Going the Distance (9 page)

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly, not sure what I was apologizing for, but I did know I was indeed apologetic.

“Me too,” he murmured as my face moved down to his.

“Come over after your date?” he asked against my lips.

I nodded as I eased my tongue slowly between his lips. I was amazed to feel his tongue slip past mine.

It was a quick kiss, but what it lacked in length, it made up for in passion. He stared up at me with a huge smile. “Fag.”

I ground my crotch against his. It was blatantly obvious we were both hard. “Queer.”

We both laughed again as I carefully lifted myself off him. I held my hand out and pulled him to his feet. “Can you spend the night?” he asked as we brushed ourselves off, willing our erections to go down.

“I can ask my dad,” I answered.

“Sweet,” he said, flashing me a grin that in no way helped me become unaroused.

I patted my hair down as he grabbed the ball and tossed it at me. His eyes glanced at the hoop and then back to me. I took three steps and flew at the basket, wedging the ball back where we had found it. “That is so hot,” he said as I landed.

I felt a blush rise to my cheeks as we walked out of the gym.

If anything of importance passed between that moment and Friday, I have no idea. I was lost in a haze of emotions and hormones that made me as close to drunk as I’d ever been without drinking. Every day Cody and I joked and roughhoused, looking to the world like a pair of normal, all-American jocks. At night I would furiously masturbate to the thought of us kissing before I went to bed.

I, of course, said nothing to my dad about any of this. I told him I had a date after the game with a girl and then was going to spend the night at Cody’s and nothing more. If he had any doubts that the main point of the night was me getting to Cody’s house as quickly as possible, he didn’t give a hint of it. Again, from his point of view it must have been the most normal thing in the world for his son to do. Play a basketball game, go out with a girl, and then spend the night with a friend afterward. Just seeing it in plain English, it looks completely straight to me. After all, we were both seeing girls, were best friends, and played on the same sports team.

What could possibly be gay about that?

This time it seemed different to me than what had happened with Joshua. I was completely unconfused by the way I felt about Cody. The darkened shame I had always felt with Joshua didn’t raise its ugly head. This being with Cody felt exactly like what every guy described having a crush on a girl. Every thought I had was about Cody; every image I saw when I closed my eyes centered on him. Even though I had more than enough sexual thoughts about him to fill my life, this felt purer somehow. It wasn’t lust, though I lusted after him, and not infatuation, even though I was infatuated with him. There was only one word that encompassed everything I was feeling at that moment, only one single concept that covered all of this to my teenage mind.

I was in love with Cody Franks.

It sounded insane, but it was how I felt. I was walking ten feet off the ground all the way up to the night of the game. I was on the court in a huddle when Tommy snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Hey, retard, is our basketball game interrupting your night?”

I looked around, and I focused my thoughts back to the game.

We were behind by eight points with less than twenty-four seconds on the clock. The opposing team had a pretty devastating offense and had learned the only way to keep us out of the game was to outscore us. I had been floating through the game not even paying attention to what I was supposed to be doing. I nodded at him, trying to put my game face on, but he just shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Okay look, we have to push these fuckers hard. We can tie this up if we’re lucky, but if they score again, we’re hosed.”

“I got it,” I said quickly, making sure not to look anyone in the eyes. I knew if I looked at Tommy or Cody, I’d lose it because one would make me feel like shit and the other would make me smile. “Just get me the ball.”

No one said anything for a few seconds, and the ref blew the whistle calling us back. “Okay, Danny’s got the ball. Everyone else back him up.”

We broke on “Tigers,” and I saw Cody holding the ball, waiting to throw it in. He nodded once at me and then looked away at the other side of the court. I moved the opposite way, and he tossed me the ball without ever looking back at me. The guy guarding him was too busy watching his face and ignored his hands. The ball bounced right into my palms. Without a second’s hesitation, I popped up and tossed it in for three.

The crowd exploded as we scrambled into position and the other team threw it in. I moved next to the guy they were most likely going to pass it to and waited. I said under my breath just loud enough for the guy to hear, “Touch the ball and I’ll end you.”

