Page 67 of Attractive Forces
20
Logan
Jake’s neighbor is obviously well connected to the town’s gossip mill because the next day, the whole school is buzzing about how I got caught hooking up with Jake’s sister.
Which makes me even more of a legend at school. According to the guys at Heath Valley High School, scoring university girls is the epitome of cool.
Although when the story inevitably gets back to my dad, I can imagine his reaction will be anything but cool. What Bible verse will I be assigned to read this time? At least it probably won’t include passages about how homosexuality is a sin.
I’ve just sat at our usual cafeteria table when Brewer arrives and plonks himself down next to me. “So, you’re hooking up with Jake’s sister then?”
Shit. Trust him to get straight to the point.
“Um…yeah.”
Brewer takes a noisy slurp of his drink before he continues. “She’s at university, right?”
“Yeah. First year.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that’s why you’ve been spending so much time at his house? Good work, man.”
I shrink down in my seat. “Uh…thanks.”
How much does it suck to lie like this?
Actually, Brewer, it’s Jake I’m hooking up with. And he’s amazing in so many ways. You should be congratulating me on that rather than the fantasy that I’m hooking up with his sister.
Things turn even worse when Jen gets up abruptly and flounces away from the table. Shit. Was she in tears?
Maeve turns to me with a glare. “I thought you told Jen you don’t have time for a relationship. Or is it just high-school girls you don’t have time for?”
“Hey, give the guy a break. If he wants to be a cougar’s boy-toy, that’s his business,” Brewer says.
“Sometimes a guy’s gotta do what he’s gotta do. And if that means learning from an experienced woman, then you got to respect that,” Smith adds.
The fact that Brewer and Smithy have jumped in to defend me should make me happy. But would they do that if they knew the truth? Would they defend my relationship with Jake in the same way?
My head pounds with it all.
Rugby practice after school is intense. The competition has reached the stage of knockout games, and even though we’re up against Hamford this Saturday, who theoretically we should beat, any little mistake could cost us.
Coach drills us in our tackling until I feel bruised all over.
As we head back to the locker room, the guys are buzzing from Coach’s pep talk about how there will be scouts for three Supreme Rugby’s professional franchises at the game.
My mind is buzzing in a different direction. On my dad’s advice, I’ve already decided to head to university rather than straight to professional rugby. I can still play a decent standard of rugby while studying, which means I’ll have a degree to fall back on if rugby doesn’t pan out. I’ve never considered any university besides Otago because it’s the closest to Heath Valley and one of the best rugby universities, but now I’m thinking about it from another angle. I know Jake’s working hard to get an academic scholarship to university, but he hasn’t talked about where he wants to go. Is there any way we could get our university plans to overlap? I mean, I know it’s still months away, but already I can’t imagine being without Jake.
But what’s going to happen when we get to university? If I’m playing rugby, will it be possible for me to be out? Or will we have to continue to pretend?
The questions swirl as I drive home.
My parents have gone to a Christian seminar in Dunedin, which has two advantages. A: they’re not in town to lecture me about gossip they might have heard about me and university girls, and B: my house is empty.
And while Jake and I were thwarted in getting to share a bed last night by the tree-climbing debacle, I’m still very eager for that particular concept. Not to knock the backseat of my car—it is providing the setting for a lot of my personal highlight reel at the moment—but it does present some logistical challenges.
As soon as I’m home and have confirmed that yes, my parents have actually left, I message Jake.
what are you up to?
