Impact

Chapter Twenty-One

It had been a couple of days since Tommy's run-in with Nate in the hallway of his friends dorm. Against his better judgement, he had reached out to the nerd to see if he had done something wrong, but still there was never a reply. It surprised him that he even cared and even more so that Nate's ignoring him hurt on some level. 

He brought it up to Stacey only once to which she told him that he simply felt some appreciation for the nerd and his mother taking care of him. She told him that if there was any guilt about not speaking to him, he should deal with it. They were from different circles and he did, in fact, remember being quite an asshole to the nerd when they had first met. Past that, he couldn't remember much of anything. 

Thanks asshole. He thought to himself about his father as he was driving back to Stacey's from the local market. 

His old man was still in the wind. He couldn't believe that he had taken it so far as to nearly end his son's life, and even more, he wasn't sure he knew why it happened. Nate had explained that he had left the football team, which Tommy's father took as an ultimate attack against his own masculinity. It sounded like Tommy's father, that much was sure. And, even now, he had no desire to go back to the sport. But....was that the reason?

Then suddenly, the nerd was back on his mind. There was no way he could be into Nate. He wasn't gay!

Yet, as he looked in the rearview, he was smiling. The memory of running into Nate brought a calm to his inner self that he couldn't explain. He could tell the nerd was upset that day, and part of him wanted to reach out and hold him. But...no. 

He pulled into the parking lot and grabbed the bags from the trunk before making his way to Stacey's small college apartment. He let himself in with the key and placed the few things she had asked for on the table.

"Babe?" Tommy called out. "I'm back."

"Hey!" He heard her voice from the bathroom down the hall and the shower running. "I'll be out in a sec."

He didn't say anything as he moved about the tiny kitchen putting away the items from the bags and then tossing them. He moved to the couch and turned on the TV, changing the channel from an afternoon talk show to ESPN.

**********

"No!" Stacey said in a whispered tone to stay out of earshot. "He has no idea. But he keeps bringing the nerd up."

"So stop him." The voice on the other end of the phone said. "You're like his weakness. Remind him of that."

"I do. Every time, but is this going to be the rest of my life, keeping him in check?" She chided. 

"Well, he's a jock. To some degree, yeah. You know how we are."

"Steve, I've been through his entire phone. I've blocked the nerd's number, deleted all the photos that had anything to do with him and I do everything I can to keep him away from school."

"Well, I've had damage control too. Once I explained to the guys, they all agreed to act like nothing ever happened. The rest of the student body that saw Tommy and the nerd's performance, though, haven't been as easy." Steve replied with an irritation. 

"Well keep it up." Stacey was adamant. "This is my happiness and no gay, scrawny little nerd is going to keep it from me."

"Wait, I wasn't your happiness?" Steve asked, his tone indicating that he was only half joking. 

"Steve, we talked about this. We were fun. But you know I'm not your type. We'd never make it."

"You're right." He said defeated. "Why do you think I left those photos for his dad to find? I know that he makes you happy and it was the easiest way to end them that I could think of."