Divisions (Dev and Lee) (14 page)

Emmanuel pays, and as we get up, he asks about Dev’s coming out, whether there was any friction from the team that didn’t make it to the media.

“No,” I say. “They were mostly supportive. A few weren’t, but what are you gonna do?”

“That’s great.” Emmanuel holds the curtain aside to let me out. “We’re waiting to see if anyone else follows his lead. Can’t rush it, though, right? Everyone deals with it in their own time.”

“Yeah. I’d kind of expected someone else to come out by now. I thought the first one would be tough, the next ones easier.” I get to the restaurant door first and hold it for him.

He studies me through eyes narrowed against the sunlight. “You were pretty proud of him.”

I feel the echo of the pride again and nod. “It was an amazing thing he did.”

“Do you mind if I ask…” We let the door swing shut. I wait, watching him look hesitant for the first time. “Did you push him to come out?”

Memories jostle in my head. I grin. “That’s a really long story,” I say. “But the short answer is no, it was his decision.”

He nods, thumbs hooked into his pockets, tail swishing behind him. “Good decision,” he says. “Glad they’re doing well.” Then his grin comes back, all the way to his cheeks. “Hope losing this weekend won’t keep them out of the playoffs.”

I’m not sure what my best course of action is here, if I should be chippy and defend my boyfriend’s team, or deferential. Deferential is a lot more work for me, so it loses out. “I’d say the same for you guys, except it looks like you’re already out of the playoffs.”

Emmanuel keeps the grin and sticks out his paw. “Good to meet you, Lee. Take care of that tiger. We’ll be in touch.”

“Thanks again for making the time,” I say, and we walk out into the parking lot in approximately the same direction. I get into the rental and before I start driving, text Dev.
Had meeting with Yerba. Went pretty well.

He’s probably in practice, so he won’t respond right away. I look up at the blue sky, clouds scattered across it, and picture living here next year. It’d be tough to move again so soon, to have a new place to get used to, but it’d be a great job. Maybe they’ll trade for Dev, and he can come live here too.

I should really just enjoy living with him now, and not worry about the future. I think about tonight and what’s on with his teammates. Welcoming atmosphere for gay players, Mister Emmanuel? I think I can manage that.

Thursday is work and work and more work. New plays to learn, drilling the coaches’ thoughts into my muscles, translating the marks on paper into players and space and lines on the field. It goes well, but like Lee figures, Gerrard brings me and Carson back Thursday night to go through them again with some of the practice squad. By the time we break at nine-thirty, we’re exhausted. Then we stay up another hour studying the Yerba offense.

Friday I want to hear about Ty and Vonni’s trip to Korsat Boulevard, but they admit they never actually went. Pike laughs at them. “All right,” he says. “Definitely we’re gonna go tonight. I’ll drag you there if I have to. Dev, come on, you too.”

I shake my head. “Thanks, but I’ll pass.”

Charm, hanging out near my locker, laughs. “C’mon, Gramps. It’s not a girlie bar.”

“So you come along.”

He lifts his massive hands. “I got a date or two, or I totally would.”

“Or two?” Even Pike has to look up at Charm.

“I always have a backup. We’ll see how many of ‘em show up.”

“Jeez.” Pike grins and turns to Gerrard. “Come on, Coach, let the guy go out just for one night.”

Gerrard, who’s just pulled his jersey on, eyes the big bear. “He can do whatever he wants.”

“Yeah, but he won’t go if you say he can’t. So tell him it’s okay and then he’ll come with us.”

“Hey, look,” I say. “It’s got nothing to do with Gerrard. I want to be ready for the game, that’s all.” When Pike gives me a “yeah, right” look, I add, “And Lee’s in town, and I was thinking I could sneak off to a dinner with him Friday night.” Of course, he’d said he wanted to go out. I’m just not sure—but it’d be good, right? Him hanging out with me and the guys? Of course…of course, none of them are bringing wives along.