He looked over his shoulder and saw my chest and then looked up to my face.

Which was when I darted in front of him and took the ball. Another shot and we were only three points behind. The other team began to wake up, now realizing I hadn’t been even close to playing the entire night. They tightened up their defense as they looked to throw the ball back into play. I glanced over at Tommy and nodded, and he returned it with a grin. This time they passed it to the closest guy, not daring for a longer throw. I hovered around the ball holder. A five-year-old would have seen he was looking for an open man. He waited for a man to move beside him and passed it laterally, which was when I made a clumsy attempt at the ball.

The other guy tossed the ball in the other direction as I stumbled past him… and found Tommy waiting to cut him off. Once he had the ball he moved to the right, losing the guy who had lunged at him to block, and went up for his shot. The ball seemed to move in slow motion as it sailed over our head toward the hoop in a perfect arc. Everyone stopped as they watched the sphere move closer and closer to deciding the game’s fate.

Now I don’t know a thing about geometry. I am dumb as a rock when it comes to math and calculating radiuses and circumferences and all that garbage. I squeaked by in anything that dealt with numbers, but there was a thing I knew better than anyone else, and it was basketball. I knew just by looking at a ball, based on the speed and angle of the shot, if it would go in or not. I knew if it would hit the rim and bounce off. I knew if it was going to tap off the backboard and roll off. I just knew. It was like I could see everywhere the ball should go to make a basket and then compare it to where it was headed.

Tommy was about to blow that shot.

It looked perfect. I could tell everyone else thought it was a done deal, and he had just tied up the game. Because of that, I was the only one moving toward the basket instead of looking. The ball hit the rim and its forward spin pushed it against the backboard. Along the same curve it had used coming in, it started flying back to the court. Everyone else began to move at once, but I was already airborne.

The crowd went wild as I rebounded the ball and sank the basket.

As soon as my sneakers hit the boards, I turned around and formed a T with my hands. The ref called the time out as I looked up at the clock. We were one point down and had less than four seconds left, and they had the ball. We moved over to the sidelines and huddled around the coach. “Any thoughts besides hope we get the ball?” he asked.

No one looked up as we tried to catch our breath for a moment.

There was no time to try to steal the ball away. Four seconds would be over before the guy even pivoted with the ball. We were screwed, and it was my fault. I felt like shit as I saw the rest of my teammates look down dejectedly. I glanced out across the court to the other team’s bench and saw the guy I had whispered to before glaring back over at me. He was pissed I’d gotten in his head and wanted a little payback, it seemed.

“Cody, guard seventeen,” I said, coming back to the huddle. Everyone looked at me as I explained. “Trash talk him a little. He’s already wound up some.”

“How does that get us the ball?” Tommy asked.

The coach seemed to get it but didn’t look thrilled. “Franks, you can piss anyone off. Use that power for good.”

Cody grinned and looked over at the guy and nodded. “I can do that,” he said.

“What do we do?” Tommy asked, his voice a little pissed.

“Hope that guy thinks Cody is as annoying as we do,” I said, smiling as I put my hand in. “Tigers on three.”

We broke, and Cody moved over toward the guy.

I would have paid cash money to hear what he said to him, but within seconds he had spun around and pushed Cody as hard he could. Cody slammed to the floor and slid back a few inches, the grin on his face never wavering.

The ref blew his whistle twice and called a foul against the guy. Cody had two free throws now with the clock stopped. You could see the life drain out of the other team when they realized what had just happened and how close they had just come to beating us. We lined up while Cody bounced the ball a couple of times and made the first shot. We were tied now. Even if he missed this shot we’d go into overtime and have four minutes to make up for a miserable showing so far.

He bounced the ball twice and then held it in his hands. His eyes
glanced over to me, and I smiled back at him. The corner of his mouth curled up as he looked back at the basket and tossed the ball in what was easily the sexiest free throw I had ever witnessed. The crowd erupted into cheers as I ran at him and hugged him tightly. He hugged me back and tensed for a moment, and I picked him up and twirled him around as the rest of the team engulfed us. From the outside it looked like a team celebrating a close win, but inside our arms it was so much more.

