Page 112 of Common Goal
“Extremelyrelevant!”
“What’s extremely relevant?” Maria asked as she returned from the kitchen with three bottles of beer.
“Nothing,” both men said at the same time.
Maria narrowed her eyes. “Well, that doesn’t sound suspicious.”
Kyle laughed nervously. “Just work stuff.”
“And it has nothing to do with the fact that Kyle is clearly crushing hard on someone?” Maria accused.
“I’m—no, I’m not!” Kyle sputtered.
“Uh huh. I’m just saying, there might be more than one person in this room who’s fucking a New York Admiral.”
Kyle’s mouth fell open. He would honestly love to tell Maria all about Eric, but Eric wasn’t fully out yet. And besides, it wasn’t like it was a real relationship. He decided to deflect attention away from himself.
“Why? Are you fucking Matti Jalo?”
“Iwish,” Maria sighed as she dropped onto the sofa. “We got food together once after that drag show in December and I never heard from him again.”
“Aw,” Kip said. “Was he nice to you, at least?”
“He laughed at my jokes and asked me questions. Guys! He asked me questions! Aboutmyself!” She grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it to herself.
“Wait. And listened to your answers?” Kyle asked.
“He askedfollow-up questions. It was legit the best date I’ve ever been on. Except for the part where it wasn’t really a date.”
Kip hugged her. “Sorry, buddy.”
“Like, I know that I don’t have a shot with Matti Jalo, but still. Damn.”
Kip gasped. “Of course you have a shot with him! I’m engaged to a hockey superstar! Me! We used to work together, remember?”
Kyle nodded. “If anything, it’s weird that you’renotdating an NHL star, Maria.”
They all laughed, and then were distracted from their conversation when Scott scored a goal on the television.
“That’s my guy,” Kip said happily, then leaned against Kyle and rested his head on his shoulder. The warmth Kyle felt from this casual touch was welcome, and didn’t contain any of the anguish or guilt he may have suffered before. He leaned into the arm of the sofa so his friend could relax more solidly against him.
It seemed to take forever for the third period to happen, but finally Eric was in the net and Kyle was watching the game a lot more closely. Maria’s mom had called her, so she’d taken her phone to the kitchen, leaving Kip and Kyle alone again.
“You should talk to him,” Kip said sleepily.
“Who?” Kyle asked, as if he didn’t know.
“Eric. If you have feelings for him, you should find out if he shares them.”
“And what if he doesn’t?” Kyle asked, instead of denying the feelings he knew he had for Eric.
“Then at least you tried. Because what if hedoes?”
The idea was overwhelming. Kyle hadn’t allowed himself to truly imagine a life where he was Eric’s boyfriend. Where he was allowed to fall in love with him.
He watched Eric make a save on the television, and quietly contemplated Kip’s question.
What if he does?
