Three Strikes - 12. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth - Shane 2/2

Gordy and his friends came and watched the last part of our game. At least that’s what I told myself, that they came to watch us, but I knew they were only there for their own game, which ended up being cancelled at the last minute. They probably stayed to watch Aaron, Drew, and Kurt. I doubt I had any influence at all, with Gordy.

He was casually laid out on the bleachers in the relaxing way he seems to pull off effortlessly. Seeing him so happy and carefree made me smile...until I realized he was with Drew, then I was instantly in a bad mood. Drew was always flirting and touching Gordy. I think he did it on purpose to get on my nerves, if so it was working perfectly.

They were laughing and touching each other and overall, making my blood boil, but what was I supposed to do? If I walked over to them and yelled at Drew, then I’d only add to Gordy’s casefile against me. No, I needed a new approach; one that didn’t involve me being an asshole.

There were a bunch of people around them so I knew I could go over there without being too obvious. I didn’t want to upset the delicate line that had been set between Gordy and me. As I approached I saw that Aaron had joined Gordy and Drew. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was jealous. At least having them around him gave me a reason to be close to Gordy. I had every right to talk to my two best friends regardless of how he felt about me.

I was ignoring everyone while mentally building myself up for the impending encounter when Sammy pulled my hand, making me sit next to him. I didn’t have time to blink before I was ambushed by all of Gordy’s friends. Let me tell you something, they’re an intimidating bunch to be around. I kept looking back at Drew and Gordy but they simply waved me.

That’s when an idea struck me. If I could win over Gordy’s friends, then it might be easier to win him over, or at least get him to have a decent conversation with me. I hadn’t ineracted much with them but enough to know they weren’t all that bad. Friendly, even if they were easily excitable.

Everyone was talking to me at the same time and everything was so face paced I couldn’t keep up. I not to let on that they were way over my head. I froze when Sammy crawled onto my lap while we were talking about the game and the night at the club. No one had ever sat on my lap before, not even boyfriends. Especially not in public. I wanted to shove him off. If anyone was gonna sit on my lap, it was Gordy.

But, I didn’t want to piss anyone off, so I sat there like a good boy and tried to mask how uncomfortable I was. They were talking amongst themselves, not really including me (which was fine by me) when the guy who always stuffs his uniform mentioned going out.

“Since we don’t have a game, we should go out tonight! We spent all of this time getting ready for the game and there’s no reason to let it go to waste.”

“Yesssss!” The twins added.

I thought I could capitalize on their excitement so I made a suggestion of my own.

“What if we all went out, together?”

There was a mix of excitement and something else that was a borderline a awkward secret that everyone was in on except me. Allé’s face looked skeptical.

“Well, I don’t know. Gordy probably won’t go if you do. You haven’t exactly made as good of an impression on him, as you have us.”

And there it was, that awkward look that everyone had. I shouldn’t have been surprised that everyone knew how Gordy felt about me, but I was.

“Why are you such an ass to him? You seem nice enough, but you sure treat him like a dick.”

I only shrugged because I had nothing to say. I thought Sam was sensing my uncomfortableness because he moved the conversation along.

“If you want to ask him, then feel free, but we can’t help you. We’re probably breaking a bro code by sitting here with you while Gordy’s alone with the two heteros. He’ll straight up murder our asses if we ask him...in public...where he can’t say no, to go out to the bars with you. So, go along now.”

Sam got off of my lap and nudged me toward Gordy and my friends. I stood up and stuck my hands in my pocket so I didn’t fidget like a food.

“Hypothetically, would you guys (I used my hand to indicate I meant all of them) want to all go out tonight for dinner and drinks at Mully’s or something?”

Drew and Aaron seemed happy about the idea, and Gordy looked like he was about to say no, but instead, he said yes. I was surprised, I’d fully anticipated him to say no. I looked at Sammy and tried to figure out what I should do next since I hadn’t planned on making it that far. The rest of the guys shrugged. They appeared to be as surprised as I was. I looked back at Gordy and asked if he was sure, he said yeah, and so we made plans to go. I watched my friends share a few words with Gordy as they made they’re way off the bleachers before Drew left with Gordy and Aaron walked toward me. I didn’t show it, but I could’ve exploded with happiness. I wasn’t gonna screw this up.

“You’re a fucking dumbass. I hope you know that, you fucking idiot,” Aaron laughed as he squeezed my shoulder a little too hard.

