Streak - 4. Chapter 4

August 31, 2002

Boston

 

 

Wade

 

“What time do they get in?” Matt asked me. Brad, Will, and Stef were flying in from Chicago.

“Will called me a couple of hours ago and told me they were about to take off,” I said. “That will put them in here about 3pm.”

“What are we going to do for dinner?” he asked.

“We can go to that restaurant around the corner, or we can order in pizzas,” I said. “I guess I need to hire a cook.”

“Want me to help?” he offered. My initial instinct was to say no, and to keep control of everything, but I was so fucking busy, that probably wasn’t going to happen. Besides, he’d been the one who convinced Josetta to stay on and work for us despite the chaos of the past few days. He could find a cook just as easily as I could.

“Sure,” I said, surprising him.

“Seriously?”

“Dude, you’re the housewife. Manage the household,” I teased, getting a frown.

He smirked at me. “Want to go upstairs so I can show you that I’m not the wife?”

I chuckled. “Later. We have to get ready for everyone.” He gave me a weird look, wondering what we had to do, but this was the first time I was hosting our family here, and I wanted to make sure everything was perfect. This is when my OCD really kicked in. In three days, we’d damn near accomplished a miracle. We’d gotten almost all the furniture delivered and set up, and unpacked our stuff and settled in. I knew that Tiffany and Matt were tired, but I was fucking exhausted. This visit was probably not the smartest thing, considering how worn out we all were, but I couldn’t say no to these people who had opened their home and family to me for my entire stay at Stanford, so I bucked it up.

Matt followed me around as we went and checked out each of the guest rooms, and did a brief tour of the downstairs area to make sure everything was set up. “Did you hear how the opening went last night?” he asked, referring to Spartacus.

“I heard it went well,” I said. “You didn’t talk to Will?”

“Why, should I?” he asked.

“You should,” I said, chuckling.

“What happened?”

“You should ask him,” I said, giving him shit. He didn’t get that I was teasing him, and gave me a pretty nasty look.

“I’m asking you,” he almost growled. That he got so annoyed was a sign of how tired he was, so tired that he was losing his cool a bit.

“Will hooked up with that bartender dude he thinks is hot,” I said.

“Devon,” Matt said with a grin, since he knew the guy too. “He is hot.”

“Will said the sling you had put in came in pretty handy.”

Matt laughed. “I’ll bet.”

“Apparently Stef spent most of the night dancing until some young dude managed to talk him into going upstairs.”

Matt laughed even harder. “He was so worried that he’d be ignored, and that no one would hit on him.”

“Will said that he walked into the bar, got a drink, and was pretty much mobbed after that,” I said.

“Amazing what some dudes will do for a billion dollars,” he joked.

“Will said that he had to prop Stef up a bit. He told him that it wasn’t his money, it was all that he had achieved that made him so popular,” I said.

Matt thought about that. “Makes sense. But the money helps.”

“Yes it does,” I agreed.

“What about Brad?”

“He didn’t even go to the opening at all,” I said. I was joking, and being lighthearted about this, but I was pretty nervous for a couple of reasons. I was worried that Matt would be upset with Brad for getting with another guy he was once intimate with, and that brought back the whole issue of Brad and I having sex. I really didn’t want to bring that up and relive that whole nightmare, for me or for him, but it seemed inevitable in this situation. The second reason was that I was worried that I’d tell him and he’d be visibly upset, and that would fuel my own insecurities, and I’d wonder if Matt was really over Cam. And finally, I knew that as exhausted as we were, this wasn’t the best time to deal with touchy situations. But I really had no choice; I had to tell him.

“Was he sick?”

“No, he met someone. Apparently he spent the entire evening on the rooftop deck, talking to this guy, until they decided to go downstairs to Brad’s bedroom.”

“He got laid?” Matt asked rhetorically. “Awesome!”

“My understanding was that they stopped short of actually fucking, but Will says Brad is in pretty good spirits.”

“Really? So who is this guy?”

“Cam.”

He looked at me, and blinked as he digested that. “Cam Heely?”

“Yes,” I said, as I studied him intently.

“Dude, I did not expect that,” he said, shaking his head.

“Does it bother you?” I asked. He gave me a relatively nasty look, and then his expression softened.

“Why would it bother me?”

