The Quarterback

by Mackenzie Blair

  “Then you’re a Libertarian,” Matt said from the sofa where he’d neatly avoided Danielle’s love pile.

  They all turned to look at him in surprise.

  Matt shrugged. “My boyfriend’s an economics major.”

  Danielle clapped her hands with a brilliant smile and hurried back over to Matt. “Tell us everything about him.”

  “What does it matter? He saw everything: the kiss, the stupid hashtag, me saying Jocelyn was my girlfriend to that reporter,” Matt said, the doom settling back on his shoulders.

  “Technically, you never called her your girlfriend,” Danielle pointed out.

  “Technically, I don’t think he’ll care,” Matt replied.

  “Stop being so melodramatic.” Danielle placed her hands on her hips. “We’re going to fix this!”

  The banging on the door was loud enough to be heard over the blaring music. But Trevor wasn’t going to answer it. He planned to stew in his bed for at least twenty-four hours, wallowing in self-pity.

  Unfortunately, whoever was at their door didn’t seem to want to give up. The racket continued. Trevor hunkered down lower in his blankets, making it clear to Drew that he wasn’t budging.

  Annoyed, Drew dragged himself out of his bed and flung open the door with a pissed-off “What!”

  “Hiya, you must be Trevor!” came a female voice.

  What the hell? Trevor yanked out his earbuds and rolled to his side so he could see around his closet to their door. He almost fell out of it when he saw who was entering his room. Matt’s football buddies and roommates—Damian, Ryan, Connor—and a perky redhead girl. And they were all sizing up Drew with welcoming smiles.

  “You are so cute,” she gushed. “I love the faux hawk and your cute little tushy,” she said, so damn genuine it was hard to take offense.

  “Okay, eyes off my tushy,” Drew rebuked, clearly confused as hell. “Who the hell are you people?”

  “Matt’s friends,” Damian said, thrusting out his hand to shake Drew’s. “Nice to finally meet you, Trevor.”

  “Yeah, we’re totally cool with gay people,” Ryan added with a slap on Drew’s back. Ryan was about two hundred pounds of muscle, so poor Drew stumbled back into his bed from the friendly slap.

  “Oh good, you’re not here to gay bash us,” Drew sassed back, righting himself. “But I’m not Trevor. He is.” And with that, his traitorous roommate pointed over to him. Trevor considered making a break for it, but that seemed pretty cowardly.

  They all swiveled to face him, and this time, Trevor was the victim of their scrutiny.

  “Okay, that makes more sense,” Danielle finally concluded. “Bad-boy hot. That seems more Matt’s style, right?”

  “Yeah, that, and he said Trevor was Asian,” Connor casually added.

  Danielle gave Connor a swat to the stomach. “You could’ve told me that earlier!” She rolled her eyes, then she turned to Trevor. “Do you have a cute tushy too?” she teased.

  “Okay, I’m not a piece of meat, you vultures,” Trevor snapped, sliding out of his bed. Of course, he was only wearing his briefs, so this wasn’t perhaps the most convincing strategy. Especially when Danielle decided to check out his package.

  He yanked his pillow off his bed, shielding his junk.

  “You’re drooling, babe,” Connor said dryly, giving his girlfriend a look.

  “Sorry.” Danielle shrugged. But clearly she wasn’t. “So, Trevor, we’ve come to bring you back to the quad for poker night.”

  “Huh?” Trevor stupidly replied. None of this made sense at all.

  “Poker night. It’s a card game where you bet money,” Connor said helpfully. “We’re feeling lucky, because we just learned that we’re in the playoffs and have a bye for the first round.”

  “‘Bye’?” Trevor found himself asking. Which was so not the important thing.

  “We’re ranked number one in our conference, so we get to bypass the early rounds—”

  “—because we’re awesome!” Ryan proceeded to high-five Damian in mutual admiration for their football skills.

  They all nodded in agreement. Trevor wanted to rip his hair out. He didn’t care about their stupid bye. He wanted them to leave, as in good-bye. His stupid internal pun calmed him down a bit. Enough so that he could yank on a pair of sweats and then glare at them. “Thanks for the update. I live and breathe football.”

  “He’s snarky.” Danielle smiled. “Do you want to put a shirt on too?”

  “Why?” Trevor snapped, not amused at all.