I knew why I thought I was a dumbass, but I didn’t know why he did.

*** *** *** ***

The drive to the bar was nerve-wracking. It was going to be the closest thing to a date with Gordy that I was gonna get. During the drive, I tapped my thumbs on the steering wheel and repeated the same phrase in my head, ‘don’t be an asshole, don’t be an asshole’. I needed to instill it in my brain until it’d become a natural instinct.

I arrived first and got a table ready only a few minutes before the DONNAS arrived. I let them sit down first, I didn’t want them to cage me in, and I wanted to try and sit next to Gordy. Aaron, Drew, and Kurt arrived next and filled the remaining chairs.

Sam demanded I sit on the chair to his right. Aaron sat next to me, then an empty chair, then Drew, Kurt, Oliver, Nelly, Nick, and Allé connected the circle back to Sammy. Instinctively, I knew Gordy would sit between Aaron and Drew.

Except Drew unexpectedly removed the last chair, setting it off to the side before joining us. I was confused, now there wasn’t a chair for Gordy. He and Aaron were both wearing smug-ass smiles when they saw me looking at them with confusion.

“Gordy’s not coming.”

I wanted to ask, ‘why the fuck not?’, but instead, I kept my face as controlled as possible. The DONNAS freaked out enough for all of us. They had no idea Gordy wasn’t coming. So maybe he was coming after all? I mean, wouldn’t they know about something that important? After the DONNAS rained a hundred questions that they wanted answered, Drew finally spoke up.

“Well, technically, Shane only asked if we hypothetically wanted to come out and the answer to that question was yes. Evidently, he didn’t actually want to come out, but that wasn’t what Shane asked,” Drew shurgged, never breaking eye contact with me.

“Did he say why?” One of the twins shouted.

I must admit, I was interested in the answer to that question.

“Yep. He said there was a class he wanted to take at the gym tonight.”

“And because Shane’s a big, fat asshole who says dumb shit all of the time,” Aaron concluded Drew’s statement with the more obvious answer.

Everybody’s eyes shot in my direction and yelled.

“SHANE!”

I cringed at the sheer volume of noise and raised my hands in an effort to offer an explanation.

“I know! I’m sorry. I’m an asshole. I was going to try and use tonight as a peace offering, but now—.”

But now he won’t come. But now I have no chance. But now—it’s over.

“But now we have to fix this. We’re going to get him to come and when he shows up, you better be so fucking nice to him or I swear to God!” Allé didn’t need to finish the sentence, I knew what was implied. Allé terrified me because he might actually follow through with his threat. Following Allé’s command, everyone had their phones out and were furiously sending text after text to Gordy.

Even Drew had his phone out and it looked as though he and Aaron were working together as Drew’s fingers typed out a message. He didn’t send it though, instead, they both turned to me and Drew gently waved his phone in a taunting manner.

“Why should we send this message to Gordy?” he asked in a playful tone.

We hadn’t talked about it and I hadn’t said anything out loud but I was pretty sure they suspected I might like Gordy.

“I don’t care. You don’t have to send anything,” I shrugged, indifferently. But really I wanted to snatch the damn phone, press send, and then throw it at his stupid head.

“We’ll send it, but seriously dude, you need to stop being such a fucking D-bag to him.”

I was happy they didn’t say it very loud. They used their inside voices, which kept our conversation away from prying ears.

“I know. I’m trying,” I whispered without making eye contact.

No one mentioned Gordy after that, and I didn’t see anyone check their phones again. Was he coming? Did he tell them to fuck off? I had no idea what was going on, and that was only part of my pickle.

Sammy had been flirting uninhibitedly since we were at the ballpark. He was hanging all over me and, no matter how much I tried to pull away, he continued to touch me and coo into my ear. I should’ve never let him sit on my lap in the first place. I was so busy trying to be nice to him in an effort to impress Gordy, which clearly didn't work, and now it was going to backfire in my face. I got up a few times to get a new beer and I tried to get one of my friends to run interference but they must’ve decided I was on my own.

If that wasn’t bad enough, I couldn’t focus enough on the conversation at hand because I was too busy watching the door and hoping Gordy was going to show up. Sam was getting irritated because I wasn’t listening and everyone was starting to look at me strangely.

I wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping anyone happy. If Gordy did show, would everyone be talking about what a weird flake I was? Would Sammy tell him that I’m a tease? Gordy was going to think I slept around with everyone when the truth was, didn’t. I hardly ever did anything. I only wanted to sleep around with him.

