Page 19 of Breakaway Goals
Morgan wanted to laugh and to cry. “What should he do about it?”
“Is the other guy open to it?”
“Uh yeah. He uh . . .yeah he’s queer.”
“Well, just because he’s queer doesn’t mean he’s interested,” Finn lectured.
“From what I’ve seen, he’d be receptive,” Morgan said. Hero worship wasn’t attraction, not exactly, but Morgan didn’t think he was the only one who’d felt the heat between them in the empty hallway yesterday.
“Wait,” Finn said.
Here it comes. Morgan braced for the inevitable lecture that he’d obscured his own questions with a very stupidI have a friendstory.Hey,he could imagine saying to Finn,you bought it at first.
“Wait,” Finn repeated again, “you said,from what you’ve seen. It’s someone there? At the tournament? Your friend and this other guy? They’re both hockey players?”
“Uh,” Morgan said, not expecting thatquestion and finding himself unable to field an answer that didn’t immediately give it away.
“Don’t answer that,” Finn said, laughing. “It’s fucking obvious it is. Well, I’d tell your friend that this isn’t a bad time to explore some possibilities, if everyone’s open to it.”
“Seriously?” Morgan didn’t know what he’d expected from a sixteen-year-old, but maybe it should have been this blithe approach.
At sixteen, with all the time in the world ahead of him, Finn probably thought itwasa good idea to explore possibilities.
“It’s only what, nine more days? Kind of a good bookend. Makes it just a hookup and a good, string-less way to see if he likes it. You know?”
It occurred to Morgan that maybe if he’d dispensed with the stupidI have a friendstory, Finn might have given him very different advice. He probably assumed that Morgan’s “friend” was closer to his age than Morgan’s. Did guys Morgan’s age still “hook up”?
“Uh, yeah. I can . . .um . . .see that.”
“You don’t sound like you do,” Finn teased.
“Is that normal?”
“Yeah,” Finn scoffed. “Just make sure your friend communicates and it’ll be fine.”
Still, Morgan hung up five minutes later not sure, despite Finn’s certain attitude and persuasive advice, that he was going to go for it.
Hayes was another player. It was inherently messy, just because of who they both were. Might make things awkward later.
Maybe he should just let the idea of doing something about it go.
But Morgan knew that wasn’t going to be in the cards. Whether he acted on his attraction or not, it was still going to exist, hard and real, pressed right up against his breastbone. Every time he saw Hayes. Every time their eyes met. Every time he made Hayes laugh. The way he understood exactly how Morgan felt, because he was in the exact same position.
Morgan had only met a few people in his life who really truly understood what it was to be him. Of course Hayes was going to, he should have realized that sooner, but it was one thing toknowthat fact, and it was another to begin to knowhim.
So really, the only question wasn’t if the attraction was going to exist. It was only if Morgan was going to act on it.
“Better,” Morgan called out, taking a tight line behind the net, gaining speed with the puck as Danny and Hayes fanned out in the zone.
Hayes slid behind a defenseman, caught Morgan’s puck, and then hit the net by shooting a clean top shelf shot, right over Bram’s right shoulder.
“Goddamn,” Danny yelled. “That’s fucking sick, boys.”
Morgan rolled his eyes, but it had been good.
They’d just been working out the play, nobody playing full-out, but it had gone better than he’d anticipated.
He didn’t think he’d be giving Hayes any lectures about letting the pressure or the moment or his linemates get to his head. Not today. And not tomorrow, when they played Finland.