  “We told you: poker night. At the quad. You’re coming back with us,” Danielle said, but her smile had disappeared and now she had a look on her face that reminded him of Emily. It was not a good look. It meant: don’t piss me off or I will unleash hell on your ass. Yeah, he knew that look.

  “I don’t even know you people,” Trevor said firmly.

  “And we want to change that,” she said, switching tactics. She gave him big, disarming doe-eyes. “Please. You and Matt need to make up. He’s a wreck. And it’s my fault really. I just thought that if I gave him a bit of a nudge, he’d fall for Jocelyn and we’d have a couple to double-date with. I had no idea we already had one,” she added with a friendly smile.

  “He told you I was his . . .” Trevor trailed off, his brain finally catching up with all they’d been saying. Matt had come clean with his friends?

  “Boyfriend, yeah,” Connor finished for him.

  Trevor looked away for a moment, letting that sink in. He hadn’t realized how much he’d hated being Matt’s dirty little secret . . . even from his friends who knew he was gay. But now . . . they were here.

  Trevor jumped when the hideous orange sweatshirt hit him in the face. He turned to look at Drew, who had thrown it and was shoving him toward his closet.

  “Get dressed,” Drew singsonged, enjoying this way too much. “So you can go play poker with your hunky boyfriend and these gay-loving rainbow-flag-waving football players. It’s like a fucking Norman Rockwell painting for the new millennium!”

  “This isn’t happening.” Trevor closed his eyes, knowing this was all just some fucked-up dream. But then a pair of socks hit him in the face.

  “Wear socks in case it’s strip poker,” Drew added.

  “It’s not strip poker,” Connor said firmly.

  “It could be . . .” Danielle said with a lecherous grin.

  “Fuck, you’re a perv.” Connor groaned and then dragged his girlfriend out of the room. “We’ll wait for you outside.”

  Trevor nodded as they filed out, then looked at the orange sweatshirt in his hand. He shook his head at the offensive garment and threw it across the room.

  “Wait, what? You’re not going?” Drew asked, as if preparing for battle.

  “Relax. I’m going. Just not in that.” Trevor opened his closet and found an outfit that would make Matt fall to his knees. Both to beg for forgiveness and other, more pleasurable, pastimes.

  “A full house! Are you kidding me?” Connor exclaimed, laughing as Matt lost even more money to Trevor. “You’re boyfriend’s a ringer.”

  Matt ducked his head shyly at the use of the word boyfriend. He blushed a bit too.

  Yeah, it was hard to stay mad at the fucker. Trevor collected his winnings with a smirk at Matt. “Need a loan?”

  Matt rolled his eyes. The buy-in had only been ten bucks, but it didn’t matter. Pride was pride. “Shut up and deal,” Matt bit out and tossed his cards to Trevor.

  It seemed so normal. The two of them hanging out with Matt’s buddies, Danielle commanding the playlist, making them all groan at the overplay of Taylor Swift, which everyone secretly loved. It seemed almost impossible this was happening.

  But Matt’s friends clearly had his back. They’d led Trevor back to the dorm, joking with him the whole way, grilling him a bit. When they’d reached their quad, they’d pushed Trevor inside before he could change his mind. Matt had been sitting on the floor, his back against the sofa, as he’d slow
ly nursed a beer. A sitcom had played on mute in front of him. He’d looked . . . dejected.

  Which was pretty impressive after such a major win earlier that day. Trevor didn’t know a lot about football, but he knew that today had been huge, making it clear they were contenders for the National Championship.

  “You look pathetic,” Trevor had opened with, shoving his hands into his pockets, standing just inside the door. Matt’s roommates had politely lagged behind in the hallway.

  Matt whipped his head around, and then he seemed to relax in relief. He shook his head ruefully. “Wouldn’t you be if some girl had kissed you? Gross.”

  Trevor had busted out laughing. Matt had stood up, hurried over, and pulled him into a kiss. Connor had come in at that moment, bumbled out some embarrassed words, and promptly fled the scene.

  “Did you give me girl cooties?” Trevor had asked as Matt pulled away.

  “Fuck, fuck!” Matt cursed, stepping back, running his hands through his hair. “I almost killed her. I’m so sorry.”

  “I know,” Trevor said.