Aaron squeezed my shoulder in an effort to comfort me. “Dude, you need to calm down. You look stressed.”

He had no idea, but instead of accepting his comfort, I shrugged him off.

“Nah, I’m good.”

My head jolted forward when Aaron’s hand collided with the back of my head.

“I told you to stop being a fucking asshole. Don’t you care that Gordy just walked in?”

I snapped my head up and sure enough, there was Gordy. The entire table erupted with cheers when they saw him coming. He was a crowd favorite. At least that’s what every practice, game, and outing had told me so far. He smiled at everyone and said hi and I envied the way he carried himself, how effortless he made everything look, and how confident he was with himself.

There was no one in the world who could pull off the name Gordy, but he did. The first time I heard someone yell his name, I blanched. I’d envisioned calling him a lot of things, but Gordy was never one of them. I tried to imagine introducing him to my friends and family. ‘Hello, I’d like you to meet my boyfriend, Gordy.’ It didn’t exactly roll off the tongue.

I reprimanded myself for thinking that way, ‘And these are exactly the things I can’t say out loud’.

I didn’t know if I was more anxious waiting for him to show up or actually having him there, but I was frozen to my chair like an ice sculpture. I felt so much pressure to not be a dick. I didn’t want to be a dick, it was just my default setting. I could feel it bubbling inside. The fear. If I say something nice, would everyone know how I felt? If so, was it the worst thing? Maybe? Ugh! He hadn’t even looked at me, yet, and I was close to screwing everything up. I could feel it growing on the tip of my tongue, so I swallowed hard.

We were all wearing our baseball clothes from the earlier games, but Gordy had changed at the gym. He wasn’t dressed and groomed like normal, but he looked just as hot, only a different hot.

He was wearing straight cut blue jeans, which were rolled at the cuff, with leather flip flops and a white, zip jacket that highlighted his tanned skin and green eyes. The most surprising thing was the fact he was wearing a baseball cap, backwards, like me. Normally, he didn’t wear a cap—not even during games when they were required by all players. I think it had to do with it interfering with his hair.

He looked so down to earth and boyish...and did I mention, fucking hot? That’s when I decided that, when the time was right, I was going to compliment him on his hat. Something simple that wouldn’t attract suspicion from everyone—just a dude complimenting another dude’s hat. I had dozen at home, maybe one day he’d wear one of mine. Some guys like their boyfriends to wear their clothes, mine would be my hat. Although, he’d look cute in my shirts too.

Gordy was standing behinds Aarons chair with his hands braced on the top for support as he spoke to Drew.

“Do you have a tab open? I’m here only because you’re buying.”

Drew smiled back. “You know it! Anything you want for the rest of the night is on me.”

“Does anyone else want something while I’m up?”

Gordy looked around the table. Most everyone had already gotten a refresher so they declined. I still had a little beer left, but decided I could use the opportunity to move things along so I held up my beer.

“Sure, I’d love another.”

Gordy looked and me and raised his brow in annoyance.

“Do I look like your servant? No.”

With that said, he walked away and everyone looked at me with disappointment, like I’d purposely been rude.

Aaron whispered into my ear as everyone returned to their earlier conversations, “Come on man, what are you doing?”

“What did I do wrong? He asked if anyone wanted anything and I took him up on his offer.”

“Yeah, but you haven’t earned the right to ask him to fetch your beers.”

“I didn’t ask him to fetch me a beer. He offered!” I whisper-shouted back.

I was so confused. Why was everything so confusing? If I hadn’t been stressed before, I was now. I felt as though there was a whole new set of rules but they were written with invisible ink. I was already close to failing with the commonly practiced rules. There wasn’t any way I was going to survive the night.

“Regardless, you need to play it cool.”

Gordy came back with a red, fruity-looking drink in his hand. Of course that’s what he drinks, I don’t know why I expected him to drink anything else.

Aaron and Drew shuffled to make room for Gordy. I’d hoped Aaron would shuffle his chair over and put Gordy next to me, but of course, that didn’t happen—he sat him between them. Aaron must’ve noticed the look on my face because he leaned in and whispered.

“You’re not ready to sit at the big-boy table. Play nice and I’ll gladly find a reason to move.”

“Asshole,” I whispered beneath my breath.

