to his belly button. “And I appreciate it.”

“Good. It’s hard work being...bumpy.”

They both laughed. They’d been laughing a lot since they’d stumbled into Harris’s apartment, barely able to stop kissing long enough to unlock the door. Troy felt like he was drunk, although he had gone easy on the cider at the farm.

“Come here,” he said, and Harris crawled back up so their faces were level. Troy stroked Harris’s hair for a moment, and lost himself in his green eyes. “I’m going to miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too. But I’ll be here when you get back.”

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