69. Breaking the Boyfriend

-Luke-

We were having our final practice before the game. Everyone was sweating and gasping for air after coach Benham made us go through hell, but I was pretty happy with the team. Coach seemed pleased as well, and he even seemed to like me again.

"Good job," he said, patting my shoulder. "I'm sorry I've been so hard on you lately. I just didn't want you to throw all that talent away. I'm really sad to let you go, but I understand your exams must take priority. But, I mean, you could go pro with your skills!"

I just smiled, not letting him know there was not a single team in this world that would let me play with my injured knee. I hadn't told him the truth. He knew about my accident, but I had managed to convince everyone that the leg was fully healed.

Which it was not. It was getting more painful again with all the extra practices and all. But I only needed to get through Friday and the big game. Then my football career would come to an end. I was sad about it – I really liked playing – but that was my price to pay.

For my life.

We continued for a moment longer, but eventually Coach let us go. When we stepped into the locker room, I stole a glimpse of Troy's back when I heard him laugh. He sure was great out there on the field. I wanted to recommend him to be the next captain, but I feared that our relationship was affecting my judgement, so I hadn't said anything.

Like Troy needed my help, anyway. He was a great player. He was a hard-working guy, never missed a practice and most of the team adored him. Besides, he'd never said a word about whether he even wanted to be the captain or not. He always avoided the question.

I was the first one to hit the shower, like I usually was. Just to avoid certain embarrassing situations. I kept my eyes fixed on the wall in front of me and washed myself quickly. I wasn't alone in the shower room, but I managed to get out from there before Troy and Max stepped in. I could feel Troy's amused eyes on my face when I passed him by. I felt like smiling, but I stopped that from happening.

I took my time dressing up in clean clothes, and then packed my bag, emptying my locker almost completely. It was kind of an emotional moment for me. I'd be giving this locker away for good. It had been my locker for almost two years now, but now I was moving on. Someone else would take it. And as if that wasn't enough, I felt something bad squirming inside my stomach.

It was my last year in this school. After that, I had no idea what I was going to do, but I wouldn't be here anymore. If Troy would break up with me, I wouldn't be able to see him anymore.

If I was in a good mood, it was gone now. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to fight back the demons that were lurking close by. I was just tired. That's all. Things between me and Troy were going great, better than I could have ever imagined. I had nothing to worry about.

Right?

I closed my locker and grabbed my jacket. I wanted to wait for Troy, but for one, I needed to protect our secret. And two... The demons were winning this time.

I took my bag, said my goodbye to our coach, who reminded me we had a meeting tomorrow after school, and left the locker room. Once I was outside, I continued walking without paying much attention to where I was going. I needed to clear my head and walking seemed like a good idea, even though my leg was getting angrier with every step I took. If I hadn't been so stupid back then, my leg wouldn't be hurting all the time.

No... If I had succeeded back then, I wouldn't have any problems at all. I wouldn't have to deal with pain, depression, migraines, my deteriorating sight, the nightmares, sleeping problems, anemia and this head of mine... And the demons.

"God doesn't want him here...! He's an abomination...!"

I sighed. It was just my head playing tricks on me. Again. Again and again.

How much easier would it be if I weren't here anymore? I wouldn't have to see the moment when Troy would leave me for good. He would soon realize this was not what he wanted, and he would walk away. It was only a matter of time, and if I tried to tell myself otherwise, I was only lying to myself.

I heard my phone letting out a silent beep, and I stopped to search for it. I found it in my bag and saw a new message.

'Where did you run off to? I've been dreaming about ice cream ever since Sky mentioned it, so we're heading to the mall, and I was hoping you'd come too.'

I wanted to say yes. I wanted to start running to the mall right away, but... I didn't want to ruin anyone's mood. So, I told him I had a lot of homework to do and that I'd come with them another time.

'Oh, okay... It won't taste the same though if you're not there...'

I chuckled before I even knew it.

'Are you trying to guilt-trip me into slacking on my homework? That's not too supportive, is it?'

I did add a wink emoji, so I wouldn't sound harsh, but I wasn't sure if it worked when I read his next message.

'Are you getting mad at me for missing my boyfriend?'

I just stared at his words. The word 'boyfriend' to be exact. I mean, what demons? Why wasn't I already running to him? I sent him a text, telling him I was on my way, and he replied with a cheery emoji... and with a tiny picture of a heart.

It took me only five minutes to catch up with them. Troy, Max, and Sky were walking a bit ahead of me on the main walkway through the city. Troy turned to look over his shoulder at that moment and spotted me. He stopped, turned around, and smiled at me.