  “And then that reporter . . .” Matt threw his hands up in defeat.

  “Yeah,” Trevor said with a sigh. “Not our best relationship moment.”

  “Is it supposed to be this hard?” Matt asked. “I feel like I keep fucking up.”

  “Well, I like the fucking part,” Trevor had sassed back. Because, really, what else could he have said? They weren’t exactly having a string of good luck. On the other hand, it wasn’t because there was anything wrong between them; it was the rest of the world that sucked. But at least they now had a small part of the world that knew the real them.

  Trevor mentally groaned. He was now half of a them. His cynical side wanted to vomit. But the rest of him felt pretty damn good. More than good.

  Danielle dealt out the cards. They were playing Texas Hold’em. Trevor was the big blind, Matt the little. Betting went around the table. Damian and Ryan threw down their cards with disgust, folding immediately.

  Connor met the ante and upped it another dollar. Danielle narrowed her eyes at him; she didn’t have enough to call. “I hate you,” she joked.

  “You can bargain sexual favors, babe,” Connor said with a leer.

  “Excellent idea,” she replied and grabbed a Post-it Note. She wrote sexual favor on it and threw it atop the chips, causing Connor to sputter.

  “Hey, that applies to me, not the rest of these assholes,” Connor snapped, reaching for the Post-it. She swatted his hand away.

  “Yeah, gotta side with Connor here.” Matt chuckled. “But you can give him sexual favors and me a load of laundry.”

  “Works for me,” Trevor said.

  Danielle laughed and added or one load of laundry to the Post-it Note.

  Trevor and Matt threw in their bets, then Trevor dealt three cards in the middle for the flop, everyone checked. Trevor set down the fourth card in the community pile, the turn: a two of hearts. Not exactly a great card for most folks. But perfect for him.

  “I raise another two dollars,” Trevor said, pushing a significant pile of chips to the center.

  Connor and Danielle groaned, and threw their hands up in disgust, tossing down their cards. “I fold,” they both called.

  But Matt continued to eye him.

  Trevor leaned back and challenged. “You don’t have enough to match my bet. I’d take Danielle’s deal though. The one she made with Connor.”

  Ryan and Damian flinched. “Who needs another beer?” Ryan called out, scurrying away.

  “I do!” Damian replied. He immediately hopped up and followed Ryan to the minifridge. They might be accepting, but even they had their limits. Trevor would’ve been amused, but he was too busy hoping Matt would take the stakes.

  “Deal,” Matt said after a long moment, reaching to make his own Post-it Note, which he dropped into the pile.

  Trevor nodded, then turned over the river card: a jack of hearts. He didn’t give a shit that it was a jack; he’d just needed a heart. “Flush,” he said with a grin, presenting his cards.

  Matt looked at the cards and groaned. “Same,” he said, tossing down his cards. “But you have the ace of hearts.” Trevor’s high card beat Matt’s. Trevor whooped with victory and claimed his winnings.

  Danielle and Connor laughed, then she headed to the bathroom while Connor went to go grab a few more beers.

  Trevor leaned over and pecked Matt’s lips. “Scared?” Trevor asked, pulling away, nodding down to the Post-it Note.

  Matt shook his head. “No.”

  But he certainly looked nervous. “Do you know what I want?” Trevor whispered, leaning in close, reaching out to squeeze Matt’s ass, his message clear.

  Matt gulped and then nodded.

  A thrill of excitement went through Trevor. Fuck yeah. He couldn’t wait. Of course, then he realized he’d have to cash in the favor another night, because it didn’t seem they’d be having any privacy soon. The gang sat down around the coffee table again. Danielle bought back into the game with a loan from Connor, swearing she’d just had a run of bad luck. Indeed, an hour later Trevor and Danielle were the only ones left playing. Damian, Connor, and Ryan had joined Matt on the losers’ couch.

  She grabbed the deck of cards to shuffle, but then yawned widely. “Draw?” she asked, looking at the clock and seeing it was almost two in the morning.

  “My pile’s bigger,” Trevor pointed out.

  “Fine, you win.” She shrugged.

  The rest of the guys groaned in protest. “You can’t just give in, babe,” Connor argued. “You have to play to the death.”

  “Oh, who cares? I’m tired,” she replied.

  “It’s a matter of honor,” Connor tried once more.

