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Chapter 11
After lunch on Saturday, we pulled into the driveway to see that someone was at our house. I recognized the car in the driveway right away as Bryan's. He also standing at the front door.
"Kendall, isn't that Bryan standing at the door?" Kyle asked as Kurt stopped the car.
"Yep" I answered.
"Want us to get rid of him?" Keagan asked with a smile.
"Why don't you guys just go inside."
All five of us got out of the car. Bryan looked at me and smiled until he also saw my brothers walking towards the front door.
"Fellas" he said with a head nod.
They all gave him a look and headed inside leaving me and Bryan on the porch.
"What are you doing here Bryan?"
"I just came to talk to you."
"Ok."
"So is it true? Did you really go out with Greyson James last night?" Bryan asked. His question took me aback. How did he know this?
"How do you know about that?"
"The whole school knows, Kendall. The star quarterback can't take a guy to a fancy meal in public and not expect people to find out." Bryan said then pulled his phone out of his pocket. He tapped on it a few times then turned the screen to me. Bryan had pulled up Instagram and there was a picture of Greyson kissing some guy outside. "I know you can't see the face of the guy Greyson is kissing but we both know it's you."
"All you can see is the back of the guy's head. Greyson's hand is covering up the face of the guy" I reply, not very convincingly. Bryan's eyes softened and he gave a slightly sad smile.
"I'd recognize any part of you anywhere, Ken." Bryan sighed.
I just stared at my feet. I didn't have a problem with people knowing I was dating a guy, it was Greyson that I was worried about. Was he ready to come out to the public? Would his team accept him? That spawned another question, would his team like me or at least accept me?
"So I guess this answers whether I get another chance." Bryan said
"I guess so" I said, finally allowing our eyes to meet. Bryan stood there for a minute as if he wasn't expecting the answer I gave him.
"Well just don't come crawling back to me when he starts to treat you like shit or leaves you for a new hottie that walks past." he said. Then Bryan walked off to his car and drove off.
I could feel a single tear fall down my cheek. The reason behind that tear was unknown to me. Maybe it was that I was scared that Greyson would do that to me. Maybe it was because I had finally pushed Bryan away. Maybe I wasn't over him.
I don't know how long I stood there staring at the end of the drive. The sound of someone walking to me brought me back to reality
"Are you coming in anytime soon?" Kyle asked.
"He left." I said. "I think I finally got him to go."
"Now you can focus on that guy you told us about at lunch." Kyle asked. "Isn't that you wanted?"
"I'm not over him."
Kyle put his arm around me shoulder and started walking me back to the house. "Come on. we'll help you keep your mind off him. Maybe later me and the boys can go talk to him" Kyle said with a chuckle.
I just chuckled and shook my head no.
The rest of the afternoon was spent playing basically all of the board games in the house while a random movie played in the background. The events that happened in the driveway were staying out of my head. I was only thinking about strategies to win these games.
My parents came home around 5 and they started to make dinner. When we sit to have dinner we have to use the big dining room table that most people only use for holidays.
"So Kendall, I ran into Bryan Thomson's sister the other day. She said that he was going to Claybourne too. Have you seen him around?" Mom and I were at separate ends of the table. My brothers all became very interested in the food or their glasses, basically anything that didn't require them to look up.
"We have a class together." I said quietly.
"That must be nice." She replied. My parents aren't aware of how bad our breakup was on me. I did my best to act normal around them when it first happened.
"Dad, this pork loin is amazing! What did you use for marinade?" Kurt asked to change the topic. I mouthed thank you at him and he responded with a smile. I was lucky to have such amazing brothers that had my back always.
The next morning Mom sent me and Kurt to the grocery store to pick up some stuff. We got everything on the list and now we wanted to get things we wanted. Kurt went to grab some beer and I headed to the frozen section. I needed some Ben and Jerry's therapy.
I was just closing the freezer door when I saw Bryan and his mom round the corner.
"Kendall, how are you?" his mom asked.
"I'm good, Mrs. Thomson. How are you?"
"I'm doing fine. Well, we are in a bit of a hurry so we better get going. Say hello to your mom for me!" she said pushing her cart down the aisle.
"Chocolate therapy, huh?" Bryan asked looking at my flavor of ice-cream. "I thought you would have been sick of that after this summer." He smiled and walked off to rejoin his mom.
How arrogant could Bryan be? He sees me with one of my favorite flavors of ice cream and he just assumes that it has something to do with him. I mean it does but still, the nerve of him to think it.
"Ready to go?" Kurt asked walking up to me with the cart.
"Yeah." I said with a sigh.