“I don’t know,” I lied. “I mean, you had just reconnected with the dude.”

“Wade, I have everything I want, right here,” he said lovingly. My heart leaped a bit. God, how I loved him.

“Interestingly enough, I feel the same way.”

“Were you worried that this would upset me?”

I sighed. “I didn’t think so, but I wasn’t sure.”

“Cam is a really good guy. He’d be good for Brad,” he said.

“Will said that when they first met, it was really intense, like one of those love-at-first-sight deals.”

“Really?” he asked, surprised. “Shit, Cam is almost half his age.”

“Will thinks that bothers Brad, but he didn’t think it bothered Cam.”

Matt thought about that. “Cam has had a string of shitty boyfriends, starting with me. He probably appreciates a guy who’s a little older, and more stable.”

“Well, they just had one night together, so we’ll have to see how this works out,” I said.

“Not easy when Cam is in Chicago and Brad is in Cali or New York,” Matt said.

“No it isn’t,” I agreed. “But they’ll get to spend some time together here.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Brad asked Cam to come to Boston with him for the weekend,” I said.

“Seriously?” I nodded. “Wow that really is intense.”

“It’s just a couple of days in Boston,” I said, trying to minimize things.

“You don’t know Cam,” he said. “He wouldn’t do that, wouldn’t just drop everything and come here with Brad, if he wasn’t into him.”

“I’m kind of surprised that Brad invited him along,” I said. That seemed awfully sudden, but then again, I’d been so fucking infatuated with Alex, I’d ground Matt’s heart into a paste. Love, or infatuation, made people do fucked up things.

“He probably wants to make sure that I’m cool with this, and that you’re cool with it,” he said thoughtfully.

“Why would he care what I think?”

“Look at you, only worried about yourself. It’s all about you,” he teased, but I was too tired and cranky to joke around, so he got serious. “I want you to meet Cam. I know you’ll like him and when you’re around him, when they’re here with us, unless someone does something to fuck things up, I think we’ll all end up being pretty mellow about it.”

I nodded. “I’m pretty interested to meet the first dude you ever had sex with.”

“I’m going to introduce the first dude I ever had sex with to the last dude I’ll ever have sex with,” he said.

“You know, maybe we do have time to go upstairs for a bit,” I said, raising my eyebrows. He laughed, and we raced up to our room for a fast but satisfying fuck. We’d just managed to clean up and make it back downstairs when they all arrived.

Stef came into the house first, and I gave him the obligatory kisses on each cheek, even though with Stef, they were incredibly sexy. But even as I gave Will a hug, my eyes were focused on this guy that had been so important to Matt, and at some level, still was. Brad was ushering him in, their body language clearly dictating that Cam was with Brad, and was his date. Damn he was cute. Matt didn’t have a problem getting with really hot guys, because he was so fucking attractive, but he wasn’t that shallow. He’d hooked up with some pretty dweeby guys at Stanford. There was a reasonable chance that Cam would have been normal looking, but he wasn’t. I guess I expected that, based on Will’s narrative alone, but I hadn’t expected him to look this good.

Matt went up to Cam and gave him a big hug, while Brad and I looked at them, and each other, then back at them again. I could read Matt like a book, and this wasn’t an erotic hug, this was a friendly hug. He didn’t plan out physical gestures like that; this one was genuine, and it had an immediate impact on me. In a flash, he’d managed to erase any concerns about him and Cam, and any jealousy that I may have harbored.

“Wade Danfield, this is Cam Heely,” Matt said, introducing us. I shook his hand, even as I looked into his brown eyes, and I was overwhelmed with how sincere and genuine he seemed.

My social beast kicked in, thankfully. “Welcome to Boston! Matt’s told me all about you, and so has Will. You really impressed him.”

“Duh,” Will said, cracking us up.

“I’ve heard a lot of good things about you too,” Cam said. His voice was deep and silky. “I hope you don’t mind me coming along.”

“Not at all,” I insisted. “I’m really glad you came, and that I’ll get a chance to hang out with you.”

“Me too,” he said, smiling shyly. He was so adorable, visions of a threesome with him and Matt temporarily flew through my brain, even though there was no way that was happening.

“Dude, you going to go through and date all the guys I liked?” Matt asked Brad, giving him shit.

