Hey everyone sorry for the late chapter. I hope you all have been doing well. Enjoy :D
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Was this what college was going to be like? Lying in my bed before my classes, I stared up at the empty ceiling. If it weren't for Kyle and Frisbee, I would be a complete waste of space, another mindless student wandering the halls of Long Beach. Ever since that afternoon spent with Kyle I have had limited contact with him, the both of us falling deep into our studies and heavy rush of school activities.
Pulling myself from my bed I move around my room to get dressed. It didn't take me too long to get myself together, leaving the room shortly to brush and clean myself up enough to look presentable. This could be a long college career if every day was like this. My legs felt like lead as I wanted for Bryan and Kyle to get dressed as well, the three of us falling back into our old routine of grabbing breakfast together at the dining hall.
The menu was slightly changed now as we had entered into September. There was a fall feeling about it but I couldn't care less as I grabbed a cup of bland coffee, something to hopefully wake me up. It was almost as if the three of us were zombies, barely grunting at each other as we moved back and forth between the halls. Leaving for my early morning class, I grunted out a wave to them as we passed the United Student Union.
Entering into my English class, I sat down and rested my head onto my arms and closed my eyes. With the sound of the professor starting to talk, I silently groaned and lifted up my head. Fluttering my eyes open, I glanced around the room to see that most to all of the other students were in the same boat as me, trying desperately not to fall back asleep. Looking behind me, I continued my scan of the room, glancing over the blank faces strewn about. For a second I thought I saw Michael in the room but it was my imagination playing games with me.
Doing a double take to make sure I wasn't seeing things, I rubbed my eyes for a second then looked back. Much to my surprise, it was actually Dustin, his slender arm subtly waving over to me. He was in the back of the room, his laptop adding a slight glow to his auburn hair. I couldn't help but notice how cute he actually was, his headphones hanging loosely under his lengthy hair.
Waving shortly back at him, I look back ahead to the teacher before he catches my drifting. Paying attention to the teacher didn't help too much as I started to drift off into my own dreamland. Winter break was still so far away but I was already looking forward to what I was going to be doing for Christmas, the possibility of spending it Kyle an open option at the moment. Thanksgiving break was just as open, the short week seemingly so close yet so far way.
Closing my eyes for a quick second passed the minutes by quickly, the class ending before I had actually noticed it. The only way I had noticed was the shuffling of papers into open backpacks and the presence of Dustin next to me. He had said something to me but I was still in my morning daze enough to miss his comment, "Hum? What?"
Laughing a little, he leaned back up against the neighboring desk as I collected my stuff together. "Zoning out on the class as well? It can be a little bit of a bore, hence the laptop." He patted his messenger bag and continued. "I didn't know you were taking this class."
Putting on a weak smile, I collected my composure and lifted my backpack. "Sorry, it's just an early morning for me. Yea I need it for GE but also maybe for my major, I haven't decided on English yet." We move out of the building and into the steady flow students towards our next class. Dustin was very animated in his walking, slightly dancing to his muffled music vibrating from his headphones.
"Hey you ready for the tournament next week?" He looked at me eagerly, as if my wisdom of playing could rub off on him. Was this what I was like last year, so eager to play that the dull of school life hadn't penetrated yet?
Chuckling at the thought of playing professionally again, I laughed out, "Yea it'll be great to get back into the competitive spirit. Plus I am looking forward to going against my boyfriend and seeing how Fullerton does." The thought of challenging Kyle on the field was entertaining to me, especially my wanting to see how much he might have improved over me.
Dustin stopped slightly, "You're gay? Wow I didn't know that." I was slightly confused because I thought I had made it kind of known when Kyle came to the practice. Maybe Dustin had left by then. "Hanson's the only one that knows but I am too." Dustin seemed a little shy about telling me he was gay but not scared like I had normally seen out of other players.
"Don't worry Dustin; no one cares on the team. As long as you can play, which you can, that's all that matters." Man, here I was hoping I could have been the only gay on the team. Really? I couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of having to compete for supreme gay. Dustin noticed my out of place chuckle and raised his eyebrow in the process. Having to now clarify myself, I smile genuinely to him. "It's good to know that I am not the only one on the team anymore. Whenever you want to tell the team, you'll have support behind you, trust me." It was unfortunate that we had to break off when we did because I now suddenly wanted to talk with him more. It's said that the gay community is very small in Long Beach so to have this new character slip under my radar was new to me. Who was he? What was his story?
Making my goodbyes, I move off to my next class, wondering what else the day had in store. In the end though, not much was to entertain me. Practice was dull, even though we were starting to shift gears into competitive mode. For some reason Dustin was absent, even though Hanson was there. He and I threw together and I had a feeling Dustin had told him that I now knew but he didn't say anything to me.
The rest of the week was a mix of spending time with Kyle and vice versa. With the game coming up, we wanted to enjoy the time we had together before the teams tore us apart. Since I had no class on Thursday I spent the morning with him, walking around the campus to his classes. Fullerton was a really nice campus, though a different style of atmosphere from Long Beach.
