Page 202 of For the Fans

Minutes go by, butfinallyhe responds.

Avi: Just talking my mom off a ledge

I chuckle.

Me: I need to see you again…

Me: We didn’t get to talk

Avi: I know. Maybe you can come by Frankie’s after?

Shaking my head, I chew on my lip while my mind runs. I can’t let him go.

Not this time…All dressed up and in need of a dance.

I look around the room. Everyone is paying attention to the food, and to Coach as he strides up onto the stage.

They might not even notice if I slipped away…

“I want to thank you all for being here tonight,” Coach speaks into the microphone, and I type out a final text. “This is a monumental moment for our team. And I just have to say how proud I am of these guys.”

Me: Meet me in the back by the locker rooms in ten minutes

“Making it this far takes guts. Talent and determination, yes,” Coach goes on. “But most of all, it takes endurance. You boys have displayed more strength, teamwork, and tenacity than any team I’ve ever had the pleasure of coaching.”

We all gaze up at the stage, at our coach commending us with his powerful words.

“And I know you’re not done yet. Not even close.” He grins and lifts his glass. “So let’s all raise a glass… To the BC Eagles, andourchampionship.”

Everyone shoutshere here!And we drink, bursts of applause ringing out through the room. I peek at Guty, who’s looking up at the stage, and Theo, who’s draining his glass.

I love playing alongside these guys; myfriends. I love the game and I love being able to win for them.

But right now, football is still second in my mind.

I need to go find who’s first.

What a freaking shitshow, man.

I finally managed to calm my mother and Tom down enough to get them to go back inside and get something to eat. That was a challenge.

Mom is pissed, understandably. I mean, I’m expelled from a respectable college for making porn.Not exactly every mother’s dream for her son.

But I just told her the truth… I don’t really care about school.

I never have. I’ve never been a good student, or enjoyed learning about things that don’t interest me. And that doesn’t mean I’m uneducated. It just means my interests lie in other things. But more importantly, I just don’t feel like I fit in here, which really leads me to reflect on why exactly I thought BC was a good idea in the first place.

Of course Tom didn’t get it, but whatever. It’s not really his place to, especially now that I’m paying for my own education.

And that was the other part that almost gave my mother a coronary…

TheFans.

Thankfully, they don’t know the details of the account, because I’m not totally comfortable coming out to my mother infront of Tom. He’s, like…soCatholic. I’d rather tell my mom that I’m bisexual when it’s just the two of us, saving my stepdad’sman shall not lie with another manspeech for another time. Or never.

So I just told them that it was only one person, which is true, sparing any gender questions. And that we were safe, and everything is fine.

And then I shooed them away, insisting that they were going to miss the food, and Frankie and Zeb playing music, and that I’mfineand I’ll talk to them later. It was a minor miracle that they agreed to leave it for now, and I think a lot of it had to do with them wanting to support Kyran, because it’s a big night for him.