He nudged the front of my jacket sharply when I was in his reach. "You, sir, didn't even tell me goodbye before you left," Troy said, sounding half-pissed and half-worried.

"I wanted to, but I feared it would be suspicious," I tried to explain.

He squinted his eyes at me, letting go of my jacket. "Sure," he said, and I knew he didn't believe me. "Oh, by the way, can I come hang out at your place for a while? My dad is having some of his business pals in our house and I'm not invited."

I gritted my teeth together. That man... I hated him so much. "Of course you can," I said, trying not to let my hate for his father be heard in my voice.

He gave me a smile and touched my hand lightly. "Thanks."

I returned his smile, and we continued walking. "So, Gremlin, I heard your presentation went well."

Sky gave me a big grin. "It wasn't scary at all!"

"That's great," I said, and watched Max hugging him with one hand. Then Sky proceeded to tell us everything about the presentation, and by the time we arrived at the mall, he was already talking about ants. I had no idea when he changed the topic – it was hard to keep up with him sometimes.

"Ice cream!" Troy breathed out when we stepped into the mall.

"What's with you and ice cream all of a sudden," Max chuckled.

"It's your boyfriend's fault," Troy laughed, and started leading us to the nearest place that sold ice cream. "Also, I want to know what Luke will pick."

"I'm not having any," I said. Troy pressed his lips together and turned to look at me. "What?" I asked.

"But ice cream is so good! You loved the gummy bears as well!" he spoke.

"I didn't love them," I noted with a chuckle. "I know what ice cream tastes like. I ate yours that one time, remember? I'm pretty confident I don't need it right now."

Troy let out a dramatic snort. "Fine," he gasped and leaned really close to me. "I will buy a bucketful of it, then smear it all over my body and make you lick it off."

Then he walked off, leaving me to stand there. My body had kind of lost all of its functions. I had pretty vivid images going on in my head for a moment before I pushed it all out of my mind and followed the rest of them.

"Fine, I'll have ice cream," I said, earning a smile from Troy.

"That's the spirit," he smirked. "But I will make you do that thing someday, anyway."

For some reason, he seemed to think I hated that idea.

"Oh God, you two..." Max muttered with a flustered expression on his face. Sky was doing his best to look away, but he had a small, awkward smirk on his lips as well.

"Sorryyy," Troy giggled.

I let Troy pick a flavor for me at the ice cream shop, and once we had our cones, we went to sit down in an empty booth at the back, where we had some privacy. I sat next to a wall and straightened my leg, trying to give it a light massage without anyone noticing it. It really was acting up again.

Then I gave my ice cream a suspicious look.

"It's not poison," Troy laughed when he saw my expression. "Come on, taste it."

They were all staring at me, so I glared at each of them until they turned to look away. They were way too amused about the situation.

"Come on..." Troy cooed in my ear. "Or would you like to lick it off me?"

I just bit a chunk off the ice cream without caring about how cold it was. "Happy now?" I asked Troy, who was now laughing quietly, resting his head on my shoulder.

"Yes," he said, and I felt his arm making its way around my back. "Is it good?"

"It's cold."

"Yes. It's ice cream," Troy murmured, licking his cone. "But is it good?"

"...yeah." I admitted. "Caramel, huh?"

"Yup," Troy said.

I felt a bit anxious about him being so cuddly with me, but when I looked around, I realized no one would see us unless they came all the way into our corner. And why would anyone come this way? That thought calmed me down, and I was able to enjoy the attention I was getting.

And I was getting a lot of it. Troy glued himself on my side, keeping his head on my shoulder, and soon I felt his hand sneaking under my hoodie and shirt to caress my skin. I hesitated for a while, but then I gathered my courage to place my hand on his knee. He seemed to like that, since he kissed my cheek almost immediately.

"I'm going to miss you on the field," Troy said quietly.

"Don't worry, I'll be there in the bleachers with Snort. Unless it's raining. Then we'll be having some nice, hot chocolate in the cafeteria, laughing at you guys," I told him.

"Snort," Sky repeated and started giggling. Then he accidentally snorted and started laughing louder. It took only a couple of seconds before we all were laughing. By the time we finally started calming down, I had tears in my eyes.

"Lord, my stomach..." I coughed. I didn't know laughing could be so painful.

"Now you know what it feels like," Troy spoke with a tired voice, trying to salvage his melting ice cream.

"Yeah..." I chuckled.

