Break In My Heart

44. Is It Illegal If You Kill A Biggot?...Asking For A Friend

warning: this chapter contains homophobic speech at the end of this chapter. If that makes you uncomfortable or triggered, please feel free to skip this chapter. I also included "no ordinary" by Labrinth to this chapter so take a listen if you wanna! Thanks and enjoy!

As soon as practice was over, I ran into Tyler's room, grabbed my pajamas, then bolted back to my assigned room with Ian. I went through the motions of showering, changing, and I even ruffled up what was supposed to be my bed in order to make it seem more believable. Coach was a lot of things, but an idiot was not one of them. He was very observant and he picked up on even the smallest inconsistencies when something tipped him off. That's why I slid on my glasses, which he knew I usually wore at night time, as an added precaution.

My heart all but burst out of my chest when he came to look into Ian and I's room. Ian was as relaxed as ever as he talked to Lelani on the phone, leaving me to answer the door when Coach announced his presence by his signature knock that mirrored the opening of "Another One Bites The Dust" by Queen.

Relax, Ian mouthed to me before he made a gesture that reminded me to breathe. I nodded before I took a deep breath then opened the door. "Hey Coach," I greeted as casually as I could.

"Hey, Addison. Ian. Just wanted to peek in."

"Of course." I stepped out of the way. Coach took a couple of steps in and scanned our room.

"You're not hiding Tyler in here are you?" he said, though his tone was that of a joke.

I let out a small chuckle though bolts of nervous energy were racing up and down my spine. "I wish."

After he did a general sweep of the room, Coach clapped me on the shoulder as he made his way back toward the door, seemingly satisfied with our room. "Don't worry, Addison. You two can room together next year."

My eyebrows furrowed. "But this is our last All-State, Coach. We're seniors, remember?"

"Exactly," Coach said with a wink before he walked out of the room, leaving me there in shock. "Goodnight, boys," Coach casually threw over his shoulder and in a moment, he was gone.

I released the breath I was holding as I hurriedly shut the door. I turned to Ian who was still talking to Lelani. "Never make me do that again."

"Relax. You did great, chief," he casually said, brushing off the panic that was still raving in my body. He was too enthralled with whatever he was talking about with Lelani.

"Hi, Addison!" Lelani called through the phone.

"Hey, Lelani!" I responded as I made a move to get into the phone frame with Ian while my body continued to slowly calm down.

I then when and sat on the other bed and kept my attention on my own phone for the text from Tyler giving me the all clear to go back to our room. I sat there listening to Lelani and Ian's sickeningly lovey-dovey conversation for a good while, and right when I was about to charge full speed out of the window that was a good six stories up, Tyler gave me the all-clear text. I threw a quick "bye" over my shoulder before I all but ran to our room. I loved Ian and I loved that he was in love, but God, it made me wanna throw up.

"That was the single most stressful moment of my life," were the first words out of Tyler's mouth as I snuck back into our room just as Yusef was walking out.

"Goodnight, man," Yusef said as we passed.

"Goodnight. Thanks again."

He saluted me. "Don't mention it."

I closed the door and peeled off my shirt as I made my way to the bed. "It was stressful for me too, especially because Ian being the little shit he is made me answer Coach when he was at the door."