Page 38 of Offensive Edge
That was a good question. Rowan felt like he had tripped and fallen into the deep end. He had no other choice but to swim.
“I understand if this isn’t something you want, or are interested in. But I have spent the last eight years searching for something to fill the hole in my heart, and, Teddy. It’s only you. It can only be you.”
“Fuck,” Theo said, pulling away to take a breath and shake his hands out. “I have spent so much time imagining you apologizing to me and begging me to take you back. This feels like I’m hallucinating.”
That sounded promising. It was better than the way Theo had looked at him at the beginning of the season, for sure.
“What can I do to reassure you that you are not hallucinating?”
“What if we try this, and hockey rips us apart again?”
“I don’t want to sound like an arrogant asshole, but I’m pretty sure I can figure out a way to keep us together, if that’s what we want. Plus, I am hopefully not as much of a dumbfuck as I was when I was eighteen.”
That got a little laugh from Theo. He took Rowan’s hand. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
“When I showed up in September to you shooting lasers out of your eyes at me, I didn’t think you’d ever want to talk to me again. If you would give this another chance with me, Theodore, I would be the happiest I have ever been.”
“The full name and everything.”
“And everything.”
“I want this. But we can’t just jump back into the thing we were doing when we were kids. I want to be friends again first.”
Rowan couldn’t keep his smile normal. He was sure he looked goofy, but he was so happy, even just to hear Theo was willing to give their friendship a try again. Even if that’s all Rowan got, he would be happy.
CHAPTER21
THEO
Rowan insistedit wasn’t a date. He’d been doing that recently, since he came home from the East Coast and they’d had a fucking wild conversation that blew Theo’s mind right open. He would make a plan for just the two of them, insist it was just friends, and then obviously try to woo Theo.
It was cute. And even though Theo could be the bigger person and admit Rowan wasn’t the only one at fault when it came to the collapse of their relationship, Rowan was the most at fault.
Theo was pretty sure their jobs were harder than someone’s nine-to-five, but Theo liked the schedule. It meant they had random bits of time off. If he had a wife and kids, it would probably be a struggle. But now, on a Tuesday afternoon at the beginning of spring, he was sitting in a Paint it Yourself! franchise, looking at shelves and shelves of white, unpainted ceramic objects.
“I think I want this little guy,” Rowan said, picking up a stegosaurus.
“What are you going to do with that?” Theo asked. He didn’t know the last time he had done a craft project. He took drawing in high school for his art credit, and the most serious art supply he touched in that class was charcoal. Rowan was the artsy one. If photos counted.
“I’ll put him on my shelf and he’ll guard my Switch.”
“Bulletproof plan,” Theo said. Nothing was standing out to him. He never would have picked this place, but he was trying to have fun. Rowan was trying so hard to reconnect with him. He could paint a mug or something.
“Oh, do this one,” Rowan said, pointing to a snake coiled up in a little pile. The head and top layer of the snake’s body came off like a lid, revealing the hollow inside of a jar.
“Go Serpents,” Theo joked, picking up his snake. They got aprons and got set up at a table to work on their masterpieces.
“I don’t want to say I’m a genius, but coming while kids are supposed to be in school was a pretty stellar idea,” Rowan said.
“How did you come up with this idea, anyway?” He was plotting out how to paint his new little guy, and decided on forest green and white. If he was going to paint a little snake, he might as well be a dork and really go all in on Serpents colors.
“Just googled for it,” he said vaguely.
“What did you put in the search term? ‘Best kids’ birthday party spots’?”
“‘Best fun date activities San Jose.’” Rowan didn’t meet his eyes. He was focused on mixing up enough teal paint to cover his dinosaur.
“Hey, I didn’t mean to make fun.”