“There we are.” Pike pats me on the shoulder. “Listen, that fox of yours might be cool and all, but you gotta get out and enjoy life while you can. It ain’t like you’re gonna be hookin’ up out there…and if you did, so what?”

Gerrard shakes his head and lifts his paws. “There’s no extra practice tonight. Dev, you want to go to Korsat, go.”

“Yeah! Okay, me and Kodi will head up there with you guys after practice, right? Grab dinner, hit the street. You foxes,” Pike turns to point at Ty and Vonni, “you’re comin’ along too.”

They actually look relieved to have someone else taking charge. “Sure,” Ty says. “Dev’s comin’, right?”

I sigh. I’ll call Lee. “Yeah, I’ll come.”

It turns out to be Pike, Kodi, Ty, Vonni, and Jake, a bear from the practice squad who I think just wants to get in good with Pike now that the polar bear’s starting. So it’s foxes and bears and one tiger. Pike calls a stretch limo to take us up to Korsat and tells it to wait for us. So of course we attract a fair bit of attention as we get out on the corner in front of a big two-story café. The patrons on the patio gawk at us, some of them; others just go on about their conversations. A pair of meerkats on the balcony look down, and one leans over to the other.

I’m distracted from them by a fox in a tan sportcoat over a green t-shirt and jeans, sauntering up to me with his tail swishing back and forth behind him. His blue eyes sparkle with reflections of the café’s neon as he walks up to me. “So,” Lee says, “going to introduce me around?”

“Hey, Lee,” Vonni says, stepping forward with paw outstretched.

I point. “You remember Pike and Kodi. That’s Ty, that’s Jake. Guys, this is Lee.”

Everyone else holds out paws, and there’s an amusing few seconds of shaking going on. Then Lee puts his arm around my waist. I tense, but only for a moment.

“It’s okay here.” Lee gestures at the other couples walking around, but as I look down at him, I see that his comment isn’t for my benefit, even though he’s looking back at me.

None of the other guys seems particularly disturbed. Ty leans forward, ears perked, and says, “So where we going?”

“Well.” Lee gestures down the street. “Depends what you want. The Groom and Groom is supposed to be a good dance club. If you just want drinking, the White Unicorn has some killer cocktails, I’m told.”

They all look at each other. “Drinking’s good,” Vonni says. “To start.”

“Aw, come on.” Ty nudges him. “Don’t you wanna show off them dance moves?”

Vonni shakes his head. “I don’t wanna shake my tail and have some guy think it’s up for grabs.”

Lee grins. “If you get grabbed, just ignore it. That means you’re not interested.”

“Yeah, but…” Vonni scratches behind his ear. “What if I get grabbed a lot?”

“That means they like you.” Pike grins. “C’mon, let’s drink.”

We grab a big table at the Unicorn and their cocktails do look pretty fabulous, in a couple senses of the word. I get something called a Cinnamon Swish, and Lee orders a Tangerine Sparkle. The other guys order cocktails, except for Kodi, who orders a beer, and then they sit around and watch the rest of the patrons, who are also watching us.

“Six big guys sitting in a gay bar,” Lee says. “Of course you attract attention.”

But nobody really comes up to us. When our drinks come, served by a slender, attractive cheetah in shorts and an open short-sleeved collared shirt, Ty takes a sip of his and then says, “It looks so normal in here.”

“Except that it’s all guys,” Vonni says.

“Yeah, but they’re not doing anything.”

Lee licks the rim of his glass. “If you want to see that, there are a couple other places…”

“No, no.” Vonni laughs.

“Well, gay guys are just people, you know? We like to drink in a safe place and hang out together. We don’t whip out our cocks at the least provocation.”

“See, Pike?” Ty elbows him. “You ain’t gay.”

“Har har.” Pike drinks from something cloudy and creamy. “Jury’s still out on you, right?”

Ty grins. “I got no worries.”

