Extra Innings - 19. Chapter 18

I woke up later the next day, glad that it was a Sunday and I didn’t have to march myself off the classes. When I got up, Vincente wasn’t in the room, so I guessed that he was going to get some studying done and leave me to recover. He already did a lot for me, I was grateful that he was there to find me at all.

I dressed myself, taking care of my arm with each of my movements. I hadn’t checked my phone to see what time it was yet, but I was feeling hungry and wanted to go get something to eat. When I left my room, I looked both ways down the hall. I didn’t know why I did it, it seemed like something I should do.

Walking down the stairs to leave the residence, I felt a hand gently grab onto my arm. I flinched and took a step back before turning to see who it was. Heather looked at me in alarm, then saw my bandaged arm and lost the rest of her composure.

“Devin! What happened to you? How on earth did you end up in the hospital again?

“Would you believe me if I said that I had an accident?” I replied sarcastically.

“Of course not, because everything bad happens to you these days. What really happened?” She replied, obviously concerned about why I was in bandages again.

Just then, a couple of uniformed members of Campus Security arrived through the main residence doors. They seemed to be looking for someone, and their eyes searched through the lobby. When they saw me, they walked towards me. They must have been here to ask me about what happened last night. I don’t know why they didn’t ask the cops from last night; that would be easier than embarrassing me and making me relive what happened again.

“Excuse me, are you Devin Williams? We need to talk to you about an altercation involving you last night near the athletic centre. Can you come with us, please.”

I looked back helplessly at Heather as the two guards walked out of the building. I followed along behind them, wondering where it was on campus that they were taking me. We ended up at the administrative building, and security led me up to the President’s office.

One of the security officers left, and I stood awkwardly to the side while the remaining guard took up a position behind the President’s desk. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do, but a few minutes later the second guard returned with a well-dressed older man.

This must me the college president, I realized.

I hadn’t realized that this was so serious, so maybe the police did speak to campus security already, and this was their way of telling me that they were going to take what I said seriously. The president sat down at his desk and gestured that i should do the same, so I sat in the chair opposite him at his desk.

“Mister Williams, please sit down and make yourself comfortable. My name is George Bridges. As you may have determined, I am the president of the college. I’m sorry to be meeting you under these circumstances. I understand that you were the victim of some sort of attack on campus? Please tell us what happened so we can better coordinate with law enforcement in the investigation of this crime.”

I saw now that both security officers had taken out notebooks very similar to the ones used by the Police. I was getting nervous and wished that they would go away. Or better yet, that this whole situation would go away and I didn’t have to deal with having been stabbed and attacked on campus.

“Isn’t there someone else you can ask about this? I already told the police everything I knew, and I don’t like thinking about it.” I said, feeling myself starting to shake slightly.

“The police have already given us their account of what you said, and we’ve spoken to your roommate, Vincente, earlier this morning. The only piece remaining is you, and we need to have your testimony to make sure everything matches and we can warn campus of who to look for.”

So that’s where Vincente was this morning. Wish he had been able to leave me a note about what was going to happen, but at least he’d already told them and hopefully it would help find the bastards who attacked me. I hated to think of what that would be like to have to testify in a court, but at least I’d be able to face them and address the problem. It wouldn’t be like with Sean, where I never got to have a resolution with him. He died and took away my ability to tell him how much I hated him for his abuse, and how much I wish it had been another way.

“Alright. I had been at the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house, I’m a pledge there and we were going to be discussing our next few events. I had a fight with one of the brothers and left to go cool off.”

“One of the brothers? What were you fighting about? Is there anything going on there that could lead you to believe they were behind it?” The senior investigator asked.

I didn’t want to get into the fight during the investigation. This was the president of the college, and here I was about to explain that two frat boys on the baseball team were in a gay relationship. This had to be one of the most unusual ways of coming out to one of the most powerful people I’d ever met. If it weren’t so serious a situation, I might have laughed about it.

“Ummm… Bryce and I are dating. He told the guys in the house that I was gay and we were dating. I didn’t want anyone to know and we fought about how it wasn’t his choice to tell people that I was interested in men. So, I left to go cool off and let us have a civilized discussion about it later that night.”

To my surprise and relief, no one seemed to object to what they’d just heard. I saw President Bridges raise his eyebrows slightly, but he didn’t comment otherwise and waited for me to continue telling my story. I waited until I saw the campus security investigators finish writing into their notebooks before I started talking again. It was getting easier to explain what happened, now that I’d gone past the coming out part of the discussion.

