Page 21 of Icing the Play

“Why do you have to eat everything so fast?” Zoma rubbed his back between his shoulders.

“You saw how many siblings I have.” He smirked at Zoma. “If you weren’t fast, you got no food.”

“Judging by the amount of food your poor mother cooks every day, I have a hard time believing that.” Zoma tsked and focused on me. “Answer the question, Myles. We’re both dying to know.”

I wrinkled my nose. “No, we’re not fucking. We’ve barely kissed. I suppose we made out a little, but it feels weird to me.” I was going to hear it now.

“Were there at least happy endings?” Ace stared at me.

“Uh, no.” I rubbed my temple. How could I explain this? “We did a lot of talking in his room after our date.” I shrugged. “The date was nice, but I don’t know if I’m feeling it.” And it was important because we’d been friends first. Right?

Zoma gaped. “You went to his room after your date andtalked?” He swirled his smoothie on the counter. “How do two gay men who are into each other manage to sit in a room with a bed after a date without at least jerking off?”

Taking a deep inhale, I said, “It happens.”

“Not to me, it doesn’t.” Zoma glanced at Ace. “I mean, before I met Ace.”

“You’re damn right before me.” Ace scoffed, rolled his eyes, and then locked his gaze on mine. “You don’t like JJ.” Narrowing his eyes, he pointed his smoothie glass at me and said, “You don’t have any feelings for JJ because you like Cooper. Now that Cooper came out to you, that’s never going to change and…Oh, fuck.” Ace’s eyes grew wide. “He’s moving in here on Sunday. I almost forgot.”

Zoma covered his mouth with his fingers. “What are you going to do?”

Wrinkling my brows, I said, “I don’t know.” I harrumphed. “If Cooper likes me, why would he push his friend on me like he does?” They were wrong. Okay, maybe Cooper found me attractive, but it didn’t mean he wanted to date me.

“Myles, maybe JJ claimed you first.” Ace drank the rest of his smoothie.

I sipped my drink. “What do you mean, claimed?” I hadn’t heard from JJ all summer, and it was Cooper who’d gotten us talking again.

“Maybe JJ told Cooper he already liked you last year and so Cooper felt obligated to step aside.” Ace shrugged. “I don’t know what kind of dude code they have on the football team. Those guys are kind of weird.”

“Only goalies are weird, Ace.” With a soft snort, Zoma ruffled his messy hair.

“Not yet. I’m still fighting the good fight, babe.” Ace kissed Zoma’s cheek and stood. “Why don’t you see how tonight goes? Isn’t there some after-the-game party you’re going to?” Ace brought his empty glass to the sink, rinsed it and set it in the dishwasher.

“Yeah.” I downed my drink, now warm enough to not give me too much of a headache.

“Keep your eyes and ears open. See how Cooper reacts to you and JJ. You might be surprised.” Zoma grabbed my empty glass and set his with mine in the dishwasher.

“And what am I supposed to do if, by chance, Cooper likes me?” As if. I pursed my lips. I was never that lucky.

“Then maybe you and JJ part as friends.” Zoma brushed his fingers over my lower back as he passed. “Once you’re just friends again, then you’d be open to pursuing your true love.” He giggled.

“Oh, brother.” Huffing a laugh, I rolled my eyes.

That evening,Ace and I met with Archer and his boyfriend, Leo, for some dinner at a sushi place in Tempe Marketplace and parked in my spot at the rink. Zoma was spending some time with his figure skating best friend, Nova, tonight. The football stadium was a short walk from the rink, but it was hot as hell outside, even with the sun down. Playing football in this weather was insane. These guys must be tough as fuck.

As we strolled through the gates and showed our tickets, complements of JJ and Cooper, Leo turned to me, his dark hair parted on the side and falling on his forehead over his brown eyes. “I don’t think I’ve been to a game at this stadium since I was in college.”

“Has it changed much?” I looked around me at the hotdog and hamburger vendors, then spied a beer stall. “Hey, beer.” I pointed at it.

“Oh, perfect.” Archer grabbed Leo’s hand and led us all toward the stand. “I remember my first few years here. I wanted so badly to order a damn beer.” He pushed a curly lock of his blond hair out of his brown eyes.

“Yeah, the drinking age is crazy in the USA. You can die for your country at eighteen, but can’t drink a fucking beer at a ball game.” Ace scoffed and peered at me. “You Canucks did it right.”

“But I left before I hit nineteen.” I tagged Ace’s muscled shoulder.

Archer ordered beers for us all and we each showed our IDs while the national anthem played through the stadium. I hoped we didn’t miss the start of the game.

As we made our way to the stairs through an opening into the stadium, I sipped my beer. We had great seats around the fifty-yard line and about twenty rows up. Following them, I sat between Archer and Ace. I had a feeling they made me sit between them on purpose.

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