That caused his attention to immediately shoot back to me with an evil smirk.

“That, wasn’t playing nice.”

His voice was smug and I wanted to deck him in the face. He never broke eye contact as he leaned all of the way back into his chair and opened up their conversation to me. I rolled my eyes when he smiled his cocky smile. I was thankful but I couldn’t say that to him because he’d never let it go. I had to hope he knew me well enough to know I appreciated the gesture.

I looked around and figured it was as good of a time as any to compliment him. Everyone seemed happy, there was light conversation, but I nothing too serious. So I decided to go for it.

“Nice hat.”

Short and simple. Maybe a little too short and simple. What I meant to say was, ‘I really like your hat’, but judging by the expression on his face, I think it came out more like ‘nice cap, you loser’ and then I felt Aarons heel dig into my toes—clearly a punishment for saying the wrong thing. Gordy’s lips pursed, he wasn’t happy with the compliment that didn’t come out as a compliment.

He used both hands to uncomfortably fidget with his cap. “Well, I wasn’t planning on going out, and I didn’t have time to run home, so...”

I thought he looked amazing and I hated that he thought I meant it as anything else. I was trying to find the words to fix it or, at least, clarify what I’d meant, when Drew jumped in.

“Are you kidding? Shane’s right. You do look great, but then again, you can pull off anything.”

Drew playfully elbowed Gordy for good measure and it seemed to perk his spirits. That should’ve been me. I should’ve been the one to make him smile with the compliment, but instead, I’m the reason Drew got to be the knight in shining armor.

I didn’t know what to do because the cards were stacked against me and I had a feeling that no matter what I said, it was going to be twisted and turned into something it wasn’t. Too afraid to say anything, I watched everyone engage while I sat there brooding. ‘Nice cap?’ I replayed in my head. Fuck me.

I was brought back to reality when Sammy snapped his fingers in front of my face.

“Well?”

Everyone was staring at me and waiting for an answer, but an answer to what? I had no clue.

“We’re talking about getting a bunch of app-a-teasers. Are you in?”

“Yeah, sure.” I paused, “You know what—I’ll go order a bunch and bring them back. Yeah?”

There appeared to be no objections. I’m sure everyone was glad to have me out of the way for a minute. I sat at the bar and placed an order for enough food to cause serious damage to someone’s arteries and a fresh beer for the wait. I picked at the label and thought about my options, which appeared pretty slim at that point. I could give up and walk away, with some dignity intact. That would probably be the easiest and also what Gordy would prefer, or I could—.

Mid thought, my phone vibrated. A text from Aaron.

[Aaron] Come back and join us dipshit! And be a dear and bring Gordy a new drink. #husbandpoints

—or I could start by taking him a new drink. I smiled as I repocked my phone.

“I need whatever he’s drinking—the cute one in the cap,” I pointed to Gordy.

The bartender got to work and before I knew it, I had a new fruity drink in my hand. Curiosity got the best of me so I took a sip. I’d been prepared for something sugar laden and sweet but what I tasted was something tart and not very good. I turned back to the bartender and asked.

“What the fuck is this?”

“Raspberry vodka and club soda with a splash of cranberry juice. You wanted what he has, right?”

He looked worried as he pointed at Gordy, that maybe he’d messed up, but in all actuality, it was I who messed up...with my assumptions. I waved him off, letting him know it was fine. I walked back at the table and set Gordy’s drink down in front of him—next to his empty one.

“Here you go,” I offered him a smile before speaking to the rest of the group, “and I ordered a bunch of appetizers for the table. They should be here soon.”

“Oh, okay. I guess I’ll have one more, but I’m done after this one,” Gordy moved his new drink around in circles and everyone looked at him as if he was crazy.

“Why?” Oliver asked.

“I don’t need to make another drunken mistake. I’m still recovering from the last one.”

The silence was deafening, you could’ve heard a pin drop.

“Well, that was rude,” I mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear.

And it was. I didn’t care what had happened, that was a rude comment to say during a group setting with the person you made the mistake with sitting one chair away.

“Well, you’re fucking rude all of the time, so—”

He left the statement open ended but his intent was clear. He hated me. I bit my tongue. I deserved the last comment because I had been rude to him, but at the same time, I didn’t deserve all the hate. He was a willing participate last weekend, it wasn’t just on me.

The table remained silent for what felt like forever, before he finally broke the silence again. He was leaning back on his chair watching me intently.