“I think you have an uncanny ability to pick out the most amazing men,” Brad said, and he was so stiff it made him sound like JP. “I figure that I might as well just make use of your research.”

“There you are!” I heard Stef say, and turned to see JJ walking into the room. They embraced warmly, and so did Will and JJ. Then JJ walked up to Brad and gave him a big hug, one that they held for a bit. It was a nice moment, healing some of the irritation that they had for each other over JJ’s attitude about this move.

“This is Cam Heely,” Brad said, introducing JJ. We all braced ourselves, wondering if JJ would mind his manners or if he’d be an ass, but JJ seemed to sense the connection between Brad and Cam.

“It’s nice to meet you,” JJ said pleasantly. “Welcome to Boston.”

“Thanks,” Cam said, and now that everyone had dealt with the arrival of Cam, and the fact that he had come with Brad, the tension evaporated, and we all had a really good time.

 

September 1, 2002

Somewhere over Michigan

 

 

Brad

 

“What are your plans for the week?” Will asked me. It wasn’t an unusual question, and it wasn’t an unreasonable question, but I wished he wouldn’t have asked it. I wanted to have that conversation with Cam, alone, but alas, that was not to be. I looked over at him and smiled. We’d had a great time in Boston, a better time than I could have ever imagined. Cam had hit it off with Wade, which didn’t really surprise me, but what did surprise me was how well he’d done with JJ. Cam spent a lot of time talking to JJ about skating, and JJ seemed to appreciate the attention.

I’d found time to talk to Matt alone, and to make sure he was cool with me going out with Cam. It was almost surprising, how supportive he was. It seemed like every time I decided to make a foray into the dating world, it came with weirdness. First there was my whole relationship with Chris Mendoza, then the strangeness with Cody, the way Kevin totally freaked out, and now the fact that I was once again going out with one of my son’s ex-boyfriends. Part of me wanted to say that this was all too strange, and to blow Cam off, but I liked him too much to do that, and besides, I’d worked through the weirdness with Matt, and he’d helped me ignore it. While I’d been thinking about all this stuff, I’d evidently spaced out. Stef brought me back to reality. “You seem to have left us.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I just spaced out. What was the question?”

“What are your plans for the week?” Will asked me again, even as he looked at me like I was an idiot.

“I’m not sure,” I said, stalling for time. “What are you doing this week?” I asked Cam.

“A typical week in my life,” he said. “School and work.”

Both Stef and Will were eying us so closely I felt like I was an animal at the zoo.

“You think you’ll have any free time?” I asked.

He raised an eyebrow, as if to question my motives. “What did you have in mind?”

“I was thinking that maybe I’d spend a couple of days in Chicago.” I knew I was blushing, especially when it was evident that Stef and Will were having a hard time holding back their giggles. I’d have to remember to do something evil to get them back.

“What would you do in Chicago?” Cam asked coyly, just to tease me.

“Spend as much time with you as I could,” I said sincerely, so sincerely that I blocked out Stef and Will and their probing looks, so it was like Cam and I were alone in the plane.

“And if Cam is busy, you could always hang out at Spartacus,” Will said. I gave him an annoyed look, but that was nothing compared to the jealousy that flashed across Cam’s face. Will looked at Cam and snickered at him, so Cam flipped him off. They had a good rapport.

“Maybe I will stay too,” Stef said. “It would be fun to spend time with the two of you.” Now he was giving me shit.

I looked at Cam. “I was thinking that we could spend some time together, just you and me.”

“I can do that,” he said.

“You should bring Cam to Hawaii on the 21^st,” Will said.

“I don’t know about that,” Cam said nervously.

“We’ll see,” I said, giving him a way out. “I think I’ll spend a few days in Chicago. I’ll have them send my plane out to get me.”

“He’s doing that so we don’t stick around,” Will said to Stef, as if either one of them could afford to stay in Chicago. They both had busy schedules.

“It does indeed seem as if we are being rejected,” Stef agreed, pretending to pout.

“You are both right,” I said. “I thought that was much more polite than telling you to get the fuck out of Chicago.”

“Dude, first I get banned from Claremont by Wally and Clara, now I get kicked out of Chicago by you. What was that story about this being a free country?” Will joked.

“Didn’t you once point out to me that choices had consequences?” I asked him.

