When I finally find what I’m looking for, I almost want to run to Zach’s place right then and there. Then I remember he’s busy today. Damn it.
While TAs and students aren’t really supposed to date or have sex, a TA can alert a professor of a conflict of interest. This goes for if there’s a family member in the class or someone they’re seeing. It’s at the professor’s discretion what happens.
Yay loopholes!
My phone vibrates in my pocket, and my mind immediately thinks it’s Zach, like our dicks have synced and can sense when the other one is needy.
When I see Mom’s name on the screen, my erection dies a horrible death. Eww, eww, eww.
She is not allowed to interrupt thoughts about Zach ever, ever again.
I almost don’t want to answer it. She and Dad are probably wondering what happened at the game last night.
Dad’s no doubt pissed.
I hit answer because I know my mother, and she’ll keep calling if I don’t. And then if I don’t answer or call her back after a few hours, she’ll likely call every hospital in the area.
“Hey, Mom. I can’t talk right now. I’m at the library,” I whisper into the phone.
There’s silence.
“Mom?”
“Sorry, had to check I called the right son because no way would Foster Grant be in a library on a Sunday morning.”
“Ha-ha.”
“Cough twice if you’ve been kidnapped and you’re under duress.”
Oh boy. “Hang on. I’ll go to the section where I’m allowed to talk.”
I make my way down a level where there are tables and chairs. I know it’s there because one of the two times I’ve actually been here was for a group assignment last year.
I duck behind some bookshelves. “Okay, I can talk now.”
“Sweetie, are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Why?”
“Seth told us you got a one game suspension for what you did on the ice last night.”
“Is … is Dad mad?”
Mom hums. “He might have had a few things to say about it being a good way to throw your career away when we were on our way home.”
“It’s one official game I’ll miss out on.”
“One game where scouts and agents will be.”
I narrow my eyes. “Is Dad there telling you exactly what to say?”
Dad comes on the line. “What happened out there?”
Thought so. “Hockey players fight.”
“You don’t. Not like last night.”
I bite my bottom lip. I want to tell them about me. About what I did for Zach and why. But any time I’ve tried to tell them I’m bi, the words get jumbled in my head and refuse to come out of my mouth.
I honestly don’t know how they’ll take it.
Dad said some things to me when Seth and Zach became friends, asking if I thought anything was going on between them. And while I think his heart was in the right place, he said something I’ll never forget.
“Sometimes I wonder about your brother. He’s not … like you. Not into sports. Doesn’t really have girlfriends.”
I’d grunted and done the typical teenager thing where I didn’t answer.
I’ve relived that moment so many times in my head, and every time I stand up for myself instead of running away.
Every time I picture myself saying, “Well, one, liking sports doesn’t automatically make someone straight, and two, if you’d paid any attention to Seth at all, you’d realize he doesn’t date around because he’s a serial monogamist. Unlike me. Who dates anyone with a pulse. Of any gender.”
“Foster?” Dad’s deep voice makes me flinch.
“That guy is an asshole, and I lost my head. It won’t happen again. I’ve already been reamed by the coaches and my teammates. I don’t need it from you too.”
“There are assholes on every team. Just remember to hit them where it hurts.”
“In the net. Got it, Dad.”
They let it go, and we end the call.
My excitement over finding out there is a chance I could be with Zach is overshadowed by the guilt of letting yet another opportunity to say something to my parents pass me by.
I’m about to take off, when I overhear a conversation that makes me pause.
“Come on, baby unicorn. Tell me what’s bothering you.”
“Really? Still going with the baby unicorn thing?” Through the stacks, I can see the T-shirt Zach was wearing this morning. I recognize the pattern.
They take seats at one of the tables, and it’s tempting to go over there and tease him about hanging out with his new friend at the library.
Oh God, they’re probably studying.
No wonder he was vague on the details.
Before I get the chance to go over there, their conversation stops me dead in my tracks.
“I may look innocent, but you look like you’re ready to sacrifice a virgin.”
“Ooh, sacrificing a virgin sounds fun. Are you offering?”
Zach just about chokes. “What … and … how …”
I hear her gasp from where I’m standing between two bookshelves. “I was joking. Are you … are you really a—”