Unraveled - 7. Superstar

Brenton Baker scanned the field in front of him, looking for an open target. He spied Ryan Crawford making a break for it across the middle of the field, leaving Jerome Watkins, the freshman linebacker, in the dust. He released a perfect spiral toward where Ryan was running. Crawford made the catch and streaked down the field into the end zone.

“Nice play, Crawford,” Brenton said. The last practice before their first game of the season had gone as perfectly as Brenton had hoped it would. Coach Rush heaped praise on Brenton and Ryan for their teamwork. Then he had some instructions for the defense. Brenton praised the offensive line for their work. He hadn’t even been challenged in the pocket and had plenty of time to pick apart the defense.

“If we play like that on Friday, there’ll be no stopping us,” Brenton said, encouraging his team. “We’re the best team in the conference this year! And tomorrow night, we’re going to show everybody who we are!”

The team wrapped up their practice and began heading to the locker room. As they walked toward the school, Brenton noticed him again.

“Nice catch, Crawford,” Danny Rossi said. He’d been sitting in the bleachers watching the practice after band had finished up.

“Don’t you have anything better to do, Rossi?” Brenton snapped.

“Well, I was hoping to see you get knocked on your ass a few times, Bakes. But I guess I’ll have to wait for tomorrow to see that. The Leopards are going to be a lot tougher on defense than our guys were today.”

Brenton bristled. He hated being called “Bakes,” a childhood nickname he’d been trying to outgrow since fifth grade. Worse than that, he knew Rossi was probably right. The Leopards were a tough team, and he was going to have to be at his very best to give the Warriors a chance to win.

“God, I hate that guy,” Brenton said as he sat at his locker. “Why is he always here?”

“The band wraps up early and he likes to watch us practice, I guess,” Ryan suggested. Of course, Ryan knew exactly why Danny was there. He was waiting for Ryan.

“Whatever,” Brenton said, peeling off his jersey and shoulder pads. “You doing anything tonight, Crawford?”

“Just going to get some rest and get ready for tomorrow,” Ryan said, trying to avoid staring at the very attractive young men undressing all around him.

Brenton wrapped a towel around himself.

“Hey,” he said. “Don’t worry about Rossi. He’s an asshole.”

“Why would I be worried about him?” Ryan asked.

“The way he’s always ripping on us. I know it’s annoying but we can’t let anyone mess up our team chemistry.”

Ryan was pretty sure the only person Danny was ripping was Brenton, but he just nodded his head. Rich kid rivalries were weird.

“He’s got his stupid little fag club. We have our team. I wouldn’t worry about him.”

Brenton went to the showers and Ryan finally exhaled.

Ryan always waited until most everyone on the team had showered before he even started undressing. That was something he’d always done, even before he’d figured out what all those feelings he had about seeing the other boys naked really meant. He’d told himself it was just because he was embarrassed about being so scrawny when he was younger. He didn’t tell himself that anymore. Now he knew.

Brenton was on his way back to his locker by the time Ryan was walking toward the shower. Brenton offered his fist to Ryan for a bump.

“We’re going to kick ass tomorrow,” Brenton said.

In the shower area, Ryan unwrapped the towel from around his waist and hung it up on a hook. The spray of the water felt good after a tough practice. With his eyes closed, the rest of the world seemed to disappear, just for a little while. He wasn’t the star receiver everyone was counting on. He was just Ryan. He was surprised when he opened his eyes and saw that he was not alone. Jerome Watkins had joined Ryan at the shower across from him.

Ryan turned off the shower and grabbed his towel.

“That was a nice catch,” Jerome said. “Too bad it was against me.”

“Sorry, dude,” Ryan replied.

Jerome smiled. “I just hope you do it against the Leopards tomorrow.”

Jerome ducked his head under the flowing water. Ryan caught himself looking at Jerome’s dark-skinned frame a bit too long. He quickly wrapped the towel around himself and went back to his locker. If he stared too long, he’d risk everything he’d worked so hard to build.

Ryan quickly dressed and fled the locker room. He hurried to the student parking lot and found Danny waiting for him.

“You’re an asshole. You know that, right?”

Danny just laughed. “Someone has to take some of the air out of Bakes’ big head.”

Ryan slipped into the passenger seat and Danny started the car.

“You know he hates that name.”

“Does he?” Danny replied.

Ryan sighed. As they passed the school, Ryan saw Jerome walking out of the building. For just a second their eyes met.

“Fuck,” Ryan said.

“Okay, but let’s get home first.”

“No, Jerome just saw me with you.”

“And that’s a problem?”

“Yeah.”

Danny sighed. “What? You’re not allowed to have a bi friend?”

Ryan realized Danny’s demeanor had changed. He wasn’t joking anymore.

“It’s not that… It’s… It’s complicated. You can just be gay and…”

“Bi,” Danny corrected.