“After I left, I ran from the house. I wasn’t going anywhere in particular, but after a few minutes I saw there were two people following me. They didn’t seem like they were the right age to be on campus, so I took a few turns around to try and see if they’d follow, and they kept coming. Eventually I went towards the athletic centre, thinking there’d be people there if anything were to happen.”

The adults in the room nodded some more and I saw President Bridges start taking some notes as well. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do, so I shot the president a quizzical glance, silently asking what I was supposed to do next.

“You’re doing well, keep going Mr. Williams. This is all going to be very helpful in our investigation. You should know the athletic centre has been closed for the day, since you were found in the area. Police cordoned off the area last night after you were taken away by paramedics.”

I nodded, grateful that the area was going to be investigated for any potential evidence to help put the two people away.

“When I got to the athletic centre it was closed, so I turned around to see who these two guys were. One of them was taller than me, wearing a Mariner’s hoodie. I didn’t see much more of him, but he was obviously the leader. The other guy was a few inches shorter than me, and had a lot of tattoos on his neck and arms. They called me a faggot and asked if I’d be able to fight back, or if I’d be a wuss like the other people they’d attacked.”

More frantic scribbling from all three staff. I think the fact that I said the attackers had done this before was making this more serious, so they were going to put more resources into it. That might even mean that other victims would come forward, or something like that. Maybe I wouldn’t have to testify, they’d get these guys on another attack and that would be the end of it.

“I managed to punch the taller guy in the nose, he started to bleed. That’s when he pulled a knife and attacked me. If Vincente hadn’t been nearby, they probably would have killed me. He started yelling at them, and they knew they’d been caught. I don’t remember much more than that, I was taken to the hospital, and only woke up a few minutes ago.”

“Thank you for coming in, we’re sorry that this happened to you on campus, and rest assured that we will be continuing our investigation. I’m sure that either campus security or the police will contact you, should they require your further assistance. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.”

President Bridges stood up and reached his hand across his desk, so I stood to shake his hand. Once he let go, the two guards escorted me back down to the main level of the administrative building, and I was left to go figure out what to do with my day. It was long after lunch now, but I went to the dining hall, hoping that there would be some lunch left for me to swipe through my card. Unfortunately, by the time I got there everything had been put away and it was only a few snacks that were left to be eaten. This wasn’t going to be good enough, I needed to have something substantial before I started feeling sick from not eating.

I decided to walk to the house, thinking the fraternity might have some real food to eat. I wasn’t interested in muffins and other snacks, and since I never saw Bryce eating in the hall, I figured he must have been getting his food from somewhere else. Even if he wasn’t, it was as good a place as any to go. I still needed to talk to Bryce about last night, even though I was sure we were going to end up talking about the attack instead of him outing me to people. The two issues were interrelated, so it could be good for us to have that time, and I didn’t want to let it simmer until it was too late to deal with properly. Maybe seeing me be injured from an attack on campus would sharpen Bryce’s mind and show him that he wasn’t right about coming out.

On my way to the house, I kept watching around me and trying to see who else was nearby. I didn’t even realize it until I bumped into a trash can because I wasn’t watching where I was going, and instead was trying to see what was happening all around me instead. I shook myself off and stood in place.

What the hell? I’m not that freaked out or scared by what happened to me, am I? It was a random couple of guys, it’s not like everyone’s like that.

Still, I kept alert and picked up my pace, so by the time I got to the house I was almost jogging. The door was always unlocked unless it was after hours and time to sleep, so I let myself in and headed right up to Bryce’s room. A few of the guys noticed me and said hello; I nodded in their direction but otherwise didn’t say anything. Once I was upstairs I started banging on Bryce’s door, not caring in the slightest if anyone heard me.

He immediately opened the door, obviously shocked to see me. I came barrelling in and closed the door behind me, pushing past him and standing next to his desk.

“Devin! What happened to you? You look terrible. Why is your arm all bandaged up?”

“I got attacked Bryce! The athletic centre is closed because that’s where I got attacked. Two guys out to beat up gays. The only reason I’m in a bandage is because one of them stabbed me. If Vincente hadn’t been there…”

I paused, and took a deep breath while I waited for Bryce to process everything.

“You mean you were the one who got attacked? Why didn’t you call me or let me know, I had no idea it was you Devin, I’m so sorry!”

He reached out to hug me, but I pushed him away, I didn’t want his comfort and his compassion, I wanted him to know how much I could have been hurt and that this was the reality of the world. Comforting could come later.

“This is exactly what I told you would happen. This isn’t Seattle! It’s a college surrounded by people who don’t like us and months ago proved it by voting against our legal rights by a huge margin. This is exactly what I told you would happen, and now I’ve been proven right.”