*****

We stayed there in the mall for an hour or so, wandering around and boring the crap out of Shrimp with our conversation about football. We apologized a couple of times and tried to change the subject, but the game was in two days. It wasn't easy to not think about it. Thankfully, Sky didn't seem to mind.

Half an hour later, Troy and I stepped inside my home and climbed upstairs once Bella let us do so. She followed us with one of Gwen's slippers in her mouth, looking ridiculously happy to see us.

"I know," I told her when she poked me with her nose. "You were all alone for two hours! Two whole hours! That's terrible! I know, I know..." I continued cooing while petting her head. I turned around to see Troy watching me with a smile on his face. "What?"

He shook his head, stepped in front of me, and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. "There's something I've wanted to do the entire day."

"Besides eating ice cream?" I asked.

"Yes," he said, before kissing me. I instantly placed my hands on his sides, pulling him tightly against me. Yes... I had waited for this moment the entire day as well.

Of course the kiss got a bit heated up for a moment, but we came back to our senses at some point.

"You had homework to do, right?" Troy asked, stepping away from me.

"When did you take off my hoodie?" I asked when I realized I only had a T-shirt on.

Troy just gave me a smirk. "Homework. Don't try to change the subject."

"I can do it after taking you home," I shrugged.

"I'm trying to be a supportive boyfriend here," he chuckled. "Besides, I have some work to do as well. After that, we can watch a movie or something."

I stopped to stare at him again. I opened my mouth once, twice, but only when I opened it for the third time I managed to say what I wanted. "B-Boyfriend?"

I saw a big, shy smile appearing on his lips just before he turned around to hide it from me. "I... Yeah? I mean... Or is it too soon?"

I stepped behind him, wrapping my arms around his stomach, and rested my chin on his shoulder. "No, I don't think it's too soon."

"Good," Troy said, placing his hands on mine. "Because I really like you."

My stomach flipped over when he spoke those words to me. I hugged him tighter, taking in his amazing scent. "I really like you too," I told him, feeling ridiculously happy.

"I know," he whispered softly, leaning his head back on my shoulder. "And that makes me really happy. I can't believe I hesitated in the beginning..."

"You were scared," I muttered. "I get that."

"But I'm not scared anymore. I want to be with you. I want your attention and I want you to tell me goodbye no matter who's watching. I want to kiss you and hug you and hold your hand whenever I want and–"

"I want that too, trust me, I really do, but what I want more is for you to be safe," I said, hating the fact I had to interrupt him. "That's more important to me."

He let out a deep sigh. "I hate my father so much sometimes."

"Hey," I spoke, and turned him around. "We have all the time in the world. Right?" I didn't mean to sound so afraid when I said that last word.

"Right," he said with a smile, and pecked my lips before giving me a tight hug. "I'm so glad I stopped being such an idiot and went out with you. Best decision in my life."

I started smiling again. "I'll take you out this weekend. We can go to that arcade of yours."

"Yeah?" he cooed with an excited smile.

"Yeah. Then we'll go grab pizza and come here to play more games."

"Yeah?" he chuckled, pressing himself tightly against me.

"And you could spend the entire weekend at our place. It's Thanksgiving after all," I continued.

"Ohh, I do like the sound of that," he purred before kissing me.

Man... I loved holding him against me like that. As our kiss continued, I let my hands slide down on his backside until I could feel the rim on his pants against my fingertips. I didn't dare to go any further, but he seemed to sense that.

"You can touch my ass if you want," he chuckled after parting our lips.

"It's fine," I said, and I could feel my cheeks turning red. "It's... uhh..."

"You're so adorable," he chuckled lightly, placing his hands on my wrists, guiding them down on his butt. "See? It's that easy."

I lost my brain-function. "Uhh..."

He smiled and pressed his lips on mine again, putting his arms around my shoulders. I had turned into an awkward pile of embarrassing mess. I just stood there, holding his ass with two hands without knowing what to do or how to react. Or what to even think.

Troy started laughing against my lips, and he had to pull away. "Oh God... Did I break you?"

"Uhh..."

He started laughing harder, clinging onto my shoulders and leaning his head against my chest. "Oh my lord... Dude... It's just my ass... No need to be so scared."

I had started laughing as well, and I gave his buttocks a short, light squeeze, before moving my hands back up to the safety of his waist. "I'm... just... I don't know? It's your ass after all."

"You are so adorable," he chuckled, and looked up at me. "You'll get used to it."

"To w-what?"

"Touching me," Troy whispered. "Everywhere."

"Uhh..." I uttered as a joke, and he continued laughing, making me feel all happy and jittery inside.