Page 41 of Offensive Edge
“Send me it later.”
The food on the plate looked good, but one bite of pork chop made him realize that he was correct about Rowan’s level of cooking.
“Oh, this is...bad,” Rowan said, through his own bite. He forced down his own bite of pork chop and took a bite of the potatoes. “And these are bad too, fuck. How do you fuck up potatoes?”
“The broccoli is good. And the applesauce.”
“Shit, I was trying to make you this big romantic meal, and it’s fucking gross.”
“It’s not gross,” Theo said. The potatoes were way too salty, and the meat was overcooked and tough. But it wasn’t gross. He reached across the table for Rowan’s hand. “It’s not gross. I love that you did this for me.”
“What if I ordered takeout?”
“Is it really too gross for you to eat?” Theo asked. Yeah, it wasn’t great, but Theo was good at cleaning plates, regardless of what was served. Rowan was pickier.
“Would you eat this?”
“Of course I would.” He took another bite to prove it. It tasted like the first meal someone cooked, but someone cooked itfor him.
Rowan looked at his plate and poked at his food. “It looks way better than it tastes.”
“When you put the photo on your Insta, just lie about how good it was,” Theo said with a wink.
“Thanks, Theo.” He sounded so serious. Rowan could be such a skittish little animal sometimes. Theo liked watching him relax after winding himself up over something.
“You’re the one who made me dinner. Thank you.”
Rowan worked up a smile for him, but Theo could see his disappointment. He took one more bite before deciding to order some food.
They got burgers and ate them on the couch, and when Vic came home, he stole the pickle out of Rowan’s take-out container, and finished Theo’s fries.
Finally, Rowan sighed heavily and said he was going to go clean the kitchen up, and wouldn’t accept Theo’s offer to help. He took their empty take-out containers and left Vic and Theo alone in the living room.
“Why do I feel like a third wheel around you guys now?”
Theo knew from experience that having a close relationship with a teammate didn’t automatically make anyone think you were gay. But cooking a big meal like Rowan did…
“We’re burying the hatchet.”
“I see that.” Vic still looked a little confused.
“Hey, I miss you around here, speaking of.” Vic had been his roommate for the previous two seasons, and while he had been working through a difficult divorce and was not always in the best mood, they had bonded. It felt weird not to tell Vic about the true nature of his and Rowan’s relationship.
“Miss you too, bud. But damn, you know what falling in love feels like, right?”
Theo tried not to laugh.
“I feel high, I swear to God.” Vic had his hands folded over his stomach, his body relaxed and slouched on the couch. He’d taken his backwards snapback off so the brim wouldn’t hit the back of the couch, and his hair, a standard hockey-boy grow-out of a short haircut, was flat and messy.
“Happy for you,” Theo said, reaching over to pat Vic’s thigh.
Vic nodded behind them toward the kitchen, where Rowan was banging and splashing around. “You too.”
CHAPTER22
ROWAN
“I thinkwe can all feel how special this team is this year,” Coach Peters said as they all sat in the video room after review. They had been floating on some kind of magic dust all season, and as soon as they clinched their playoff spot, the rest of the season seemed to vanish. At this point, there were only two kinds of games to play—games against teams who were fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot, and games against teams whose fate had already been decided.
