Page 34 of Offside

I nodded quickly, taking off for the locker room to get his phone. I was pretty sure part of the medical staff's job was to call his emergency contacts for him if he was hurt, but maybe he heard surgery and had his own surgeon–most players did by his age.

Twenty-seven…the same age as Knight.

Fuck–was it really that in my face the whole time?

A six-foot-something giant with pale skin and a Star Wars fixation–it couldn’t have been that obvious if Ash didn’t see it too. I talked about Knight all the time with Ash, so–fuck.

Landon was gay?

Landon was in the closet?

That was why he was so closed off from everyone–he was hiding being into men?

Why?

Surely he could have at least told Ash, but Ash didn’t seem to know. He never said a word, but maybe he wouldn’t–yes, he would. I was his friend and questioning my own sexuality–he totally would have mentioned it.

Fuck.

I fished his phone out of his cubby, ignoring the notifications on his screen…and the familiar pink one that was blocked out–was that my message? I’d sent one to Knight during our last intermission to tell him I missed him and how much longer I was going to be.

Was that the message?

Landon was relieved when I was back, thanking me for his phone, but waiting until no one was near his head to unlock it. I studied his face like it would tell me the answer, watching it shift from pain and worry to…a smile?

He tapped something on the screen a few times before locking his phone and thanking me again, so much calmer this time.

Like whatever was on the screen was all he needed.

My stomach curdled one more time, finally making me think I would actually be sick. I shoved my way out of the room, racing off to the locker room for a second to breathe.

Everything was too tight, and I was prying off my jersey and my padding, ignoring the final buzzers and horns that said we won. I suddenly had bigger problems than winning–I was dealing with the fact that I might have been sexting my teammate for months now.

That I might have been falling in love with him.

And that he might have been falling back.

Once I was free of the constraining gear, my eyes locked onto my phone in my own cubby.

It was face down and on silent, but haunting me.

If I was right, I had a message waiting for me.

If this were real–if Knight was Landon–then I would have a message waiting, having been sent just a few minutes ago.

With a shaking hand, I picked up the phone and flipped it over. The screen lit up, and my chest deflated, because sitting there, blocked behind privacy settings, was a little pink icon and a message waiting.

As if it weren’t proof enough, I unlocked the phone to find the message had been sent three minutes ago.

BaskarKnight: I miss you, too, babe! I don’t want you to freak out or anything, but I got hurt at work tonight and probably won't make our date. I promise I’m okay, and I will call you as soon as I have a second alone to prove that, but the upside here is I might get a little more time off from it, so we can maybe finish Clone Wars with all that free time.

BaskarKnight: Don’t freak out, Metal. I promise, I AM FINE. I’ll call you in a little bit.

Chapter 15

Landon

Getting injured sucked, but the pain meds they gave you in the hospital?