“I knew what I was saying was true, so I was surprised at Bryce’s reaction.

“So what do you want, some kind of medal showing your cynicism was correct? Why are you getting up in my face about it, what happened to you wasn’t my fault.”

I was getting frustrated. Bryce wasn’t understanding what my concerns were and why I was upset about the attack.

“I want you to realize these things happen! We can’t be the openly gay sports couple, or even just the openly gay college couple. People are not going to take it well, period.”

I sighed. This conversation wasn’t going according to plan either. I wanted Bryce to understand my concerns, and instead we were fighting about my attack. I needed him to understand that this was about more than being attacked. The way Bryce outed me made me feel unsafe. He needed to know how unsafe I felt, and I needed to know he understood and wouldn’t put me in any more dangerous situations.

“It’s not about being at fault, it’s about safety Bryce. You outed me to the frat and they’re mostly cool about it, but other people in society are not. The guys who attacked me have been watching us and know we’re together because of how we act out in public. We have to be more careful!”

“I’m not going to hide.” He replied. “It’s not worth it to stay locked in a closet. We deserve more than that, you know that. Besides, you have no idea that they attacked you over your sexual orientation. It could have been anything or even bad luck that you were the victim.”

“No, I know.” I said, full of conviction. “They mentioned that they’d attacked other gay people as well.”

I explained everything about what happened, including how the attackers pointed out they’d targeted other people and how I spent the morning and last night talking to police and campus security about what happened.

By the time I finished my story, Bryce was shaking. I couldn’t tell if that was from anger or sadness or what, but it was clear that he’d been affected in some way. Seeing him be so badly affected by my story made me happy that he wasn’t totally unsympathetic to what had happened, and maybe that meant he understood what I was trying to tell him a bit more.

“Do you see now? I can’t be coming out. Not yet. It has to be on my timetable, when I feel like I’m going to be safe coming out. I know you want to be out and proud and that’s how you’ve always been at home, but this isn’t home. And I’m not you. I promise, Bryce, one day I’ll be able to come out and be the openly bisexual baseball player at Whitman, but right now I need to know that I can go through life without being beaten or stabbed again.”

Bryce got up and embraced me, pulling me in closer to him and resting my head on his shoulder. He rubbed small circles around my back and stroked my hair gently while I melted into his embrace.

“I’m sorry Devin. I didn’t realize how big a deal this was to you. I will try to keep you safe until you’re ready. It’s a shift… I never realized how lucky I was back in Seattle. No one really batted an eye there, and then the team and frat have been good to me. I figured it was always like that and what happened between you and that Sean guy was a one-time thing.”

I didn’t respond, losing myself in Bryce’s scent and the strength of his arms around me. This wasn’t his fault, and he was going to learn to be more careful. That was all I wanted, to feel safe. Now I felt safe.

“As important as it was for us to talk, I didn’t come here to chew you out or make you worry, Bryce. I’m glad you’re going to take my fears into consideration now, but I’m starved. Campus Security didn’t give me a chance to eat before I had to meet with them, and the dining hall only had snacks left.”

Bryce took me downstairs and back into the kitchen. Unsurprisingly to me, there were a lot of leftovers left, and I helped myself to some of the lasagna on the kitchen counter. Bryce and I hung out in the kitchen while I ate. He was talking about the upcoming practices for the team and the fact that we had another frat event going on in a couple weeks.

“It’d be nice if you managed to stay in one piece for this one, Devin. You’re starting to get a habit of having horrible medical events happen to you when you come to the house. The boys are thinking of warning the paramedics ahead of time for the next event. That, or they think you’re not really into the frat thing, you’re only here for me” He said with a laugh.

I laughed along with him and thought about it. He wasn’t wrong, the last couple times I had ended up in the hospital, and the boys didn’t even know about what happened last night.

“It’s not that bad is it? I don’t try to get hurt, things keep happening, that’s all. Besides.” I said, punching him lightly on the arm. “You’re pretty nice, but I wouldn’t be here only for you.”

He laughed, and we kept up some small talk for a little while longer. I didn’t want to do or talk about anything more draining than what we’d already talked about. It happened so quickly that I was still trying to understand what happened. Obviously, since I kept checking and startling at loud noises.

“I think I’m gonna head back now, I got some school stuff to do, and I promised Dad I’d give him a call and let him know what happened.” I said, not wanting to intrude too much longer and not feeling completely safe in a house with all the frat boys, not yet.

Bryce slipped off the counter and bent his arm.

“Alright, I’ll go with you. I could use the exercise anyways.”

