Page 92 of Everything's Better With You
“The winner of this year’s NAIA Heart Of America Conference Cheer Championships is…Greenvale College!”
Joe froze and exhaled, letting the tension drip from his body. Leslie squeezed his shoulder and Joe turned to him, burying his face in Leslie’s chest.
“You did it, Twinkle Toes,” Sandy yelled, slapping him on the back.
Joe smiled at Sandy and high-fived him, but then he turned to Leslie, his eyes wet.
“I can’t breathe.”
Leslie laughed and gave him a squeeze. “Congratulations.”
Joe blinked and then pushed up on his toes. And he kissed Leslie like no one was watching, like nothing else mattered. “Thank you for believing in me,” he whispered against Leslie’s lips. When he stepped back, he wiped at his tears and laughed at what was probably a stunned expression on Leslie’s face.
Then the chorus of “Oh. My. God!” filtered in and the gasps of the cheer squad pulled them both out of the moment.
Leslie and Joe both turned to find the entire squad gawking at them with their jaws hanging open, Marti laughing and Sandy shaking his head.
And then the questions started pouring in.
Twenty-Five
Joe
“Is Coach Payton your boyfriend?”
“How long have you two been—”
“Are you two like—”
“Does President Payton know?”
Joe allowed a few questions and then he held up a hand. “If you’ll all calm down and get your shorts out of your ass and hang on.” Everyone laughed, but they continued to bounce up and down as if they were waiting for confirmation that Santa Claus had come. “Yes, Coach Payton is my boyfriend,” he said and he winked at Leslie. “We’ve only just made it official but it’s been going on for a loooong time, and yes we’re in love.” He turned to Leslie. “Does your brother know?”
“He does,” Leslie said.
“There. Happy?”
A chorus of cheers rang out in the echoey room andhugs went all around.
“I knew it,” Terrell said, smacking his leg and shaking his head. Apparently, Marti hadn’t told him, which was probably for the best.
“This is almost better than winning,” Sidney squealed. “Almost.”
Everyone laughed and then tried to catch their breath.
“Does this mean you’re staying?” Terrell asked. “Are you guys, like, getting married?”
Joe glanced at Leslie and let out a nervous laugh. Why did he have to get asked that right now when he’d been dodging texts from Arthur all day?
Leslie’s cheeks were red but he seemed to be just as invested as the kids in Joe’s answer.
“Um, there’s a lot going on, so, I can’t really say about next year, yet. I don’t even know if they want me back next year, and I’m still working out some situations, but now we focus on Nationals, right? Go Jackets.” He pumped a fist and the gesture fell flat.
Wow, that was such a mature way of saying, “I don’t know.”
The kids’ smiles faded a bit, as if someone just told them “Santa already came” and they realized they didn’t get what they’d asked for.
“The bus is here,” Marti said, placing a hand on his back. “Okay, everyone, make sure you’ve got all of your stuff and let’s go.”