“Whatever,” he said, which cracked me up, because it was fun to catch him with his own arguments.

“When are you occupied?” Stef asked Cam.

“I have classes in the morning, and I work at night from Tuesday through Saturday,” Cam said.

Stef turned to me and said, “Then I suggest you and I converse on the phone about these latest business ventures in the mornings.”

“I can do that,” I said. I’d brought my work with me, and with e-mail, it was so much easier to work on the road than it used to be. We landed at Meigs field, said goodbye to Will and Stef, and then got into the car. “Where do you want to stay? The condo or the apartment?”

“It’s up to you,” he said.

“I really don’t care,” I said, refusing to make the decision.

“Let’s do the condo.”

“Good choice,” I said. The condo was so much quieter, and it was Cam’s way of telling me that he didn’t want to go to a party, he just wanted to be with me.

 

September 5, 2002

Oberstdorf, Germany

 

JJ

 

“You go on tomorrow morning at 10:00,” Tiffany said. Like I didn’t know the drill.

“At least I don’t have to go first,” I said. The first group of guys would start at 8:30. Tomorrow was the men’s short program, and then on the 7^th, we’d do our long program. The ice dancers would finish up after the men, and then we’d be done.

“She’s looking good,” Tiffany said, referring to Carolina Kostner. She did a nice job, much better than Amber Corwin, the only American with a chance at the trophy.

“She is,” I agreed grudgingly.

We sat there and watched as the women finished up, mostly sniping at their mistakes, then the Zamboni cleaned off the ice for the pairs. “The Canadians are strong,” I said, as I watched them warm up.

“They are,” Tiffany agreed. “And half of that duo seems to have his eyes on you.”

I smiled briefly because it was flattering, but I had no interest in other skaters. They were my competitors, not people I’d want to be romantically involved with. Besides, sleeping with a fellow skater was like sleeping with a co-worker. Every time it happened, there was all kinds of vicious gossip and backstabbing. I was smart. I was avoiding that. In fact, I decided to be so cool about it, I didn’t even respond to Tiffany.

My phone rang and I saw that it was Alex, so I answered it as I walked out of the rink. “Hello JJ!” he said cheerfully. God, he had the sexiest voice.

“Hello,” I responded just as happily.

“I have a bit of bad news.”

“What happened?” I asked.

“I’ve got an event I absolutely must attend tomorrow evening. I really would not delay my departure if it weren’t important. With your permission, I plan to fly out first thing in the morning the day after. Will that be alright?”

I hid my disappointment. “Of course.”

“What time are you on?”

“I’m doing my short program at ten, tomorrow,” I said. “Then I do my long program on the seventh, also at ten.”

“Sadly, I will miss your short program, but I will make sure I am in Oberstdorf in time to see your long program,” he said, almost a pledge.

“I’ll leave some tickets for you,” I said. “Just ask at the office.”

“I will do that,” he said. “I truly am sorry. I was looking forward to spending time with you and Tiffany this evening.”

“I’m sorry too,” I said. “But we’ll have plenty of time after you get here.”

“Excellent,” he said, and ended the call. I tried not to look disappointed when I told Tiffany that he’d be delayed, but I’m not sure I was successful, so I made up for it by being even more bitchy than usual.

 

September 5, 2002

Boston

 

Wade

 

I walked into the Simoni Ice Rink with Matt, lugging my hockey gear with me. He’d gone out with me and gotten new equipment earlier today, since I’d left my hockey bag in California. Part of that shopping expedition was necessary, since I needed new gear, but I also got his other motive. Buying new hockey equipment was always fun, and he was trying to get me excited to play tonight. It was nice, but it didn’t really matter. I’d already resolved to do this with him, and for him.

In college, hockey had first been the thing that had brought us together, then it had been the thing that had bonded us together, and then it had been the thing that had helped tear us apart. I was a little nervous about this, but I rationalized my fears away by telling myself that it was something we liked doing together, and if it caused us problems, that was because we already had problems, not because of hockey. I’d been pretty nervous, despite all my mental masturbation, but Matt had been right. Buying new stuff had gotten me excited, and now that we were walking into the rink, I felt myself getting really fired up.

We went up to some people at a table. “Is this where you sign up for Boston Pride Hockey?” Matt asked.