“What? No snarky reply?”

He slung one arm over the back of his chair, provoking me. I didn’t want to prove to him, what he was trying to get me to prove—that I’m an asshole. So I quietly sat there while everyone waited. When it became abundantly clear no one was going to say anything, I decided to change the subject.

“Does anyone want to do shots? My treat?”

That broke the tension and the awkward tableau. I signaled for the bartender and counted the group—there was a total of ten of us, but Gordy made it clear he wasn’t drinking.

“Can we get nine shots? Four whiskey and...whatever they (I pointed at Sammy and his friends) want.”

The ONNAS ordered blue kamikaze shots. I’d never heard of it so I ordered one for myself and so did Aaron, Kurt, and Drew. The ONNAs didn’t want to be left out so they levelled the order by each getting a whiskey. The end result was a shot of whiskey and a blue kamikaze for everyone, except Gordy.

I grabbed the waitress’ elbow, to keep her from leaving, and looked at Gordy one last time.

“Are you sure you don’t want to join us?”

I tried very hard not to sound sarcastic or like I was pressuring him. All I wanted was for us to have a good time together. He bit his lip and I could tell he was torn between wanting to partake in the good time and denying me any joy in life.

“Sure, I’ll have what you guys are having.”

“Make that ten of each,” I told the waitress, with a smile.

The conversation returned to normal. Gordy wasn’t too interested in including me so I talked with the others while we waited for the shots. Once they arrived, the DONNAS decided that as a group, we’d take the whiskey first and wash it down with the blue kamikaze, so that’s what we did. We all held up the shots of whiskey and Oliver toasted the DAKS before throwing the shot back.

By the sour faces, it was obvious whiskey wasn’t the preferred choice for the fairer gents, but they took it like champs. The blue shot had what looked like red sugar on the rim. I licked it and smacked my lips as the sugar sizzled in my mouth and started popping on my lips. I hadn’t expected it and the DONNAS were laughing at my reaction. Sammy squeezed my thigh, which made me jump slightly in surprise.

“It’s pop rocks, silly! Just wait. It’s better when you take the shot.”

We held up the blue and red drink and Kurt toasted the DONNAS.

The shot was so different from anything I’d ever had before. It was sweet, but not overly so, and the pop rocks were a different experience all together. I hadn’t had any of those since I was a kid.

“So? What do you think?” They asked.

I thought about it for a minute.

“Honestly, I think this is the perfect drink for you guys. It’s sweet but not as much as you’d think. Plus it’s lined with a little surprise spark that keeps you on your toes.”

They seemed to love the comparison and officially dubbed it ‘their shot’. Talking about ‘them’ made me think of their acronym, which reminded me of something that never sat right.

“I have to ask something that’s been driving me crazy for a while.”

The table was looking at me curiously.

“Last weekend, we were dubbed the DAKS as a spinoff from your acronym DONNAS, but it doesn’t make any sense. Shouldn’t it be GONNAS?”

“Why would it be GONNAS?” Sam asked.

“Gordy?” I stated, hesitantly.

Everyone started laughing. Well, everyone except us (the DAKS). Clearly, we were missing something.

“His name isn’t Gordy. It’s Donovan.”

“But you guys have never call him that. It’s always been Gordy, or D. Which I think we assumed was short for Gor-DEE,” Kurt said.

“No. D is for Donovan and Gordy is short for gorgeous because he’s so fucking beautiful.”

I looked at Aaron, Kurt, and Drew to see if I was the only one who was in the dark, but they looked as confused as I. The four of us looked at Donovan.

“Wait, so your name isn’t Gordy?” Drew asked with disbelief.

Gordy—I mean, Donovan smiled and shook his head.

“No, and I hate the name Gordy, but it’s never stopped them from saying it and eventually I gave up fighting it. It’s so dorky.”

I smiled. “Oh, I don’t know. I like Gordy. It’s cute...and it suits you.”

Drew, Aaron, and Kurt agreed with me. I think it was their way of building me up in front of Gordy. Regardless, I was glad to see them take my side. Gordy was totally a dorky name. Out of everyone in the group, I thought Sammy would’ve been best suited for it. But after learning it was short for gorgeous, I decided that I kind of liked it. Plus, I’d been calling him Gordy for almost six weeks, so the name had grown on me.

My thoughts wandered until they finally landed on the conclusion that I prefered Gordy, but during sex, Donovan was much sexier to say—not that it mattered.