  Danielle patted him on the cheek. “And this is why we’re always at war. Stupid, egotistical boys needing to win. It ain’t that big of a deal.”

  “Or maybe women are just weak,” Ryan stupidly tossed out.

  They all froze. Trevor even winced when he saw the look in Danielle’s eyes.

  Danielle leaned down. “Weak, huh?” she growled. Ryan edged backward, knowing he was in deep shit. “You gonna pop any babies out of your penis hole? Deal with cramps every month? Not have the right to vote in 120 countries?”

  Ryan shook his head with wide eyes. “No, ma’am.”

  That broke the tension as everyone else busted out laughing.

  “Oh my god, Emily is going to love you,” Trevor managed to get out.

  “Who’s Emily?” Danielle asked, pulling Trevor up.

  “My best friend. She can be your vice president when you rule the world.”

  “Cool,” Danielle agreed happily and started dragging him toward Matt and Connor’s bedroom, which was just off the common room of the quad.

  “Uh, where are we going?” Trevor asked.

  “To bed, silly. It’s too late for you to walk home,” she explained. “Matt has the bottom bunk.”

  Trevor looked back helplessly at Matt, but his boyfriend just smiled and shrugged. Guess they were having a sleepover.

  Twenty minutes later, Danielle was in the top bunk with Connor, wearing a pair of his boxers and one of his huge T-shirts. Trevor had stripped down to his briefs, but only under the safety of Matt’s blankets.

  Matt entered, his teeth freshly brushed, and shucked off his jeans and shirt, clad only in boxers, then crawled into bed with Trevor. Since they were football players, their beds weren’t the standard twin, but a bit larger. Enough so that Matt could lie on his back while Trevor was on his side.

  “Hi,” Trevor said as Matt joined him.

  “Hi.” Matt smiled, then leaned over to turn off his light. After a minute of silence in the dark, he whispered, “Is this weird?”

  “I dunno. Does it feel weird?” Trevor asked.

  He felt Matt shrug. “Just never really thought it’d happen, ya know. Seems almost . . . normal.”

  Trevor kissed his shoulder, then laid his head down. Matt squir
med away.

  “What?” Trevor asked.

  “Your hair’s tickling me,” Matt whispered.

  Trevor lifted up so his hair slid all along Matt’s chest, lower and lower. Matt muffled a groan and reached down to stop Trevor before he went much farther south.

  “Are you guys having sex down there?” barked Connor from above.

  Matt and Trevor jerked apart.

  “No!” Matt called back defensively.

  “Don’t be an ass, Connor,” Danielle said. “If they were having sex, we’d hear them. But no sex!” she called down to them. “Just kissing.” And then they heard a squeal. “Okay, okay, and groping,” she amended.

  They heard Connor sigh. “Leave it to a woman to make up sex boundaries.”

  “Boundaries? Honey, I was the one that wanted to try that candle wax—” Connor quickly cut off Danielle’s next words, and she let out a muffled giggle.

  “Babe!” he countered. “That could seriously scar me. Or you. And I like your nice, perky tits—”

  “Hey! You’re scarring the gay guys down here,” Matt called, and Trevor shook his head, silently laughing. What a twisted group of friends. He was really starting to like them.

  The next few weeks passed in a blur with papers due as Thanksgiving break approached. Matt and Trevor’s study sessions often meant actual studying, especially since Drew’s rehearsals had ended. They were dying for a bit of privacy.

  The team had a bye for the first round of the playoffs, so they weren’t playing on the Saturday before the holiday weekend. But that didn’t mean Coach was letting up. The campus was a ghost town after classes ended on Tuesday, except for students with no place to go and members of the football team.

  When Trevor had learned they had practice Wednesday morning, he’d offered to stay that night as well . . . and collect on his bet since his dorm would be entirely empty. Although Matt was a little nervous, he didn’t welch on bets. It was time to pay up. And he was pretty sure Trevor wanted his ass. The thought both excited and terrified him.

  But there was no backing out now. Trevor had told Drew that he’d drive up Thursday morning to join him for Thanksgiving. Apparently, Drew’s family only lived two hours away, so it was no big deal. Matt was relieved that Trevor had a place to go for the holidays. He wished he could have brought Trevor home with him, but of course, that was impossible.