“It is,” a nice lady said, and gave us some forms to fill out. We plowed through them pretty quickly, and then a guy told us which locker room to go to.

We walked in and there were about ten guys in there, changing. “Hey. New team members?” a pleasant guy asked. He was probably in his late thirties.

“That’s the plan,” Matt said, and shook his hand. “Matt Carrswold and this is my partner, Wade Danfield.”

“Alain Charpentier,” he replied. He had dark, curly hair and a big nose, and that along with his accent gave away his French Canadian roots. “But I go by Sharpie on the ice.”

“Sharpie,” Matt repeated.

“This is Rocket, he’s the assistant captain,” Sharpie said. Evidently these guys all had nicknames.

“Call me Volcano,” Matt said, and as stoic as I normally was, and despite my normal ability to keep my cool, I started laughing. Matt gave me a dirty look, a look that changed to evil. “This is Princess.”

“Princess?” Rocket asked, before I could say anything. “Works.”

“Remind me to kill you later, Volcano,” I said through gritted teeth.

“Get your gear on, Princess,” he said, chuckling.

We got ready fast enough, and I resolved to have fun, even though I was seriously annoyed at being pegged as ‘Princess’. Matt and I laced up our skates then went out and hit the ice, and all of my irritation vanished. “Feels so good to be on the ice again,” I said.

“These guys are totally different than the dudes in Chicago,” he said.

“I like it,” I said, and then I took off, flying around the rink, building up some serious speed. It was an absolute blast.

There were about five guys who were new, including us. They introduced everyone, and we all had to talk about where we’d played before. One of the other rookies had played in college, while the other two were former high school players, but they’d been doing rec leagues. They divided us into teams, one managed by the coach, the other by the assistant coach. Matt and I were on opposite teams, which would actually make it more fun. Sharpie was the captain of my team, and Rocket was on Matt’s team.

“What do you play?” the coach asked me.

“Forward, either wing,” I said. I didn’t tell him that I didn’t do center because I wasn’t all that good at face-offs.

“What’s your boyfriend good at?” he asked me, with just a hint of sarcasm.

“He’s a face-off champ, and totally unpredictable,” I said. “And fast.”

“Alright Walrus, sounds like you got a challenge,” Sharpie said to this hulking defenseman who had what almost looked like jowls.

Matt was at center, and won the face off, then screamed through our line and headed straight for the goal. We had the back-up goalie, and Matt launched a shot right past him and scored. Less than ten seconds, and he’d gotten a goal.

“Unpredictable,” Sharpie said, shaking his head. I got the feeling that these had been friendly, rather mellow games before we got here, but that changed. In no time at all, everyone had seriously amped up their game. It was like Matt had lit a fire under them. I thought about what a horrible job he’d done when he’d taken over as captain of the Stanford team. Then he came here and wasn’t even the captain, but he’d just shown natural leadership, and pushed them forward by setting an example.

We’d had an absolute blast on the ice, and I was stoked when we went back to the locker room. We showered, and it was a little strange, knowing that most of these guys were gay, so even though we were checking each other out, most of us we were still trying not to be obvious. Matt, on the other hand, made no attempt to hide his stares. He was hilarious, joking and acting like a total idiot. The goalie was in his late twenties, and strange, like most goalies were. He had light brown hair on his head, but his pubes were dark brown. Matt looked first at his head, then at his pubes, and smiled. “I’m gonna call you two-tone.”

“Fuck off,” he said, in a good-natured way.

“We got practice on Thursdays, but starting next week, we got practice on Tuesdays too,” Sharpie said.

“Why?” Matt asked.

“To get ready for the games. In two weeks, we pick our select team.”

“Games?” I asked.

“The sixth Gay Games. It’s like the Olympics. It’s in Sydney Australia this year. November 2-9.”

“You’re sending a team to Australia?” Matt asked.

“Yeah. We won gold in Amsterdam. We’ll win gold in Sydney too,” he said, being a little cocky. “You guys are good. It’s almost a given you’d make the team.”

“We’ll think about it,” I said. I’d seen Matt’s eyes glaze over as the competitive spirit consumed him. The ability to play in the Gay Olympics was something I’d never even considered, and I doubted that Matt had either, but it was pretty tempting. I let my mind go down that road, and then reeled it back in. There was no way I could leave for a week in the middle of the semester.

