LOGINTrevor's POVThe morning had started badly and was getting worse by the minute.I was riding my bicycle down the road toward school, which under normal circumstances was a straightforward ten-minute trip. But honestly speaking, these were not normal circumstances. I had a large carton balanced across the back of the bike which were lock-in supplies and balloons tied to the handle with a ribbon. The carton itself was too full to close properly so the top kept shifting every time I hit a bump. I was already running behind time and all of that. The lock-in was tonight and I had promised Nadine I would get these supplies dropped off before first class, which was a promise that was becoming harder to keep with every passing minute.I was also still carrying the weight of the equipment store conversation from the previous day, which I had been unsuccessfully trying to put somewhere manageable since I walked out of there. The way Sean had looked at me when I said ‘none of that was fake.’ And
Sean's POV"You are good at fishing for compliments." He said it with a smirk sitting on his face, looking at me like I had just confirmed something he already knew.I smiled at that in the realest manner I have ever seen. "Maybe I should give you a reminder." I said it quietly and then started moving toward him in the position we were both lying in, closing the distance slowly, the floor between us getting smaller.I got to within about half an inch of his lips.His left hand came up and he pressed his second finger flat against my mouth, stopping me right there. He held it for a second and then said it clearly and directly. "If you are going to kiss me again, don't apologize."I understood exactly what he meant. No redirecting it afterward. And no pretending it had been something else. If I was going to do it, I was going to own it.I pulled his finger away
Sean's POV"See?" I told him, locking eyes with him. "You are natural." My hands were at his waist and I registered them there about two seconds after the fact. I pulled them back and reset myself."Come on." I said, stepping backward and putting some working distance between us. "I will show you how to run some plays so you actually understand what is happening while you are prancing around in your booty shorts…" I demonstrated with a small exaggerated shake of my hips, although keeping it light... "pumping your balls."I grabbed one of the footballs off the nearby shelf and started moving it between both palms… right to left, left to right, keeping the rhythm tight and controlled. It was the kind of handling that had become automatic after years of it. You know, just the way musicians tapped rhythms without thinking. The ball stayed in motion, never dropping, the movement was smooth and continuous while I thought through where to start.Then I threw it across to him without warning.
Trevor's POVThe silence stretched for longer than a silence should. I stood there and watched his face and waited, and the fact that he was taking this long to answer a question that should have had an immediate answer was already telling me something I didn't particularly want to hear.Then he replied. "It doesn't matter." He said it with that particular heaviness of someone who had arrived at a conclusion they didn't like. "Because I am the quarterback. And this town does suck."I looked at him directly. "So this is just you wanting what you can't have.""No!" He snapped, his hand going back through his hair, the movement was all sharp and frustrated this time rather than the thoughtful version. "Goddamnit, Trevor! You don't…"The whistle cut through the wall of the store, sharp and long, and he stopped mid-sentence. Both of us went still for a second. Then the sound of
Trevor's POVI was in the football team store, sitting on the bench with a pump in my hand, pushing air into one of the balls that had gone soft. I was in my waterboy uniform, obviously…White shorts, crop top, WATERBOY across the back. At this point I had stopped registering the embarrassment of it the way I had in the beginning. It had become just the thing I wore to do the thing I was here to do.What I had not stopped registering was everything else…I kept pumping and let the thoughts run because there was nothing else to do while I sat here alone in a store full of football equipment at practice time. Sean had shut me down in that corridor in front of Anna like I was exactly what the waterboy label said I was. Which was someone beneath the conversation, someone to be dismissed publicly while something private existed separately and quietly…and on his terms only. And then he had walked away with
Trevor's POV"Sean." I said it with a straight face the moment I reached him, cutting through whatever Anna had been building between them. "Can we talk?" I added it cleanly, even while her left hand was still sitting on his shoulder like she had put it there specifically to be seen.Sean looked at me for a fraction of a second like he hadn't expected this. Then something shifted in his expression and he moved… quickly and casually… shrugging Anna's hand off his shoulder like it had never been there, now turning toward me. "What's good, Trevor?" He brought his hand out for a shake, easy and relaxed, like we were just two people running into each other in a corridor.I took his hand because I wanted to see where this was going and also because refusing it in front of Anna felt like handing her something to work with.He pulled me in for a brief hug with it… the kind that lasted ju
Trevor's POVThe shower was the only place I could think to go and I got there fast.I turned the water on, stepped under it and just stood there for a moment, letting it run over my neck and down my back. My whole body was still running hot from whatever had just happened on that sideline — the ma
Trevor's POVI was at my locker the next morning, pulling out the books I needed, feeling genuinely better than I had any right to after yesterday. You would barely notice anything had happened if you looked at me — which was exactly how I wanted it. The pain had dialled down significantly overnigh
Trevor's POV"I just want to go home." I finally said to Sean, my voice coming out weaker than I intended. "I don't want all of that drama."He held my gaze for a second. Then he stood up slowly and turned to face the three of them with that specific energy he carried when a decision had already be
Trevor's POV"Someone, get me a jockstrap. Now!" Max said it loud and easy, like he was ordering something off a menu.Josh moved immediately. That was the thing about Josh — he never needed to think about it. Whatever Max called, Josh answered. He







