Unexpected Liaisons - 4. Confusion and Education

The followings days dawned bright but cold, and Zupan spent his time doing what he usually did. Got up, stretches and physio, showers and shaving. He went to training, went on ‘rolls’, lifted weights and answered emails. He took some of his teammates and Zoltan to do a demonstration at the rehab centre along the coast. He spent most of the afternoon encouraging a nineteen year old kid called Matt who’d come off his dirt bike in a bad way. He seemed like a good candidate for the sport when he got out of rehab and bought a decent chair. And Zander was haunting his thoughts.

It had seemed so innocent. A little texting back and forth, and then Zander had been at the South Alaska Tuesday night with a couple of his friends, swivelling his hips at the bar and teasing Bay while he shook and poured their fancy drinks. Half way through his course, and after plently of hilarious and messy training sessions with James, Bay could now work the cocktail menu like a pro. Zander had sipped his acid green martini and flashed a smile across the bar to where Zupan was downing his own beers like pro. He had nodded back, and then it had gotten busy, and by the time he was done with his last Corona, Bay and Issac were taking him and the others away, a swirl of noise and laughter. Ten minutes later there was a text.

missing you already. bet you dance great. xxx Z

He couldn’t get the pretty little twink out of his head. The memory of the kiss outside the wine bar kept him up at night a little bit, and every time he thought about the candy floss taste of his pink lips he got hard.

At training on Wednesday morning he couldn’t concentrate. Fumbling the ball and missing tackles all over the court until the coach called a time out.

“What the fuck Zupan?” The coach threw his baseball cap on the ground from his chair, “Quit fucking day dreaming out there!”

“Dude!” Mike, blond and skinny and worth a 2.5 to the team with a motocross injury rolled by.

Zupan pulled left sharply, caught his chair with a half hook and turned him on the court.

“Fuck you Mike!” Zupan snarled, “Mind your own fucking business.” He rolled away across the court towards where the rest of the team stood and sat, staring at him.

“Hung up on a girl Zu?” Jacob jeered. He locked his brakes and made a quick jerk-off motion in his lap, “Not getting what you need?”

Zupan slapped him upside the head as he rolled past.

“Fuck you too Jacob. I’m going to do some laps.” He rolled off the court and went out the back to do laps. Bay had said that running always helped him think things through, and Zupan was kind of hoping that the kid had been right.

Six laps later, Zupan located his phone and dialled, headset in his ear, challenging the last person he ever thought he’d be turning to for advice.

“Bay?”

“Zu. What can I do for you?” wherever Bay was, it sounded jovial and chatty, “What’s up?”

“I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“OK… You wanna elaborate on that for me mate?”

“Zander.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” Zupan rolled onwards. Pushing around the track as though his sanity depended on it. “What the fuck am I going to do?”

There was a long silence down the phone.

“There’s only really one question you gotta ask Zu. Do you fancy him?”

“I…” Zupan rolled to a halt, “I…”

“Zupan?” Bay sounded concerned.

“Come roll by the college. We need to talk.”

*

Bay was sitting waiting for him on the low brick wall that ran along the front of the City College. There was a pretty young woman with a long brown plait sitting next to him, chatting in an animated sort of way. With a thud like a blow to the skull Zupan realised that the actions reminded him of the way that Zander talked, demonstrating with his long fingers the way he felt and the things he was interested in.

“Hey,” Zupan raised a hand as he approached and let the wheel rails slide through his hands to slow as he came in line with Bay, “What’s up?”

“Heya Zu.” Bay jumped off the wall, “Thanks for the recipe Kim. See you later.”

“Let me know how it goes. Remember to heat up the cider first yeah?”

“No worries,” Bay folded the little piece of paper into his pocket as he stood up, “Roll with me bud?”

“What’s that Bay?” Zupan unclicked his brake and rolled slowly along with Bay’s easy walk, “We all know you can’t cook.”

“Cocktail. Hot apple pie.”

“Sounds weird.” Zupan knuckled Bay’s leg as they walked together, “You know I like my drinks straight up.”

Bay flicked him back and sniggered.