We were screaming for our victory in the locker room when the coach came in and shouted at us to shut up. “You’re happy about that shit?” We froze in place as the cheers deflated on our lips. “You are seriously going to celebrate that fucktard of a win?”

Cody was behind me and called out, “Hell yeah!”

The rest of us joined him in laughter and glee. The coach just shook his head and said, “Sunday practice, 9:00 am! No excuses.” Normally such a pronouncement would have caused a cacophony of jeers, but at that moment, Sunday was a million miles away.

As we changed out, Cody leaned in toward me and nudged me. “Thanks for that.”

I nudged him back. “For what? You have the biggest mouth on the team,” I said, grinning widely at him. “Who else would I have picked?”

Cody jumped at me, tackling me to the ground as we burst out laughing. “Who has the big mouth now?” he crowed as he tickled me. I cried for mercy as the celebration exploded around us. You could hear the guys in the shower badly singing a rap song as two others guys stood in just their trunks bumping chests. As I wrestled with Cody, Tommy walked over and stood above us.

“If you two girls are done making out, we do have plans.”

We looked up and saw him standing in just a towel, his hair still wet from the shower. Cody glanced down at me and smiled evilly as he yanked the towel free. Tommy cursed, covered his junk, and backed away. We both howled with hysterical laughter and tossed the towel to the side and retreated. Our abs ached from laughing. We got into the shower and quickly rinsed the game off us. Tommy was already in jeans when I got back to my locker. Cody dried off next to me and asked in a low voice, “So give me a call when you get home?” I nodded and pulled my boxers on. “I can swing by and pick you up since Tommy ain’t gonna drop you off at my house.”

“I can just wait wherever we’re eating,” I offered as I slipped on my jeans. “Easier than you trying to get on base.”

Cody leaned forward and asked Tommy, “Hey, where you guys going to eat after the movie?”

Tommy looked over at us, and his eyes narrowed for a couple of seconds. “IHOP, probably. Why?”

“I’m crashing at his house tonight,” I said, pulling on a fresh shirt.

Tommy didn’t say anything until he finished combing his hair. “IHOP, unless the girls want something else,” he said stiffly.

I looked at Cody questioningly, and he shrugged silently back at me. “Okay, I’ll just wait at IHOP and give you a call when we’re done.”

“Sweet,” Cody replied with a grin. He looked away quickly, but I saw the blush on his cheeks. When I leaned over to tie my shoes, I fought to suppress my grin as well.

The air had turned colder than I expected, and I wrapped my arms around myself while Tommy and I walked to his car. I shivered as we got into his Mustang. “Jesus! Colder than a witch’s tit,” I complained as Tommy warmed up the car. He didn’t say anything in response, but he looked upset. “You okay?” I asked, not sure what he’d be upset about.

For a few seconds he continued to stare down at the pedals, and I had a feeling I needed to repeat the question. However, slowly, he started to talk. “Look, Danny, you’re a great guy, and personally I don’t care what you do in your free time.” He paused just in front of the obvious “but” in the next sentence. “But Carol is a nice girl, and I really like Susan, so I don’t want to see her hurt.”

“I don’t understand,” I said hesitantly, not sure what he was going on about. “Why would I hurt Carol—”

“I saw you and Cody in the gym the other day,” he interrupted.

I felt the seat drop out from beneath me, and my mind began to spin. I wondered if Tommy’d be upset if I blew chunks in his car.

“I don’t care what you guys do in your own time…,” he said and then stopped. “Look, you’re a badass player, and this is easily going to be the best season we’ve ever had, so we owe you.” Then he looked straight at me. “But there is no way the guys are going to accept you and him together. Period.” I felt like the world beyond the car was spinning, dragging the car with it. From someplace beyond my head, I heard him talking. “If you guys are going to do… whatever you’re doing, you need to be more careful.” As an afterthought he added, “And I don’t want Carol going out with you and then finding out you’re….”

“I got it.” I choked as I struggled to get a full breath of air. It was too hot, almost stifling in the car suddenly as I rested a hand against the door. “I won’t… I’m not….” But I couldn’t find the words.