Page 69 of Gridlocked on the Gridiron

“I wanted to watch The Grinch,” Maya said, pouting.

“Maya, please. If you don’t even know the full name of the movie you can’t pick it. It’s called How The Grinch Stole Christmas, not The Grinch.”

Maya waved her hand at him while she looked at Colton, as if to say, “See?” Colton was too tired to play TV politics with his siblings, so he threw himself onto the couch beside his brother.

“Sorry, Mai. We can watch it after Home Alone.”

She looked at him, faux-betrayal on her face. “You? My greatest ally? You’re dead to me,” she said as she walked out of the room.

Colton sank into the couch as he asked, “Where’s Dad?”

Landon shrugged, tension immediately seeping into his posture. “Who knows? He left as soon as I got here.”

“And here I was thinking I played well.”

Landon laughed. “Well, we can’t all be as perfect as Dad thinks he would have been.”

Colton remembered what Lucia had said about him overshadowing his brother. His relationship with Landon had been strained for as long as he could remember. Maybe when they’d been little, they’d been able to get along, but the minute Landon had been old enough to start learning football, their father had pitted them against each other. Their relationship had never stood a chance. Now he wondered if Lucia had been right, and maybe the reason it’d always been difficult between them was because Landon resented him for their childhood.

“You’ve been doing really well this season. I know it’s impossible to get Dad to say anything nice. But if there’s a team I’d want to end up in the Super Bowl other than us, I’d want it to be you guys.” An olive branch. Something about this season made him want to remedy the relationships in his life. At least the ones that could be remedied. He was tired of feeling tense around most of his family members.

Landon’s eyebrows shot up. “Thanks, man. And Dad’s a dick if he says anything to you about yesterday, you’ve been playing better every game since preseason.” He gave Colton a genuine smile. “Lucia certainly deserves a raise and a permanent position with the Sabers.”

That sentiment was absolutely true, and Colton wanted to shout it from the rooftops of King Street for anybody who would listen. Instead, he smiled back and said, “Yeah, she really does.”

Colton watched the movie for a while, his mind swirling with thoughts of Lucia. As the kitchen scene began, Colton stood, going in search of Maya.

“Mai?” he called up the stairs as he climbed them. “I’m sorry I let Landon win this time. I promise we’ll watch The Grinch as soon as it’s over.”

He found her sitting on the bed of her guest bedroom. The house was so large that they each had their own guest room, in addition to a couple of extra rooms that were never used because nobody but them visited. When he walked closer, he saw her eyes rimmed with red.

“Mai? What’s wrong? If I’d known you were this upset about it, I would’ve put my foot down with Landon about the movie.”

She sniffled, a half-hearted laugh falling from her. She shook her head, wiping at her eyes angrily. Colton sat beside her, pulling her into him. She rested her head on his shoulder.

“What’s going on? You haven’t been yourself since Thanksgiving. Even Lucia’s been worried.”

Maya heaved a sigh. She didn’t respond for a moment, as if collecting her thoughts, and Colton sat in quiet support of her.

“I was sort of seeing someone. He’s on the pro circuit with me. Might even say he’s a part of my friend group. We’d sort of been…” She pulled away, a torn expression on her face. “It feels weird talking to you about my…endeavors.”

Colton coughed. After the initial shock, he said softly, “I can’t promise I won’t kill him, but I promise I’ll try not to if you don’t want me to.”

That got a real laugh. “I wasn’t even worried about that! No killing. Can’t have my favorite oldest brother in prison. Anyway, he’s not worth it, and he really didn’t do anything wrong.”

“What happened?”

She raised her shoulder in a half-shrug. “We’d been hooking up for a few months. And since we were always at the same tournaments, always hanging with the same people, it felt longer. We’ve been friends for a few years, you know?”

He nodded.

“We decided to do Friendsgiving together since some of us chose not to go home and a few of my friends aren’t even American. We were all hanging out, and he pulled me aside and said that he’d been developing feelings for me. Great, right? Because as he said that, I realized I’d developed feelings for him, too. Or, honestly, that I’d had feelings for him since the beginning.”

Again, Colton nodded, though this time, it was more strained as he guessed where her story was headed.

“Except when I told him I was into him too, he told me he isn't ready to be in a relationship. He said we had to stop hooking up and go back to being friends. And I agreed because I didn't want to try to fight it. Booked the first flight I could find out of there, and I’ve been avoiding him since.”

“Mai, I’m so sorry.”

---