After a few more drinks each, the conversation started turning more personal, even intimate. Finally, one of the twins (I couldn’t tell them apart) asked a question that shocked me from my buzz.

“Has everyone had enough to drink? Can we finally talk about the one thing we’re all dying to talk about?”

Everyone’s inhibitions were at an evening low and the head nodding was at an evening high. No one knew what he was talking about, but it didn’t stop everyone from wanting to talk about it.

He pointed to Donovan and me and squealed.

“Great! You two talk. Donovan's been so secretive about everything. We want to know what happen last weekend! All of the details, please!” He clapped his hands together like a little kid waiting for ice cream.

The rest of the group joined in. Even my friends were clapping their hands excessively and bouncing on their chairs in anticipation. Especially Aaron, who’d been there for part of the live show, and afterward had hounded me for more information, but I’d been too rejected by Gordy’s departure to want to share anything with him.

Donovan dropped his head into his hands and was shaking his head no—not like the answer no, but more like ‘why is this my life?’ So everyone turned their gaze to me, which was too much pressure. Honestly, I had no problem talking about it, but clearly, Donovan didn’t feel the same and I wasn’t going to upset him. I raised my hands and leaned back in my chair.

“Sorry guys. I have nothing to hide and I have no problem talking about it, but it appears Donovan doesn’t feel the same,” I shrugged an apology.

Donovan’s head snapped up and his eyes bore into mine. I could tell something was coming, getting a reaction had been part of the plan. His constant eye contact was a added bonus. He raised one freakishly perfect brow as he began to respond.

“You have nothing to hide? Really?”

I shook my head no, and it was the truth. He might not agree, but I thought the night was pretty fucking perfect. As far as hiding something? I don’t have a small dick, I didn’t finish too fast, and the sex was amazing. So, no, I didn’t have anything to hide! Then I remembered I did have one to hide. There was no way he found out about the things I’d spread to the other guys about him transitioning. I’m sure he would have made a big deal about it already.

“Okay then, since lover boy doesn’t have anything to hide, let's start at the beginning. You were all there and you saw all of the good men vanish left and right! Yeah?”

Everyone nodded and I started panicking a little. Maybe he did know?

“After you guys left, it was only the DAKS, and I think maybe, Kurt had left also? Anyway, the rest of us were getting ready to leave when Shane forced me onto the dance floor against my will,” he dramatized.

“Only because you were bitching and complaining about how you were constantly striking out. I figured a dance would help lessen the blow.”

I felt Aaron kick my shin under the table, telling me I needed to cool it. Donovon shrugged off my addition and continued.

“Whatever. We were on the dance floor dancing—well, he was dancing. I wasn’t participating and, out of nowhere, he started fucking kissing me.”

Donovan paused and everyone looked at me as if it was my turn to contribute to the story.

“Uh, duh. You guys were there! He looked fucking hot in that green jumper. Of course I kissed him, who wouldn’t have?”

Everyone seemed to agree with me, that it wasn’t so crazy of me to want to kiss him. Once that was settled, they returned their attention to Donovan, who’d rolled his eyes at my comment, but I didn’t miss the little grin he had.

“I was upset about all of the hot guys disappearing and it made me desperate—sue me,” he waved it off as if it was all...so very unimportant. “I didn’t kiss him back though, so there’s that. And honestly, things were kind of sketchy after that. Somehow, he smuggled me back to his house—likely against my will!” he added.

It was my turn to be defensive.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! No way! You don’t get to leave out a big chunk of the story and try to make me out to be some pervert who took advantage of you. That’s not how it went down. C'mon Gordy, if you're gonna tell the truth, tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.”

That got their attention and everyone’s heads swiveled back to me, waiting for me to fill in the blanks.

“Donovan didn’t kiss back—”

He smiled a smug smile.

“At first,” I returned his smugness. “Then like a light switch, he came alive and was all over me. My kiss was pretty fucking innocent compared to what he (I pointed to Gordy) turned it into. Before I knew what was happening, he was trying to rip my clothes off in the middle of the dance floor. If I hadn’t picked him up he probably would have scratched me raw as he tried to climb up my body. He wrapped his legs around my waist and we stood there making out while he grinded himself on me for a while.”

I paused and looked at Donovan in case he had something to add. His brows furrowed as he thought about it.

“Well, I don’t know. I might remember a little bit, but, I think he’s exaggerating.”

