Page 114 of The Trade Deadline
“Will you have time?” Lars’s heart hammered in his chest with hope. “They might not let you leave the hotel?—”
“I’m a big boy. I’ll manage to sneak away. Besides, I still have a place there. It’s completely reasonable for me to need to take care of stuff for a few hours.”
He hesitated long enough that Ryan started to backtrack.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked. I don’t even know your schedule and you’re busy with this Prowlers thing?—”
Ever the polite one, giving him excuses.
“I want to see you.” Lars swallowed a lump. “My place? Text me when you’ll be free and I’ll be there.”
“Awesome.” Ryan sounded so happy in that one little word, and it was something Lars had given to him. That made his chest loosen a little, the burdens from the day eased. “I really have missed you.”
“You just miss my nice condo.” And then because he felt like a dick for not saying it out loud, he muttered, “I’ve missed you, too. See you in a week.”
“In a week,” Ryan agreed, the silence lingering a moment before the call ended.
Twitter: #Crabs/Prowlers
lnilsson14:Thanks for all the messages and support. Yes, I’m gay. Yes, there were uncomfortable circumstances about things in Portland and that’s part of why I left. No, I don’t want to talk about it. I want to play hockey and make the playoffs and fight for the Cup. End of discussion.
baltimorebluecrabsnhl :The Blue Crabs support all of their players regardless of their race, sexuality, orreligion. We especially want to highlight Lars Nilsson for coming out despite the known prejudices within the sport—such a simple thing can also be a brave one.
ziggyzigs:I can only speak for myself, but @lnilsson14 I’m sorry about what’s happened this season—I should’ve kept a cooler head and remembered there’s two sides to every story. Sorry bro, won’t happen again. GL in playoffs
abigailbmoresun:An inside source has leaked that Prowlers players are upset w/GM Mackey as well as coaching re: queer players & staff. Nilsson is just the tip of the iceberg, as more stories of discrimination are coming to light, and they want changes or they want new teams. Ownership not happy, investigations are forthcoming.
andersnilsson7:OFC I knew my brother was gay, stop asking me. I don’t see how it’s relevant to hockey. I’m more interested in whether the Otters will play the Crabs in the first or second round. Why don’t you ask me about that?
jacobcampbell:Lars is a great hockey player and an awesome teammate and an even better human being. He’s been really brave in the wake of the media hounding him about what he said during our last game, and I know he’ll inspire other players out there to be more confident in who they are both on and off the ice.
ryanrusselljunior:hey @larsnilsson14 how come when I get mic’d up I lose followers but you do it and you gain a few mil - what am I doing wrong?
larsnilsson14:@ryanrusselljunior have you tried dropping multiple f-bombs on national television? works like a charm. not sure I’d recommend what it does to your DMs though
crabbythecrab??:???????????????????
Chapter34
Ryan
Flyingto Baltimore made Ryan’s stomach turn. It’d been years since he’d first arrived, and the similarity was unnerving. Nothing quite like joining a new team then returning to play an old one to make you want to throw up.
Then there was the Lars situation. Ryan couldn’t tell if that made things better or not, knowing he was going to see Lars in—he checked his watch— forty minutes. Obviously he wanted to see Lars, but there was the nerves of a reunion, their upcoming game, and the inevitable goodbye.
What were they even going to say to each other? Were they going to have The Talk? What would Ryansay? What did he want? What did Lars want?
“You don’t look so good,” a teammate observed. Shupp, maybe? Stroh? Ugh, he hated learning so many new names all at once. No, Sampson. Sampsy.
“He came from the Crabs, remember?” Anders said from a few aisles down, a book in hand. “Leave him be.”
“Shit, sorry,” Sampsy said with a sympathetic look. “We’ll get ‘em.”
Ryan had stopped paying any attention to him, instead focused on Anders. He was sitting by himself and had been nice enough to Ryan so far. Would he mind if…?
Before he could second guess the wisdom of his plan, Ryan got up and sat next to Anders.
“Hey.”