“Well I ain’t fucking making it for you now, am I?” Bay stuck his thumbs in his pockets and tapped his fingers on his jeans, “Gonna surprise Issac with it. He likes puddings.” They walked in silence for a bit, heading into town. Working in a bar gave one excellent options when it came to drinking out. Bay knew everyone, and so it was that they rolled to The Office, where Bay laid down a big grin and a secret barman’s handshake in exchange for two ciders and a corner table with a single chair.

“So,” Bay swigged his cider, “About my question. Do you fancy him?”

“Oh god Bay.” Zupan rested his forearms on the table and frowned, “I have no idea.”

“Good god man how can you not know?” Bay stared at him in exasperation, “You either get the hots for the boy or not.” Bay pulled the beer mat from his weaker grip and fished in his pocket for his phone, “Tell me something Zu?”

“Yeah?” Zupan had a horrible idea that he knew where this was going.

“You’ve been out to gay clubs right? Taken Issac and everything. Been flirted with. You ever feel anything then?”

“No!” Zupan snorted and sat back in his chair, hands in his lap, “Never. Not once.”

“You seem awfully sure.” Bay arched one eyebrow and sipped his drink again, “Never tempted?”

“No. I always had some girl or other.” Ad god had there been a lot of girls. Anyone who suggested that Zupan’s ability to score was lessened by the chair got quickly decked, and then corrected. His brother had always told him that he was a player, and being twins was a great gig for getting girls. Being in the chair was just as good. Curious girls, playful girls, and Zupan liked girls. Whip thin or curvy, girl with nice boobs and great squeezable arses. Girls with long hair that liked to sit in his lap and wriggle, girls with big doe eyes who hung on his every word like he was a god. Zupan liked girls.

“You love any of ‘em?” Bay was looking at him slightly sideways, scrolling for something with his phone.

“No.”

“Here, try this.” Bay held out his phone. Zupan stared. On screen was a picture of two guys kissing. One of them looked a little like Zander, same kind of build, but with shorter hair. The other was clearly a big guy, stubbled jaw and buzz cut hair. The kiss looked sweet and romantic, real, not made for the camera, and they were looking at each other in a way Zupan recognised.

Issac looks at Bay like that… and James looks at Sal with those eyes when she’s busy working.

“What do you think?”

“I never looked at any girl like that.” Zupan looked across at his friend, though tearing his eyes from the screen proved difficult, “What the fuck does this mean?”

“Tell me about Zander.” Bay put the phone away and folded his arms.

“What? He’s your friend. You know him better than I do.” Zu tugged a hand through his hair and growled, “I don’t understand what you’re trying to get me to say.”

“Of course I know him better than you do. Jesus Zu…” Bay flicked a beer mat at him, “When I think of the shit you put me through when I wanted to date Issac. If you are out to satisfy your curiosity, do that somewhere else. I’m not letting you tear him up when you find out that you can’t actually stomach the idea of him being a guy.”

“Why you mouthy little shit!” Zupan had his fist in the front of Bay’s shirt before he’d finished speaking, but Bay was quick too, and caught him a stinging blow to the left shoulder.

“You know I have no qualms about hitting a dude in a chair Zupan.” Bay settled back into his seat and straightened his shirt, “At least that answers that question, at least a little.”

“Well what am I supposed to do now?”

“Go on another date,” Bay smiled like it was the simplest thing in the world, calling up a guy and asking him on a date. Zupan snorted. “And in the meantime, and I f you tell Issac I said this I will deny it, go look at porn.”

“What?” Zupan stared at his friend. Ten months ago Bay had been just eighteen, half scared like a rabbit in headlights, and had seemed like such an innocent kid. Zupan barely recognised that as the same guy who sat in front of him now, cool and confident, and secure with the way he was. Zupan smiled briefly to remember that he’d helped him get there.

“You need to know if two dicks in a room is going to make you freak before it happens. Have a look around, see what kind of things to like, things you might wanna try out.” Bay stood and glanced at his phone, “I gotta go meet Issac for lunch. Oh and Zu?”

“Yeah?” Zupan had a feeling he wasn’t going to like whatever Bay said next. He was smiling in that wicked way like he did when he was about to poison people with his latest alcoholic creations.

“Zander told me he’s a sucker for a guy who gives good head. See ya bud.”