Darren was slowly warming up to me as I began to hang out with them from time to time, Leon and Monty having no problems with me at all, or so it seemed. At times, I could tell Darren was watching me, the overcautious eye of Kyle's friend hawking over my movements. I did learn however that he was in the Army ROTC, which explained his crew cut and formulated movements. He did look really good in his uniform, the attire fitting him well as a man of the forces. I too was beginning to respect him more as I got to know how much he cared for Kyle. Out of all of Kyle's friends, even those on the Fullerton and Irvine teams, these three were there for him on a different level. They were supportive of him, especially with him allowing me to hang around.
During our nights at each other's dorms, we could feel the tension starting to rise in the teams, the discomfort that we were dating a rival team member. It was almost childish as we snuggled together; the heavy problems hanging over us as we tried to enjoy the simple things. What was even worse was when I tried to go down to watch his team practice that Saturday morning.
After waking up to an empty bed, I had the gut feeling that he was at practice. His post it note was a good enough clue to me as well as I moved around the room gathering my stuff. I wasn't going to just leave him in the cold but I did need to get back to Long Beach soon. Heading outside into the brisk fall air, I wandered over to the playing fields and just sat down. From what I could tell his practice was about the middle as they were working on complex drills, their movements very limber and fluid.
Between twiddling with my phone and watching Kyle, the time seemed to pass relatively quickly. Ellie had changed her hair again, a deep orange streak flying down her bangs contrasting deeply with her now brown hair. I swear she changes her hair to the seasons. Waving back from my seated position in the moist grass, I looked to the other players as well with my wave, getting a few interesting glances back from them. This was the first time they had seen me since last Spring and from the looks of it quite a few new players. The new players gave me a few glares, something that made me do a double take to see if that expression was still there, which much to my surprise, was.
Kyle ended his practice at about ten, which was nice. I knew that Pike and the team were probably going to give me shit for missing my own practice, especially since the tournament was next weekend. Here I was at the oppositions practice watching them instead of practicing with my own team. As I contemplated these issues, Ellie ran up to me and hugged me, the sweaty smell enveloping my senses.
Victoria as well came over, a hard glance on her face. "Shouldn't you be at Long Beach practicing?" It was almost accusatory how she phrased that question, as if she were my captain or even worse going to report to Pike. Kyle thankfully interrupted to pull her away, telling her that I stayed at his place last night. With a stark face, she and Kyle walked towards the gear bag to collect the items.
As they talked, the new players moved in to see who I was, either their interest perked or their defensive nature heightened. I stuck out my hand to shake with each of them, trying to get the introductions out of the way and start off on nice footing. The grips however from each player was almost a death vice, each one stronger than the previous. "Hey Chris, we've heard all about you." I still had yet to get their names.
Realizing this was not turning out to be a good situation for me to be in, I tried to lighten the mood, "Only the good things I hope." I chuckle at the typical joke but none of them join in. "Tough crowd." I mutter under my breath.
"Besides the fact that you play for Long Beach? Yea, only good things." This was from a different player.
Looking around for Kyle, I find him walking over to me to join in. "Ahh.... ok.... Umm... KYLE?" I heightened my voice at the call of his name, making the note of urgency very clear to him as he squeezed in between the players.
I was lucky that he pulled me aside, taking away from what was looking to be a threatening situation. As he walked me back to my car, he held my hand and in a concerned tone, stated flatly, "It probably wasn't the best idea to bring you around here right now. My team is really getting into this game and Victoria doesn't want any unneeded distractions."
"But Kyle..." I wasn't able to say anymore as he leaned in to kiss me and cut me off.
Kyle pulled back and with heartbreaking eyes, peeped out, "We'll work this out. We need to Chris. Your team is just as protective of you... and your plays."
I could feel myself getting frustrated. Was this what it was all about? Stupid plays? Not wanting to fight about it at the moment, I leaned back in and kissed him more passionately this time, making more of an effort than before. Leaving the parking lot, it hurt to feel like I was being forced to leave my boyfriend. Even worse was watching him watch me drive off, the fallen leaves flying up behind me as I left his view.
It was finally the week before the tournament and I finally began to feel a bit excited about it. This was the first tournament so I needed to get excited. With the last few practices happening, Pike was pushing us harder. He wanted to make sure that any issues we had would be cleared up now before the games so that when we did play there would be no problems. I could tell he was avoiding me for a reason, my biggest guess being the Kyle topic.
On a special Tuesday night practice, it finally crashed down, him pulling me aside to give me the talk I knew was coming. His courtesy was at first nice but then it went to annoying. "Chris before I start I want to tell you, I'm glad for you and Kyle for being a boyfriends. You know I support you and him but I am concerned about your commitments to this team. We need you. Long Beach needs you." I really almost wanted to say, 'No, YOU need me.'