We walked out of the rink, carrying our bags. “Dude, the Gay Olympics! How awesome is that!” Matt said enthusiastically.

“I can’t go,” I told him, totally bursting his bubble.

“What do you mean?”

I shook my head. “There’s no way I can bail in the middle of a semester for a whole week, and it would probably even take longer. I’d be gone for at least ten days.”

“You don’t even know what your classes are going to be like,” he objected.

“If it’s so easy here that I could leave for ten days, then it’s not a very rigorous program, and everything about this place screams rigor,” I pointed out logically.

“Makes sense,” he said, and couldn’t hide his disappointment. “Well, we’ll practice with these dudes anyway. Maybe we can help them, even if we don’t go.”

We’d just walked out the door, and I stopped and stared at him, stunned at what he was saying. The Matt of six months ago would have just told me to go fuck myself, and would have gone on without me. Well, he would have used nicer words, but the end result was the same. “You can still go.”

“I don’t want to go without you,” he objected. “Playing hockey is something we’re supposed to do together, because it’s fun for us.”

I smiled at him, mostly to hide how stunned I was. “And we will play together, but you can do this on your own. It’s good. Go win a gold medal. Make me proud.”

He grinned. “I’ll think about it.”

 

September 6, 2002

Chicago

 

Brad

“What are you planning to do this weekend?” I asked Will. I’d caught him early, when he was on his way to school. It was the best time for us to talk on the phone.

“Going to see Zach,” he said. “What about you?”

“I think I’ll stay here in Chicago and come back on Sunday,” I said.

“Someone likes Chicago,” he said, teasing me.

“Someone does like Chicago, but someone likes Cam Heely more,” I said.

“That’s awesome. So you’re still getting along?”

“I just talked to you the day before yesterday,” I said.

“Yeah, but you can get pissed off that fast,” he said, teasing me.

“We’re getting along,” I said. “It’s been incredible.”

“I’m really glad,” he said. “Are you going to be around next week?”

“That’s my plan,” I said, even though I didn’t want to be.

“It will be good to see you,” he said. “Don’t forget to bring Cam to Hawaii on the 21^st.”

“I don’t know if he can,” I said.

“Dad, he’s probably never been to Hawaii. I mean, I think he’ll like the game, but it’s a good excuse to drag him someplace cool,” he explained. That was actually pretty thoughtful of him.

“I’ll have to see if I can convince Cam to take more time off of work,” I told him.

“Dude, he’s a waiter. He’s going to pass up a trip to Hawaii to make a couple of nights worth of tips?”

“He has a job, and they’re relying on him to be there,” I said coldly, irritated that Will had no concept of the responsibility that came with working for a business.

“That’s right. Cam should put his job before everything else, just like you do,” he said, being a jerk.

“We both work hard to live up to our responsibilities,” I said, biting back the anger.

“I’m sorry, Dad,” he said. “That came out wrong. Cam didn’t seem all that into his job, and I’d hate for him to miss out on some cool experiences because he’s worried about where he works.”

“It’s fine,” I said. It was one of those things I would just as soon forget. “So what’s your schedule?”

“I’m bailing on my last two classes, so as soon as I’m free, Pedro is picking me up and we’re on our way to Lafayette,” he said. The excitement in his voice was palpable, and it made me smile.

“This will probably be the last time you’ll need Pedro to go with you,” I said.

“Assuming I pass my driver’s test,” he said, being pessimistic. “I can’t take it until we get back from Boston.”

“You’ll do just fine,” I said soothingly, and then we ended our call. His birthday was on the 14^th. I remembered how excited I was to get my license, but that was nothing compared to how excited he was. That was just another way that Will, Darius, and JJ were different. Darius had gotten his driver’s license about a month after he turned sixteen, so even though he’d gotten it close to his birthday, he’d been his typical calm and laid-back self. JJ would turn seventeen in December, and he seemed to have no desire to get his license at all. Every time I suggested it, he looked at me like I was an idiot and told me that he’d rather have someone drive him around. But Will was locked and loaded, ready to take the test on September 17^th, as soon as he got back from Boston. I guess it made sense that having a license would mean the most to him, since he was so fiercely independent. I remembered the feeling of freedom when I’d gotten my license. It was pretty intoxicating.