He walked out of the kitchen and waved somewhat pointlessly to the rest of the guys, who were all glued to the screen watching the football game. I figured this is what a Sunday afternoon was supposed to look like in the frat house, but it seemed silly to spend all day watching TV together when there were other things they could be doing. Bryce was waiting for me at the door to the frat, so I hustled over and we were off, heading back towards my residence.

I knew what he was doing, he wanted me to feel safe and that I didn’t have to walk alone so soon after being attacked. Part of me was flattered that he’d do so, but there was another part of me wondering why he felt he had to protect me. I mean, I hadn’t gotten too seriously hurt last night. Maybe this was part of his way of apologizing for not being there and starting the fight that caused my injury to begin with.

We didn’t talk much on the walk back, mostly about the courses we were taking and I was sad to hear that I wouldn’t be having any classes with Bryce this semester. Bryce was in the history program, he only took the English class with me last semester because it was required to do at some point and he didn’t want to put it off any longer. At least we’d still have baseball and fraternity activities together. I couldn’t help but remember what Vincente told me last semester; I should be going out and meeting new people, so it could be good for me to not get too tied down with Bryce and have all my time be spent with him.

When we got to my residence, I gave him a quick hug before walking back in and signing in with reception. I walked back upstairs and found Vincente there, with dinner for both of us.

“Hey dude, I didn’t see you at all today. Everything alright? You look tired still. I brought you up some dinner, I didn’t know when you’d be back and figured you’d want to eat away from all the people in the dining hall.”

Vincente’s thoughtfulness surprised me. He’d changed a lot since we first met. I thought he was another jock with no appreciation or understanding of anyone outside of his life, and then I thought he was a homophobe who would make the rest of my college experience hell. I was surprised to see how much he was willing to go out and help me. It was dinner, but it meant a lot that he’d thought about me enough to bring it up instead of making me get it myself, and that he thought I’d want to be somewhere safe and familiar for a few days instead of in crowds.

Every once in awhile while we ate and did our homework I’d catch Vincente looking over at me. I couldn’t read the expression on his face, but he looked very thoughtful, maybe even a little worried about me. I couldn’t help but start laughing after I looked up from my English textbook to see him watching over me from his side of the room.

“You know I’m not going to burst into flames or break or something, right? I’m glad you were there to find me and are taking care of me, but I’m still me. A little more paranoid about the world around me, but not any more fragile.”

“Hey man, whatcha talking about? I’m not doing anything, seriously!”

I looked at him, eyebrow raised.

“Alright. Maybe I was worried. What about it? Can’t a guy worry about his roomie after he gets shanked in public?”

I smiled at that.

“Yeah, you can. I’m just saying that I’m not that messed up. It looks a lot worse than it feels.”

“Still gonna worry man. You got stabbed on campus. You said they were out looking for gays to attack? That’s messed up.”

It was, but I didn’t need to relive it with Vincente when he’d already been there.

“Hey man, mind giving me the room? I need to report back to my Dad. He didn’t really get the full story when we talked last night.”

“Yeah, I’ll be back in half an hour?”

“Thanks man, for everything.”

Vincente got up and left, while I grabbed my phone from the charger and dialed for home. When Dad picked up I could tell he was stressed out, but right now he wasn’t helping my situation.

“Dad, you have to relax and let me tell you what’s going on. This isn’t going to work if you keep panicking because you’re in Colfax and not here to protect me.”

Dad quieted down and I explained the whole situation to him, making it clear that campus security and the police were already investigating, and that my friends were going out of their way to take care of me.

“I know you’re worried Dad, but you gotta trust that I’m gonna be able to get through it all okay. If anything changes, I’ll let you know. I didn’t wanna leave you in the lurch considering how little you were told last night.”

I heard Dad’s reply through the phone, and while it wasn’t the best, it was all I would get from him.

“Be careful Devin, you’re my only son. Don’t come back dead because you’re too afraid to ask for help.”

“Don’t worry Dad, I’ll be fine.”

I hung up on him and waited for Vincente to come back. It was kind of him to bring back some of the roast beef they were serving. I’d have to ask how much it cost so that I could pay him back, but that could wait for later.

When Vincente came back we carried on with our school work, neither of us talking much. We were both already getting heavily involved in our classes, and I was glad that I’d decided to go easy on myself and only take three courses this semester.

As the night drew to a close, I was disappointed that I hadn’t heard anything new from the police or campus security. I knew those two men were still out there, and I was afraid that they’d be able to attack more people. More than that, I was afraid they’d find a way to attack me again, even inside the residence. I fell asleep wondering when there’d be a break in the case, and when I could stop looking over my shoulder, thinking of how much things were just like with Sean.