"Is that Bryan down there?" Kurt asked looking past me
"Yeah it's him" I responded "Let's go."
We paid for the groceries and headed home. The car ride was pretty silent.
"It gets easier, you know." Kurt said breaking the silence "Eventually you'll be able to see him and not think twice about it."
"I hope you're right."
The rest of the time at home was spent quietly, just hanging around the house. I was keeping the story about the Instagram post to myself. I hadn't heard anything from Blair, Paige or Ethan so maybe the post wasn't on a popular account. I went to bed somewhat optimistic that I wouldn't be going back to a different Claybourne than the one I left.
That is until I got a notification right before I went to bed. It was from Instagram. I had been tagged in a photo. I clicked on the notification. It was the same picture that Bryan had showed me. This time the caption read "Mystery man solved! The guy quarterback Greyson James was caught kissing has been identified as freshman Kendall Winters. An anonymous source close to Winters identified him."
Great, I thought. What a lovely way to end the weekend.
I rolled over and attempted to fall asleep but to no avail. My mind kept circling back around to the Instagram post. Is Greyson okay with being with being outted? Is he going to want to see me again or will he want nothing to do with me? Would his team accept him? That was the big one. I'd hate for this to have ruined his football career. Whenever a guy comes out in sports, there are always stories about if their teammates will be comfortable with a gay player. Would that Greyson's teammates?
Suddenly I had an idea. I'll ask someone who would have great insight into the psyche of a football player.
I slipped out of bed, put on some shorts and quietly padded down the hall to Keagan's room. I lightly tapped on the door. It took a few seconds before Keagan answered the door in his boxers.
"What's up?" Keagan groggily asked.
"Can we talk?" I whisper. Keagan nodded and turned around. I followed him in and quietly shut the door. We both sat on his bed.
"What's on your mind, Kendall?"
"How would your team react if one of your star players announced he was gay?" I asked. Keagan kind of flinched at the question. I don't think he was expecting that.
"Um well I can't speak for the whole team or every college football player but I know I would treat him like I always have. I'm sure a lot of the other guys would too. It would take some getting used to but if it's a tight knit team, I'm sure the player who came out would be welcome." Keagan replied. I gave a small smile. This was making me feel better.
"Okay, thanks" I responded moving to get off the bed.
"Wait" Keagan said grabbing my wrist to stop me from moving "Does this have to do with the guy you talked about at lunch?"
I nodded. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and opened up to the Instagram post. Then I handed my phone to Keagan.
"Bryan came over today to ask me about this post. This was before I was tagged in it. Greyson has been outted to the whole school and its all my fault." I could feel tears welling up in my eyes.
"What if his team turns on him? What if he can't play this sport that he loves all because he kissed me one time? I feel responsible for ruining his life." I continued. Tears now began to fall down my cheeks.
"Hey hey hey. Stop that" Keagan said pulling me into a hug. "From what you said st lunch, this Greyson guy asked you out. He wanted to go to dinner publicly. I'm guessing he had thought out what the consequences might be. Have you spoken with him since this was posted?"
I shook my head no as I wiped the tears off my cheeks.
"Then you have no idea if he's freaking out or if he's elated that he went out with a great guy. You've always been an over thinker, Kendall. Stop it. Don't worry until you know for sure if there is something to worry about."
"Thanks Keag. I knew you were the right brother to go to." I replied with a smile.
"Now what is this about an anonymous source giving your identity?" Keagan asked looking back at the post.
"I think it was Bryan." I said. I could see Keagan's jaw clench. "When he was here, my identity was still unknown. Bryan said he knew it was me because he'd know me anywhere. I got the notification a little bit before I came over just now."
"You should have let the guys and I talk to him today instead of you." Keagan replied angrily.
"Because you big meatheads wanted to really talk." I chuckled. "Anyways, I told Bryan that he wasn't getting the second chance he wanted. I think this is revenge."
I paused for a moment. I could feel the tears coming again. I took a deep breath to hold them back.
"I just don't get him. He's the one that ended things. He's the one that hurt me. But somehow I'm the ass because I didn't go running back to him. It's so ridiculous." I ranted. I couldn't stop the tears this time.
"Just forget about him, Ken. He's a jerk. You can and, from what I hear, are doing much better than Bryan Thomson. Now go back to bed and stop worrying."
"Thanks Keagan for listening to me cry and complain. Love you" I said heading towards the door.
"Love you too, bro."
I went back to my room and got in bed. Keagan helped to slow down the thoughts in my head but it still took me a little bit to fall asleep.
The next day I packed up and drove back to Claybourne. I was about to find out if the whole school knew about Greyson and I.