“Okay, bi. You can be bi and no one cares. If people find out I’m gay they’ll have a cow.”

“Didn’t you announce you were gay to the whole city of Pittsburgh at that Pirates game with Jake?”

“That was different.”

“How?”

“Because no one in that crowd knew who I was.”

“And who are you, really? Because honestly, I don’t think you even know yourself.”

“Whatever,” Ryan sighed.

“Don’t ‘whatever’ me,” Danny said. “Look at us. You’re embarrassed to be seen in a car with me. Then we’ll get home and you’ll fuck me but you won’t even kiss me. Your priorities are screwed up.”

“I thought we were just messing around! What happened? Did you think we were going to be boyfriends or something? Last time I had a boyfriend you slept with him. Twice.”

“And I’ve been paying for that mistake for over a year now.”

“I mean, let’s be honest Danny. If Jake were available you wouldn’t give a shit about me.”

“That’s not true! You’re the one playing Minecraft with him.”

Ryan sighed. “Why are we even fighting? I thought neither of us wanted anything more than sex out of this bizarre thing we have going on.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t want us to have mutual respect between us. It makes me feel like shit when you don’t even want to be seen in the same car as me. I have every right to say so.”

“Fair enough. And I want you to respect the fact that I’m not ready to be out at school… Especially during football season. I have to play with these people. I need Baker to trust me.”

Danny stared out the windshield. He sighed. “Will you at least consider coming to an alliance meeting? I think it would be good for you to see you’re not alone.”

Ryan sighed too. “You know I can’t do that. At least not yet. Maybe not forever, but not yet.”

Danny pulled the car into his driveway.

“Well, here we are. Now what? Bedroom or hot tub this time.”

Ryan thought about it. “Neither.”

“Look, if you’re mad at me about…”

“No, no,” Ryan interrupted. “I was thinking maybe I could show you how to play Minecraft. Then we could both play with Jake.”

Danny grinned. “Oh? So you want a three-way?”

Jake was so ready for the first game of the season on Friday. It would be his first public performance as the field commander. He was glad when Mr. Reilly returned on the first day of school. Of course he picked right back up where he left off, only now there were a few pictures of baby Betty added to the shelf behind his desk.

“I thought the trumpet section nailed “Party Rock Anthem” today,” Jake answered when Mr. Reilly asked him how he thought the last practice before the game had gone.

“I agree,” Mr. Reilly said. “But we have to keep that percussion section together in “Thrift Shop.””

“How’s the parent life treating you?” Jake asked.

“Oh terrific,” Mr. Reilly replied. “Last night I got two solid hours of sleep before I got thrown up on at three in the morning.”

“Billy threw up on you?” Jake joked.

Mr. Reilly smiled. “I think I’d have preferred that to what I had to clean up.”

“Maybe you could take naps in between classes,” Jake suggested.

“Oh? So I could sleep through practice, huh?” Mr. Reilly laughed. Jake knew he was never going to live down that nap under the tree at band camp. At least it was a joke now, and not an existential crisis.

As Jake walked to his car in the student lot, he saw two things. One, Danny’s car was still there, so Jake knew he was watching the end of football practice. And two, there was yet another dark oily puddle under his car… again.

“Goddammit Bob,” Jake swore under his breath. He checked the oil and figured he had enough to make it to the auto parts store without blowing up the car. (Although he wished he really could blow the cursed thing up.) He noticed the thick blue smoke escaping from the tail pipe behind him as he drove. He’d been to the auto parts store enough that the clerk, who knew Jake’s name after so many interactions, already had the type of oil he needed ready for him at the counter.

“I’ve got a rifle in the back if you want to put that thing out of its misery,” the clerk offered.

Jake laughed without humor as he paid for his purchase.

“I’m about ready to drive this piece of shit into the Mon.” Jake texted his mom.

Jake parked his car in front of his house and noticed the dripping under the car as he stood on the porch. His mom wasn’t home, so he decided to entertain himself for a while in his bedroom. Leave it to Danny to interrupt a good time when he called Jake’s phone.

“Just so you know, I’m in the middle of something important,” Jake said.

“TMI,” Danny said. “Anyway, Ryan’s here. We want you to log on to Minecraft.”

“We?” Jake asked.

“Ryan’s teaching me how to play. I need to learn how to link up with you. So put on some pants and log in.”

Jake grabbed his pants off the floor and slipped them on as he went to his computer.

“Do you have me on speaker?” Jake asked.

“Yeah,” Danny said.

“Cool,” Jake said. “How’s it going, Ryan?”

“Danny’s a real noob at this,” Ryan replied.

“Yeet! Yeet!” Jake laughed. “Okay, I’m logged in…”

After about an hour, Danny finally stopped dying and was beginning to pick up on the basics of the game.

“M.O.S.” Jake said as his mom entered his room.

