A Fresh Start

Chapter 35-Spring Break 2016

Ryan

I'm lying on my bed waiting for TK to get here. I'm not fully paying attention to the world around me, just watching the light snow blow by my window. That's when my phone buzzes, and I grab it. Just to see Josh on the caller Id.

"Hey, what's up," I say, trying to sound Calm.

"Answered on the first ring. You must be nervous," he says, and I can hear Sarah laugh in the background. They've lasted longer than I would have thought.

"Fuck off," I mumble. "But yes. I am."

Sarah grabs the phone from the sound of them fighting. "How'd you get his parents to sign off on this?"

"Oh, that took a LOT of convincing on both parts," I say.

Josh is back, "what does Rachel think of your ex-boyfriend coming and spending the week with you?" I'm silent cause I broke up with her yesterday because of this trip.......... "I fucking knew it." 

"Nothing's going to happen between us anyway. He and I have made that clear," I say, and it's mostly true. After our photo exchange on New Years',' it's been a very PG-rated friendship, just harmless flirting that TK usually stops pretty quickly. "She doesn't need to know I like guys too. She's a bit of a republican if I'm honest," I add, and I hear my Bernie sanders loving brother make a weird sound.

"Break up with her. When does he land?" Asks Josh.

I check my phone, "in about 40 minutes. I need to get going."

"Ok. Good luck, baby brother," he says, and I hear Sarah yell the same.

"Love you two. Byeeeeeeeee," and I hang up.

I check the room and make sure it's clean. I'm lucky that football players get suites and not just a room, so he and I won't be on top of each other. I'm also glad that his spring break lines up with mine and all my teammates went to Florida for the week. Zero classes for a week. I'm also lucky that he was willing to visit me in March; it's not the warmest of Months in Columbus, Ohio.

I double-check Kevin's room. He was kind enough to let TK sleep there for the week and then head to the airport.

By the time I get parked, TK's texted me that he landed, and I remind him where he needs to go to meet me. The Columbus Airport isn't as large as Denver, but this is the first time TK has flown by himself. That was part of the argument for the trip; if he panicked, he wouldn't be alone on the other end.

I'm waiting at the arrivals area for him. I tower over people in most places, so I know it will be easy to find him. That is until some old guy asks for a picture with me. "I shouldn't have worn my OSU hoodie," I think to myself as others start coming up to talk to me. "Or at least worn a hat," I add, but I wanted TK to recognize me from a distance, and the tall blonde guy look does that for me. Anywhere else in the country, I would be another kid in an OSU hoodie. But, here in buckeye territory, I'm the guy that won us the Fiesta Bowl.

"That last pass was incredible, young man," says the old guy.

"Go, Buckeyes!" Shouts some bro.

We won the game 44-28, destroying Josh's fighting Irish. Thanks to the starting QB throwing two incompletes and an interception in the first 7 minutes, I got bumped up and scored us two touchdowns in the last five minutes of the quarter. I earned my bed at OSU that night for sure. The whole time I was thinking about TK, cheering me on back home. He sent me a picture of him and his Dad enjoying the game, Wearing his usual Nike zip-up and the OSU shirt I gave him the week before. I wanted to kiss him right then, but I held off. We had a lot of work on the friendship side to do before anything else happened. Three months and hundreds of texts, calls, and video chats later, it's just like it was before we dated; best bros.