Page 31 of Two for Holding
A slow smile spread across Tom’s face, beautiful as a sunrise.“Yeah,” he said.“Yeah, we will.”
seven
Kayleigh [off-screen]: We’ve got our captain, Tom Crowler, trying out the team beanie, goalie Dmitriyev in custom sweatpants with his number, and here’s alternate Phil Easton in the brand-new Sea Lions lace-up hoodie.What do you guys think?
Dmitriyev: Yes.Is good.
Phil: Yeah, very comfortable.One hundred percent cotton, so that’s nice.
Kayleigh: Tom?
Tom: Yeah, it’s great.
Kayleigh: So are we gonna catch you wearing team swag around town?
Phil: [choked laughter]
Tom: Oh, uh, I don’t really go into the city much.I, uh—
Kayleigh: Tom, you gotta give mesomethinghere.
Phil: How about some action shots of us wearing the merch on the ice?
[Clip show of Phil and Tom skating in Sea Lions merch while Dmitriyev lounges on his side in the goal, wearing the sweatpants]
Top comments:
clions2010: Crowler and Easton continue to be a black hole of charisma off ice and a sinkhole of playoff performance on it
seelionssaylions: Jeez, at least Dmitriyev has the excuse of not being a native speaker.What reason does Crowler have to be so bad at words?
SFCLions: Tom…hey.Hey, Tom.I’m free on Thursday.I could introduce you to some new hobbies on Thursday, when I am free
(Video posted in the outtakes section of The Rookery, the direct-to-consumer streaming service of the San Francisco Sea Lions and all associated teams, on 09/26/2024)
Tom was having a hard time remembering why he didn’t want to spend time with Jax.
At the beginning of the season, he’d been so sure he had to avoid Jax at all costs.Jax acted outgoing and loud.He had a reputation as a thoughtless party boy who spent big on dumb things such as luxury gadgets and designer sweatpants.And he gave funny media soundbites.All of those things sounded like the exact opposite of what Tom wanted in his life.Then, when he saw under the surface and understood why Jax acted the way he did, he’d been desperate to prove he was neither a homophobe nor did he hate Jax, and he’d been resentful and scared Jax might see him for who he was in turn.The combination made him clingy and skittish by turn.
Now that Jax knew, Tom couldn’t get enough of him.
Jax was still loud and outgoing.He still had in-jokes with Breezy that made Tom want to groan and order a strong drink.But now, Tom didn’t worry Jax would get too close and accidentally see too much.He liked Jax clowning around, making everyone else laugh.He was never afraid to make a fool of himself if it made other people smile.
Two nights after their loss in Philly, the team congregated at a sports bar in Denver, the kind of place with five TVs broadcasting different games at once.Miraculously, none of them showed hockey thanks to ESPN’s stupid regional blackouts.They’d lost the game against Colorado, but only in overtime, so they still got a point.Tom’s mom had texted,You win some, you lose some.When he’d writtenThanks, Mom, he’d almost meant it.Tomorrow, they would play in Boston, and then the road trip would finally end, so everyone was relieved and exhausted.No one wanted to go clubbing tonight.Tom hoped curfew wouldn’t be too hard to uphold.
He was squished into the corner of the booth with Jax pressed up against his side, a solid wall of heat.
Across from them, Breezy held out his phone to show Jax a picture.“This is Chloe.She looks nice, right?”
The picture showed a blonde woman hugging a dog.
Jax frowned.“What about Vanessa?”
Breezy groaned.“So my dad found out her uncle runs one of the restaurants in Montreal we can’t go to because my grandpa says it’s, you know—” He lowered his voice.“—run by the mob.”
“Did you ask her about it?”
“Yeah, man, of course.She got super shifty and didn’t answer, and I think her family must be from, like,thatpart of Sicily.”