I looked at Aaron and Drew, who at this point in the story hadn’t left the club yet, for their confirmation. They nodded.

“Yep, Shane’s right. You were all over him.”

Donovan leaned back in a huff and I continued.

“Let the record reflect that I hadn’t anticipated anything happening between us and I was planning on sending him home in a cab. But between kisses, he started begging me to take him home, to my place. At first, I resisted, but it’s not exactly easy to say no when you have him (again, I pointed at Donovan) dry humping you while his tongue is shoved down your throat.

“I was so fucking horny by that point. I walked out of the club with Donovan still wrapped around my waist. I tried to put him down so we could get a cab, but he wouldn’t let me. He locked his ankles and clung to me like a Koala Bear.”

Aaron, ever anxious to contribute, decided to jump in and tell the next part.

“Drew and I had called a cab and were waiting outside for it when they came out. They barely disengaged enough to acknowledge our presence. We were standing off to the side, laughing at them, while they tried to procreate at the entrance to the club.

“Our cab finally came so I got in and the next thing I know, Shane and Donovan were climbing in, too. Donovan was straddling Shane’s lap and only broke the kissing long enough to tell Drew, who was standing outside the cab to—and I quote, ‘get a fucking different cab before I cut you’.”

The table erupted in laughter as Donovan sunk lower in his chair. I felt bad, but I had a feeling he hadn’t been honest about the events that night (to his friends, or himself) and I know for a fact that he wasn’t that drunk.

“So there I was, stuck in the cab with these two. I’m not stupid, I know the only reason they weren’t having sex is because Donovan was wearing a romper. Donovan was being awfully demanding. He kept telling Shane to ‘fucking touch me!’ and Shane, bless his soul, was trying his hardest to follow Mr. Bossy’s command. I wish I could tell you I wasn’t watching, but I was and I was completely boned up. They were damn hot.

“They ended up coming to my house, since that’s where the cab went. They didn’t ask or anything. The cab stopped, Shane grabbed Donovan’s romper covered ass and went inside, leaving me to pay the fare. By the time I got inside, they’d already sequestered themselves in the spare room.”

I smiled when I noticed that Donovan looked a wee bit embarrassed as everyone looked between us, waiting for the next person to pick up the story. Donovan made an attempt to end the story.

“I think what happened next is pretty self-explanatory.”

To which the group argued, “It’s only starting to get good. We want to hear more!”

Donovan didn’t say anything, he simply motioned for me to continue without making eye contact.

“Well, we were lying on the bed, making out. He was still wrapped around me and mumbling that he wanted me closer and I needed to touch him, but Aaron’s right, I couldn’t get past the damn romper. I was two seconds away from ripping the damn thing off when he started screaming ‘don’t rip it!’”

“Dude! I heard it shouted from the other room!” Aaron confirmed and everyone laughed.

“I was about to bust out of my pants when he made me unbutton every-single-tiny-ass-fucking-button. I couldn’t get that piece of garbage off of him fast enough. Once I had him stripped, he returned the favor and we wrestled around naked for a while, mostly kissing and touching. It was as hot as hell.

“I’ll admit it, I’d never been so turned on before, so when he asked me to fuck him, there was no way I could say no—I was way too gone. I’m not going to tell you guys everything he said because I’m a gentleman, but it was hot. He’s mastered the art of sexy talk.”

I looked at Donovan, who wasn’t looking at me, but he was flushed red with embarrassment. I wanted to tell him there was nothing to be embarrassed about, that he was amazing. But it wasn’t the time or place.

“I had to turn him around and take him from behind because if he kept touching me and talking into my ear, I would’ve shot my load instantly. We ended up fucking for an hour or so before I came. Honest to God, I have no clue how I lasted that long because I was on the edge the whole time. I thought I was going to die. Best. Sex. Ever.”

“It was okay,” Donovan said flatly.

There was a low roar of OOooOO’s from the group but I had evidence to prove he was bullshitting and Aaron knew it. He turned to Donovan first and said.

“Bullshit, Donovan. I heard everything and it didn’t sound mediocre.” Aaron turned his attention to me, “Show them.”

I stood and took my shirt off, which revealed a few dozen, yellowish bites and more than a few dozen healing scratches and welts that lined my back.

Aaron looked smug as he pointed to the damage Donovan had done. “Does that look like the marks of someone who only had ‘decent’ sex?”