Feigning confusion, I raised my eyebrow, "Do you really see Kyle as a problem?" Crossing my arms, I made it well known that I was going to defend Kyle's right to come by and hang with me.
Pike paused for a few seconds at the issue at hand then took the weak way out, giving an answer I was not expecting, "I don't want him to become one..."
Really? That's it Pike? I had become annoyed, firmly standing my ground over Kyle. "He won't." Pike actually seemed to cower down at that statement, backing of to go back to the practice. I don't think it had gone the way he had wanted but I wasn't going to throw away my relationship with Kyle for this team. It did plant the seed in my head making me wonder if he really was worth it all; I was placing a lot of trust in him after all.
Looking around the rest of the team, they all seemed to back Pike but didn't want to say anything. They didn't have to, their faces said it all. Brushing off the controversy, I picked up a nearby disk and looked for an open player, the only one being Dustin. Looking at him, I get his eye contact and throw the disk to him. He and Hanson didn't fully know what was going on and at this point I was preferring that it stayed that way. The rest of the practice, I practiced with Dustin, occasionally working with the others before drifting back to the newbies.
I thought the week was going to progress quickly, how wrong I was. Ever since that practice it seemed to grind to a halt, me trying to hold nightly talks with Kyle and we both venting our frustrations to each other. It didn't help our situations any further as we always seemed to fall onto the same problem; we had to choose between our teams and our relationship.
To lighten the mood from time to time, we would pass texts during the day trashing each other, stating how each team was worse than the other. Given that we had been watching the others team, we knew who to target and who to push the buttons on. Our playful gestures, while with a grain of truth behind them, did help us look at our teams more critically, helping us to fix what mistakes needed to be corrected.
After our practice on Thursday the team was pumped up. If we could hold the tournament tomorrow instead of Saturday we would have been ready to go. Moving to the dorm with Bryan and Zach, we all talked of how much we were looking forward to seeing the other teams. Pulling out my phone, I shot Kyle a simple "How was your day?" text and put it away. The simple gesture seemed to silence the other two as we rode up the elevator to our hall. I hadn't really noticed it the conversation had stopped abruptly, thinking that it had just died out due to lack of paths to go on.
Entering into the dorm, I was quickly corrected. Before I could move to my own room, Bryan and Zach locked the main door and called out my name in a loud commanding voice. This was the voice I had expected from Pike. My key was right at the hole, my hand on the doorknob. 'Ahh come on guys really?' I thought to myself as I slammed my head against the door. "Yea guys?" I knew what was coming.
Bryan moved towards me and reached around my shoulders to pull me back to our living room. "We need to talk about Kyle." Zach had already pulled out a chair for me to sit in, himself and Bryan sitting down in the couch.
"Guys really?" I groaned out. Plopping down into the armchair, I kick my feet up onto the little coffee table. "Fine, what?"
Zach said it first, and it stung as he stated it in his view. "We both love Kyle. He is a great guy." This is feeling like a Pike repeat. "But we think he is taking you away from the team. It's not fair for us."
This was bullshit. I was not going to choose between the teams. "Do you really think Kyle is going to "STEAL" me away from you guys? Come on guys. I love it here. It's better when Kyle and I compete against each other. It allows for us to build our relationship and improve. Plus, his team feels the same way."
That caught them by surprise, the fact that, yea for once, they weren't doing this alone. I wanted to show them that he was feeling the same stress to choose that I was. "We are trying to work it out. I'll always be here for you guys but he is my boyfriend. I mean come on Bryan, you have Christine. You know what it's like right?" It was a far stretch comparing his early relationship to my troubled one but I wanted to prove that this wasn't just me going through this.
They seemed unfazed as they looked at each other, then back at me. "You really have us for 100%? Cause it feels like 50%, at times 30. I mean come on Chris, you missed last weekend's session. You knew Pike wanted you there. He wanted us all there. Just because Kyle goes to Fullerton doesn't give you an excuse to miss the practice."
Sighing, I leaned back in submission. I wasn't going to win this battle tonight. I needed to show them this weekend. Raising my hands up, I just muttered, "Fine. Fine". If there was ever a time to be saved by the bell, now was the time. A soft knock rapped at the door, forcing Bryan to get up and move to the door.
He opened it slightly enough to show Skyler standing out there, "Hey what's up?" Bryan was visibly annoyed for having been interrupted but dropped it when he noticed how distressed Skyler was.
Skyler peaked in and looked at me, "You mind if I steal him for a little bit?" Bryan opened the door enough for him to step inside. Looking at Zach then me, Bryan only shrugged his shoulders as Skyler stood in the doorway waiting for me to leave with him.
Getting up from the seat, I made my way to him and exited quietly. "Hey what's up?"
As we went down the hallway slowly, Skyler looked down at the floor ashamed, "I'm ready to tell Michael. But I want you there. Please."
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I know it was a dull chapter overall but this is starting to layout the framework for this season, if you were able to catch it. Let me know what you thought and I will get back to you as soon as I can.