Page 30 of Scoring Slater
"It's our business, not anyone else's."
Slater's hand fell to his side. He rocked back onto his heels. "Yeah, but those videos are all over the place now. Maybe I should have mentioned this last night, but I don't want a relationship that's hidden."
"I'm not asking for that. But this is… a lot, okay?"
Eyes dulling, Slater recoiled at Noah's words. "Are you regretting this already?"
"No." He choked back the distress in his chest caused by his palpitating heart. "I swear. No. But all of this attention is too much. I need some time to process it before dealing with questions."
Slater's phone chimed again. Pursing his lips, he stood and looked at the screen. "We should at least say something to our teammates right now. Look at the group text chat. They're our friends. We can't ignore them."
Below the usual random chatter and good-natured ribbing over video game wins and losses, the group's attention had turned to solely Noah and Slater.
Our All Stars are trending ALL over social media!
Noah, you looked fierce when you were bidding on Knoxie.
What's the deal, boys? Or does what happens in Chicago stay in Chicago?
What was the matter, Noah? Didn't want anyone else stealing your roommate? ;-)
The single fans are gonna be heartbroken.
Guys, something you want to tell us?
Congrats to the dynamic duo!
Noah might have lost the hardest shot challenge, but I think he won the auction…
Slater's voice pulled him from the thread. "What should we say?"
"Can we wait a bit? My head is spinning." Too much was happening. Overwhelmed and brain overloaded, he silenced his pinging phone and then tossed it onto the mattress.
Slater's rosy lips turned snowcap-white from the tightness of his grimace. With a heavy sigh, he set his phone down and grabbed his fork. "Fine. I guess we should eat before everything gets cold."
Relieved for the reprieve, he picked up his tea. But Slater's rigid posture and the way he stabbed his omelet spoke volumes. Noah's stomach clenched. He'd ticked the man off and let him down, all in one shot, and neither had been his intention. Slater wasn't pushing on the public statement to be released immediately, but sharing the news with their friends obviously mattered. Noah set down his mug. He needed to dig deep for calm and focus, and fix the situation.
He grabbed his phone and opened the chat again, gaze on Slater as he thought about what to say. Short and succinct was the only way to go.
Morning guys. Slater and I are a thing now. It's not public yet, so please respect that. Turning my phone off now. See you tomorrow.
Nerves tingled and his heartbeat pounded as he pressed send.
A second later, Slater's phone pinged. Noah cleared his throat. "There's a new message in the group chat you might want to see."
Gulping tea, he waited as Slater looked at the message. The thundercloud expression morphed into a sunshine smile. "Thank you."
He reached over the trays and grasped Slater's hand. "I want to be with you. Don't doubt that."
Slater raised their joined hands to his lips. "I won't."
"But it's cool if we press pause on everything else, right? We have to go to the rink in a few hours and that's going to be intense with all the All Star coverage. I don't want to deal with the outside world until then."
"Deal."
After breakfast, they laid together watching a superhero movie. He smiled at the memory of seeing that movie on opening night, in a packed theater, Slater beside him, radiating with excitement. Seeing it again, holed up in their hotel room, was even better with Slater curled around him, holding him close as they watched the heroes save the world.
As the minutes ticked toward leaving time, the nerves in his stomach fluttered faster. He focused on Slater and on the constant touches and frequent kisses.