“Hey,” Jake says as a new song comes on in the bar, “this is that new Copper Tube song. I love this shit.”

“Copper Tube is cool,” Vonni says, “but if you like them, you should listen to Trip R.C.”

“Trip R.C. is awesome,” Lee puts in.

Jake waves a paw. “Ah, you just like him ‘cause he’s a fox.”

“I hired him to play at our wedding.”

“No shit!” The bear leans forward, impressed. I gotta admit, I am too, kind of. “Your wife likes him too?”

Vonni grins around, a little smug. “Only thing I got to pick. Daria’s mom picked out the place—St. Michael’s in Freestone and then the Intercontinental for the reception—and the priest and the flowers and everything but I said, listen, if you want the best music, we are not getting the same band that played your parents’ wedding. My agent made a couple calls, and…” He waves a paw. “Done.”

“What’d it run ya?”

The fox shrugs. “Fifty K. Not bad.”

Probably half what the rest of the wedding cost, I think, and not a bad way to show that he can hold his own with his wife’s family. But we move away from the wedding and talk about music for an hour. Lee nudges me a couple times when people walk up near our table: a skunk, once, and then a reddish-brown stallion wearing a sleek blue satin shirt and khaki slacks. But we must give off some kind of vibe, because the skunk just wanders off, and the stallion gets a grin on his face and walks quickly back to his table.

Ty notices the stallion, too, and a few minutes later he nudges Vonni. “Hey, that guy’s checking us out,” he says.

Vonni looks over, and I can’t help glancing that way myself. “Don’t stare,” he says to Ty, who is doing just that. “Then he’ll think you’re interested.”

“Oh, fuck.” Ty drops his eyes to the table and doesn’t look up.

“See,” Pike says, “Charm shoulda come along. That guy’s totally his type.”

I hear a very low sound, difficult to catch over the music in the bar, but it’s enough to get me to look down at Lee and see that he’s struggling not to laugh. He holds it back and then says, “Relax, guys. You’re in a gay bar. People are gonna stare. But they’ll be polite here. Someone’s interested in you, he’ll come up and ask if he can buy you a drink or something, and then you just say no.”

“Or
yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees
,” Vonni elbows Ty.

“Fuck you,” the younger fox replies, and that does get him to look up from the table finally.

Lee laughs too, and he feels very natural sitting next to me. His eyes glint and he’s chatting with the other guys, and I don’t think about us being gay; it’s more that we’re just among friends. Once in a while, I admit, I look around the bar at some of the guys. The stallion’s okay, but there’s a leopard who’s really pretty hot.
He would totally let me fuck him
, I think, sort of detachedly, and then I feel ashamed of it, and then feel guilty for being ashamed. I mean, here of all places, that’s the kind of thing people are thinking.

It’s not that I want to fuck the leopard. I mean, Lee’s the only guy I’ve been with, and the only guy I want to be with. But I slept with probably a dozen girls before I met him, and so part of me kinda wonders what another guy would be like.

Lee isn’t looking around the bar too much. He looks at me, but doesn’t catch me looking around, which is good because I can only imagine what he’d say. His tail brushes mine and lingers there, which makes me flinch at first until I have to remind myself that we’re in a gay bar. Or café, anyway.

I don’t notice Kodi leaving, but his seat is empty when, a little later, the stallion comes over again. “Um, hi,” he says.

Our conversation dies down. He looks around the table, and so do I. I see Ty looking apprehensive, Vonni grinning. Pike and Jake are just curious, and Lee’s got a foxy grin on his muzzle, too. He’s the one who talks. “Hey there,” he says.

“Sorry to interrupt.” The stallion fidgets and brushes a lock of his mane out of his eyes. “You guys are football players, right? I sorta recognize…you’re Devlin Miski? And Ty Nakamura, and…” His gaze wavers over the bears.

“That’s right,” I say. “That’s Pat Karritson.”

“Pike.” The polar bear raises a paw.

