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ERIK

F or the next few days, the kiss Kayden had planted on me in front of the entire arena played again and again on ESPN.

Commentators still had plenty to say about it.

I couldn’t turn on the TV without seeing Kayden Preston’s lips attached to mine.

I didn’t actually see this, but Braxton Wilson told me the women on The View even mentioned it.

They called it an “important step forward.” For those few days, we were America’s couple, with everyone talking about us and our huge win, but mostly importantly, the kiss.

And yeah, there were some haters. Those people would always exist. Kayden and I wouldn’t have had to hide who we were all that time if they didn’t exist. Here’s the thing: they were just trolls that would emerge from under their bridges to complain about any beautiful moment.

I did the smart thing and just ignored them.

Besides, I couldn’t deny the heap-loads of positivity we’d received around campus.

Students, professors, and even coaches congratulated us not just for the win but for our boldness in being ourselves.

Somehow, I thought they’d been commenting on our win just as an aside.

With them, it seemed like the kiss had been the real victory.

Our newfound ability to live our lives as our true selves was the real glory.

For the first time since I’d been with Kayden, I really believed that.

In the beginning, acting on our desires and urges had been a thrill.

Well, a thrill stemming from our complete and utter loss of control.

At first, the secret didn’t seem so bad.

It enhanced the thrill, but soon I understood we would need whatever we were doing to become something more.

God, just seven months ago, I never would’ve expected us to be a real couple.

I wouldn’t have dreamed of us being open about everything.

I felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Only then did I realize the weight of the baggage I’d been carrying all that time. That one kiss relieved me of that baggage forever and for always.

Of course, it opened the door to other things, like my parents in Canada knowing what we’d been up to.

And how they’d found out by watching the game like everyone else.

I told them that I wasn’t gay. I wasn’t bisexual per se either.

Honestly, I didn’t know what I was, and labels meant nothing to me.

All that mattered was that I was in love with Kayden Preston and the whole world knew it.

Deep down, I knew my parents would understand.

They balanced their life of rural conservatism with a genuine love for people, especially their own son.

My dad told me that they would always love and accept me and Kayden. He added that I was welcome to bring Kayden to the farm with me anytime I wanted. That was all I needed to know.

Kayden’s parents weren’t cold, seeming more surprised than anything. He said things were fine and they would warm up to the idea of him sharing his life with a guy soon enough.

Back at my place, Kayden and I had enjoyed a fine meal of La Nova Pizza and wings.

Yes, my boyfriend ate the wings the only way he knew how, which I would have to live with.

What we ate wouldn’t matter, at least for a little while.

Besides, we deserved to spoil ourselves a little after winning the championship.

As we ate, it felt like nothing bad had ever happened between us.

The gentle feeling of peace I’d felt at that moment convinced me we’d gone back to old times.

So far, we’d said nothing about the elephant in the room. Honestly, we hadn’t had time for any of that. We’d been too busy giving interviews, reading everything the sports world was saying about us online, and watching replays of our kiss on ESPN again and again.

But eventually, we would have to talk about it. Reality could take a break but wouldn’t go aways forever.

I leaned over and kissed Kayden’s lips, which were still greasy from pizza and spicy from wings. He smiled and kissed me back. Tasting his lips and feeling his hard body against mine, I wanted to make it all worthwhile. But still, I had questions and couldn’t wait for the answers.

“What are we doing?” I asked.

He lifted an eyebrow and said, “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what’s next? Where do we go from here?”

Then I picked up the remote and turned the TV off for the first time in what felt like days.

I made myself comfortable again, snuggling against Kayden, and draping his arm over me. I closed my eyes for a moment, soaking it all in. It felt normal again. It felt perfect. I could stay safe in his arms forever.

“We never said that we were a couple again,” I said. “I know that we’re hanging out at each other’s places, snuggling up, and kissing and everything. But we never actually said we were back together.”

“We never said we’d broken up either.”

“I know that, but…”

Kayden had a point there. We’d never broken up, but that was the reality of it, even if we hadn’t used words. On the other hand, we couldn’t share a kiss like that in front of America and not wind up back together.

Those were the rules.

“Okay,” I said, “so, we’re back together again?”

“Right. Only, this time, it’s going to be different than the first time around.”

“You’re only going to bottom?”

He laughed and shook his head. “No, it’ll be different because everyone knows. We don’t have to hide. We can just be ourselves.”

“Right. And being ourselves means we can be out on social media?”

“What does that mean?”

“Come on, Kayden, you know what I’m talking about. We can actually post our relationship status on social media, so everyone can know and we don’t have to care what they think.”

“I would’ve thought the kiss that keeps getting played on ESPN was a direct enough way of telling the world.”

“You know what I mean.”

I know it’s weird, but posting it on social media really meant something to me. I’d never done anything like that before. I’d had a girlfriend back home, but we’d never done that. Kayden had had his share of girlfriends, but none would’ve lasted long enough to announce anything publicly.

I hooked an arm around my boyfriend and realized that all of my previous failures had happened for a reason.

Oh yeah, I’d felt crappy about breaking up with my girlfriend in Canada.

I’d initially felt frightened about my connection with Kayden too.

Now I knew that those things had happened for a reason.

“The team is okay with us,” he said.

“Yeah, I never would’ve expected things to ever work out that way.”

“But things could take a turn the second we get out there into the big pro hockey world.”

“In this case, our teammates are our teammates. They were gonna stick with us through thick and thin because that’s just how it works. But a new team might not see it that way. We’ll just be coming in new. They won’t owe a debt of loyalty to us. And they don’t have to?—”

Kayden leaned in and kissed my lips, soothing me. Not that I’d gotten all that worked up, but it’d stopped me before that could happen. It told me that my worries weren’t as big as I thought and they didn’t matter. So much of what we’d dealt with in all of this just didn’t matter anymore.

“You know you don’t have to care about any of that shit,” Kayden said. “All that matters is us.”

For a guy who’d resisted being open about us the most, he sounded so natural now. He reassured me the way I needed a boyfriend to do.

“You’re right,” I said. “All that matters is us.”

We kissed again, and I reached down between my boyfriend’s legs and gave his crotch a little squeeze. A satisfied sound slipped out of his mouth.

I switched the TV back on and leaned back into the couch cushions. Kayden kissed my lips again, softly and sweetly, before his tongue slipped past my lips. Oh my god, it felt so perfect and always so fresh. From the corner of my eye, I saw the two of us kissing on TV again.

I drank that up, knowing that this wouldn’t last forever.

We were America’s couple now, but we would have to return to reality sooner or later.

Still, I wondered if the kiss would make those Top Ten moments that would run on sports networks for decades.

If it did, that would be totally okay with me.