“Playing with Lego men with Ryan again?” Karen asked.

“Minecraft…” Jake reminded her for the hundredth time. “And Danny.”

“Hi, Mrs. Finnegan!” Ryan’s voice said through the phone. “Everybody has their pants on!”

Karen just shook her head. “Well, Jake, I don’t want to upset you, but…”

Jake stopped her. “Let me guess. There’s a puddle under the car.”

“More like a stream,” Karen said.

“Goddammit Bob,” Jake sighed. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Danny, you may have to pick me up.”

“No problem,” Danny said. “See you in the morning.”

Jake grabbed his phone, ended his call with the boys and began to text.

“Don’t text him, Jacob. Just call him,” Karen said, exasperated with the never-ending war of the car.

Jake squinted at his mother. “If I call him, I’ll have to talk to him.”

“Exactly,” Karen replied.

“If I talk to him, I’ll probably swear at him,” Jake explained.

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

Jake cleared his text and called his father.

“The mailbox of the person you are trying to reach is full.” Jake heard the familiar voice explain.

“Seriously?!?! Jesus fucking Christ… How do you expect to run a business if no one can reach you?”

“Customer service isn’t exactly your father’s specialty.”

“Neither is selling a quality vehicle…” Jake said, texting his father.

“One – the car is leaking oil, AGAIN!!!!!!!1 Two – Your voicemail box is full.”

Jake threw himself onto his bed and called Kyle. His call went to voicemail.

“Hey Ky. I miss you. I just wanted to call to tell you about how things are going. Give me a call back if you have time. Love you.”

The first week of school had been a lot more challenging than Jake had anticipated. Senior year was no joke. The math classes were going to be torture! He found it hard to believe there were people who actually enjoyed dealing with numbers all day. Jake hadn’t figured out what he was going to do with his future yet. He would still be seventeen when he graduated, so it wasn’t like there was a rush to get his life figured out. He liked the idea of going to Penn State with Kyle, but only because that was where Kyle was. He’d never really thought about going there. It also sounded like music and the marching band were eating up a lot of Kyle’s time. Jake liked being in the band, but it wasn’t his life. If Danny and Mr. Reilly weren’t there, Jake probably wouldn’t be as invested.

When the phone rang, Jake was hoping it would be Kyle. But it was his dad. Jake answered.

“Jake, you really need to stop calling me every time there’s a drip under the car,” Bob said.

“A drip?” Jake protested. “It’s fucking Niagara Falls under there, Dad!”

“I had my best guy have a look at it.”

“Yeah, Lazy-Eye Larry did a bang-up job.”

“Don’t be a smart ass, Jake.”

“What? The guy literally has a lazy eye!”

“Jacob, shut up,” Bob insisted.

“So what am I supposed to do about the car? I’m about to start pumping oil out of the ground myself to keep up.”

“I gave you the best car I had on the lot. For free. I think you can afford a little motor oil.”

“Whatever,” Jake replied and hung up. Why did his dad have to be such an idiot?

It was eleven o’clock and Jake was already asleep when Kyle texted to say he was sorry about missing Jake’s call. Jake slept through it. He had a busy Friday ahead.

Kyle had been busy – busier than he’d ever been in high school. On top of starting classes, and the relentless band schedule, he had also joined an LGBT support group on campus. He’d always appreciated the camaraderie of the high school Alliance Danny started. Finding a new group meant finding a new group of friends, opportunities for a social life he’d never really experienced in high school. And now his world was expanding beyond the small-town boy he’d been his whole life.

“So you have a boyfriend back home? And he’s still in high school?” one of Kyle’s new friends from both the band and the support group, Alex, asked him at the party he’d gone to for the band members.

“Yeah. His name’s Jake,” Kyle replied.

“That’s cute,” Alex replied.

“Cute how?” Kyle replied.

“Like, you’re so devoted. A lot of relationships don’t make it once high school is over.”

“Well… It’s different with us. We knew what we were getting into.”

Another friend sat down with them.

“Are you two getting acquainted?”

Kyle blushed. “No, Roger. We’re not ‘getting acquainted.’”

“Shame,” Roger replied. “You need to lighten up a bit, Ky. This isn’t high school. This is a chance for you to make a fresh start.”

“He’s got a boyfriend back home,” Alex said. “His name’s Jake.”

“Aw, that’s cute,” Roger replied. “Is it Jake from State Farm?”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “You guys are something else.”

Then his phone rang.

“Is that Jake from State Farm?” Roger asked.

Kyle blushed. He saw it was Jake calling. He didn’t answer, for the first time ever. And what made Kyle feel horribly guilty later was that he didn’t even think twice about it until the evening was over and he was back in his dorm room.

“Sorry I missed your call. It’s really a busy week here. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Kyle debated adding an “I love you” to the end of the text. He settled on a heart emoji.