“And Jake Marrit.”

The black bear raises his paw.

“I was wondering…” The stallion shifts from one foot to the other, and then produces a bar napkin. “Could I get your autographs?”

We all look at each other and then Ty breaks out in a big grin. “Shit, man,” he says, “Sure.” He holds out his paw.

The cocktail napkin makes the round of the table, while the stallion looks at Lee. “You’re…” he taps his nose. “Hey, are you his, uh…his ‘friend’?”

Lee grins back. “It’s okay,” he says. “These guys read the papers too.”

“Oh, uh. Sorry, I didn’t mean…” The stallion looks around the table.

Jake lifts his broad paw and passes the napkin to Pike. “Yeah, man. Graduated college and everything. I can read purty good.”

Now the stallion cringes, looking desperately at the napkin like it’s the starting flag at a race. I get it from Pike and take my time writing “Devlin Miski #57” so I can talk a bit more. “Hey, it’s okay. We’re football players, we’re used to people thinking all we do is hit each other. We’re just messing with you.”

That relaxes him a little but not too much. He still grabs the napkin when I’m done, mumbles, “Thanks, guys,” and skitters back toward his table. He drops the napkin there and holds his head in his broad hands while his friends look at the signatures.

“Football fans,” Vonni says. “Cool.”

“Gay guys like football too,” Lee says. “It’s not all sex and dancing and fashionable clothes.”

“I was gonna say, I feel like I’m in either a clothes catalog or a tractor catalog here.” Ty looks around at the stallion’s table, then at another nearby table dressed all in checked flannel. “You coulda told us there was a dress code.”

Lee grins back at the other fox. “If you want me to take you shopping, I will, but that’s a whole other trip. Anyway, we can do that in Chevali.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Ty finishes his cocktail.

“Girls like a guy who looks sharp, too,” Lee says.

Ty shrugs. “Girls like football players.”

“You won’t be playing football forever.”

“S’okay. I’ll be married before then. Soon’s I get my first free agent contract.”

Vonni and the bears look around the bar, but idly, not really at anything. “Where’d Kodi go?” I say to Pike.

“Ah, just said there wasn’t much going on and he wanted to get some sleep. He got a cab back.”

“We’re not staying out that late.”

“Yeah, I think he was just bored.”

I grin. It hasn’t exactly been an exciting night. “Are you bored?”

“I guess.” He grins. “I go to bars to pick up girls. The drinks here are good, but there’s no girls.”

Lee flicks his ears that way. “So. You wanna go dancing?”

“Are there girls there?” Ty says.

“I’ll tell you a secret.” Lee leans across the table. “The gay dance clubs are pretty awesome, so a lot of single girls go there because they know they won’t get hit on all the time.”

Ty’s ears perk up and his eyes widen. “No shit.”

“Well, what are we hanging around here for?” Vonni scoots his chair back. “Hey, Dev, you got this? Toss around some of that Ultimate Fit money, huh?”

It bugs me a little—Vonni’s salary is about three times mine. But it’s only a hundred bucks, so it’s not that big a deal. I toss the cash down onto the table and we walk out.

“Shouldn’t you call your
wife
?” Ty says to Vonni on the way out, not because he wants him to call his wife, but because Vonni’s tail is wagging as we head to the dance club.

“I can still look,” Vonni says. “Don’t get much of a chance to see all the single ladies.”

Ty chimes in with, “All the single ladies,” and they sing, off-key, a couple verses before breaking down laughing.

I grab Lee and pull him back, behind the others as they walk. None of them notice, and we keep walking behind them. “What the hell are you doing?”

He turns big blue eyes on me. “Trying to show your friends a good time.”

“Taking them to a gay dance club? To get hit on?”

He scowls. “You’ve got the same prejudices they do.”

“Hey,” I say. “That’s not fair.”

He pokes me with a finger. “You think all gay guys want to do is fuck anything that moves.”