Donovan shielded his eyes and I put my shirt back on, sat down, and continued.

“I woke up the next morning to Donovan high-tailing it out of the house, which I’d love to hear about or, at least, a reason why.”

I smirked toward Donovan, who sat up straight and looked at the rest of the group.

“You want to know? Okay. So yes, the sex was really fucking good, maybe even the best ever, but I woke up the next morning and realized I was covered with cum...because Shane had barebacked me! So yeah, I fucking ran barefoot out of there as fast as I could. I dove into some bushes when I saw Shane coming toward me in his truck and took refuge inside of a neighbor's house until Allé got there. It was all such a big mistake.”

He turned his attention to only me.

“I can’t believe you fucking barebacked me! That’s the most selfish thing anyone’s ever done. I mean—seriously!”

He looked pissed and the whole group looked at me as if I was the bottom of the trash barrel. I raised my hands up defensively.

“Whoa, it’s not like that!”

Aaron hit my shin and shook his head no, begging me not to argue. I tried to speak again, but everyone shut me down. There was more to the story, yet no one wanted to hear it. There was probably a thousand things I could’ve done differently in that moment but I was so angry...and hurt. I quickly stood, knocking my chair backwards, and spoke to Donovan with a calm, but firm, tone.

“I’ve been an idiot. I was an idiot for the things I’ve said to you and I was an idiot for wanting to ask you out, or having a crush on you for that matter. But this is low. You’re the asshole, not me.”

With that, I stormed out of the bar. After I got outside, I sat on the bench and debated about driving home or calling a cab. I’d had a bit to drink, but I felt totally sobered up, yet I knew I should call a cab to be safe.

I needed to grab my card that was holding my tab but I decided to do that the following day because I wasn’t about to go back inside. I hoped one of the guys would grab the jacket I’d left. I even thought about skipping practice on Monday in an effort to avoid everyone. Until they decided to hear the truth, I was gonna look like a total douchebag.

I’d been outside for fifteen minutes before I heard the door open and vaguely saw someone step outside. I knew it was Aaron. I glanced at him as he sat down next to me and was surprised to find it wasn’t Aaron, but Donovan. He leaned back to match my position and both of us balanced the bill of our backward caps on the wall behind us.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told everyone that you barebacked me. That should’ve been a private conversation between us. I crossed the line.”

I shot a sidelong glance at his ridiculous attempt at an apology.

“No. You shouldn’t have told everyone that it was my fault, because it wasn’t. I’m not a monster.”

Donovan sat up and looked at me. It was dark and I couldn’t really see his expression, but I think he looked confused.

“What are you talking about?”

“Seriously? You were drunk, but you weren’t that drunk. Playing the memory loss card is low and immature,” I scoffed.

Silence hung in the air around us for several minutes. Eventually I heard him groan and slink down on the bench.

“Fuck. I asked you to bareback, didn’t I?”

In a lame attempt to impersonate him crying out in the throes of passion, I quoted him from that night.

“No condom, I’m clean. Please? Please, just fuck me like this. I want to be impossibly close’.”

Clearly remembering what took place, he added, “And then I threw the condom across the room like a toddler throwing a tantrum.”

“Yep.”

“I’m an asshole, huh?

“Yep.”

“Fuck me,” he groaned.

“I already did.”

He chuckled at the bad joke and I smiled because I was happy to see he wasn’t angry.

“Do you hate me?” He asked.

“No.”

“Why are you so mean to me?”

“Because I like you. Acting like an eleven-year-old is how I deal.”

He didn’t respond so we sat in silence for another minute or so. I was about to say something, but he beat me to it.

“The sex was good, wasn’t it?”

“Very.”

“You were gonna ask me out after I went all Houdini and disappeared?”

“Ya. I waited around for your practice to finish, before you told me everything was a mistake and you hated me.”

There was silence as I watched my cab pull up.

“Do you still want to? Ask me out that is?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” I smiled at the thought of asking him out. Then his words actually sunk in and I was positive I’d heard him wrong. “Wait, what?”

“You can ask me out. It’s the least I can do for treating you the way I did in front of everyone. ”He must have seen the look on my face because he quickly added, “Don’t get excited, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just an olive branch. Forty days and forty nights of flooding don’t magically dry out after one date.”

He got up and went into the bar before I could say anything else, but that was okay because I was pretty sure he was going to go on a date with me.