Jace’s grin grew, thinking about their morning. Colt worked hard to move his flight back, or push Jace’s up. He used every bit of charm he possessed, but much to Colt’s dismay, the last day of spring break was a heavy travel day and all the flights were booked solid. Colt was forced to board his flight, and Jace was forced to spend six hours wandering around the small airport, waiting for his flight home.
Weirdly, all this waiting hadn’t bothered him. The airport was small, smaller than anything Jace had ever been in, but admittedly, he wasn’t a world traveler. He wasn’t even a national traveler, but sitting in this waiting area, listening to his iPod just didn’t seem to bother him. Money was tight. Jace was down to his last five dollars and spent most of that in the vending machines. Colt had tried to give him money, insisted he needed to eat, but in the end, Jace refused. He’d made it on a dime for most of his life, definitely for most of his college years, and he could make do now.
Colt’s argument came back to Jace, and he ducked his head, chuckling softly as he remembered the annoyed look on Colt’s face as he announced they were a couple now. Going on and on about how couples shared and even told him about the eight million dollar signing bonus coming his way. Jace still refused the money. In Colt’s extremely frustrated anger, he made a small scene as he declared his intention. From this point forward, Colt would be paying for their future and didn’t that just completely rock!
Apparently fairytales did come true.
The whirlwind of the last week settled some for Jace. They were slowing down now, working on building a relationship together. They were past mid-terms, on the home stretch of graduation. The future all of the sudden seemed bright and shiny. Every plan Jace had made for his future flew out the window over the last four days. Apparently he’d follow Colt wherever he chose to go. Jace had fallen hard for Colt. He was a man deeply in love. Who would have had any idea things would work out like this? Certainly not him.
This relationship wasn’t without problems. Jace was signing on for discretion. Without question, he’d be hiding, even though he’d never hid one day in his life. His well-adjusted outlook on being a gay man was all out the window. Colt’s world wasn’t ready for them, and that seemed okay, too. Regardless of the display he just put on in the airport, Colt wasn’t ready to come out just yet, but Jace would be right there, holding his hand when he made the decision.
Reasoning everything through, feeling all those happy, in love feelings made Jace strong and secure. He truly believed he could handle anything, at least until Colt signed on to a team. He’d even hide longer, if that’s what it took, waiting until Colt could establish himself as a star on the professional field, just like on the college field.
If all the rumors were true, Colt would sign with New York. Based on their commitments to one another last night, Jace would be moving there in May. He had agreed to follow Colt anywhere while Colt had been moving slowly inside his body. The strategy was tricky, but one that seemed to work perfectly. Colt made him affirm the promise both last night and again today before he boarded the plane.
By now Jace had a full blown, toothy grin lighting his face. Just thinking about a future with Colt made him so happy. Moving to New York, wow, that was a big step. Living in New York had always seemed like a cool thing to do, but living there with Colt made the thought even sweeter.
Before this week, Jace’s big future plans were to go back to Dallas, get a job with whoever hired him and open a gymnastics center somewhere around the area. The National Cheerleaders Association was huge in Dallas and it seemed like a good plan, but living in New York with the man of your dreams blew that idea right out of the water! If they stayed in New York, maybe he could open his gym there instead. Maybe he could go on to graduate school, and secure his future so he could help support Colt when he retired from playing ball.
“Flight two thirty-seven to Austin is now boarding.” Jace could hear the overhead speaker and looked up, pulling the earbuds from his ears as he read the sign. The vacation of a lifetime was coming to an end. His suntan had grown darker from the hours he’d laid on the beach, his hair blonder, and his future brighter. The island was hard to leave, but at the same time he was ready for what life had in store for him. Jace rose, squared his shoulders, and slung his old, ratty backpack over his arm.
His phone beeped, signaling a text, and he pulled the cell from his pocket. The text was from Colt; he planned to pick him up at the airport tonight. He wanted to get a room close to the airport. Colt didn’t want their vacation to end. And somehow that thought alone had him grinning like the Cheshire cat all over again. He’d always known Colt was a decent guy, but who would have known how caring and kind he really was?
Jace returned the text with a quick ‘boarding’ and dropped the phone back in his pocket. He stepped forward, fishing for the earbud when he got shoved against the shoulder. The push was hard enough to cause him to stumble several steps. Less than a second later, Jace got an angrily whispered, “Get out of the way, fag.” Where had that come from? Jace frowned and looked around, but he only got a glimpse of the guy’s retreating back. He was big, clean cut, and Jace had never seen him before. How had he picked that up? Jace glanced down at his T-shirt and shorts. Nothing about him or his clothing stood out as gay, so how had a stranger known?