The Quarterback's Crush Page 7

  The students all stared at one another, Steven’s face smeared with mustard and Justin’s hair caked with dry yogurt. No one said anything. The long moment of silence dragged on as Mr. Mathers stared at each student.

  “Fine, I imagine we can find room in detention for the rest of the year for all of you.”

  “Actually, sir,” Rick said, looking around the room. “It was all a misunderstanding. I was saying how there was a new study, which suggested that the acid content in mustard can actually help reduce acne, because of a chemical reaction to oils in the skin. So, when we were testing it, which I was thinking might be an excellent science project this year, as well as a possible fund-raiser for the school, because homemade and natural beauty products are incredibly popular this year. Anyway, when we were testing it, someone at another table thought we were fighting and yelled out the, of course, stereotypical ‘food fight’ and that’s when everyone else started throwing food.” Rick smiled carefully. “That’s what happened, right guys?”

  The others all nodded agreements and Principal Mathers stared.

  On the way out of the office, Russell turned to the others. “Just because you got us out of this, doesn’t mean I’m gonna forget.”

  Steven looked at him. “Shut up, dude. And, from now on, you can consider any member of the chess club as one of the football players. You come after them, it’d be like screwing with us.”

  “Fine.” Russell started walking away. “Consider the whole team targets.”

  “Well,” Chad said. “This is gonna complicate things a little bit.”

  Robby’s voice cracked. “Complicate what?”

  The two footballers looked at each other. Chad took a minute but finally spoke. “Nothing, guys. Hey, does mustard really work on zits?”

  Rick shrugged. “Not as far as I know, but Mathers won’t bother looking. He still thinks ‘google’ is a dirty word.” He paused. “Thanks for sticking up for us. No one’s ever done that before.”

  “Thanks for the yogurt attack, dude. You’re pretty tough.” He turned to Robby. “And you, Mouse. Good job hiding when the food started flying.”

  Robby looked at Chad, like the bigger student was mocking him. “I’m sorry.”

  “No, seriously, bud. If a guy is that much bigger, and you’re not a crazy man, like Ricky here, you should hide. You don’t want to get hurt. Better to be safe. Seriously. And if anyone gives you any crap, just let me or Steven know, and we’ll take care of it.”

  Steven spoke next. “I’m not that interested in learning to play chess, but you could definitely teach me to lie to Mathers. That’ll come in handy.” They all started walking down the hall. “Hey, guys. Have you met our friend Dylan yet?”

  HOW JONNY GOT A DATE

  WHILE CHAD and Steven made sure the chess club trio made it home okay, Tommy and I were sitting at my kitchen table working on trig. I told Tommy that the library was too quiet, and I could do better at home. He rolled his eyes and sighed.

  “Ha!” I pointed my finger at him and smiled. “The sigh. I told you. Are you going to do the voice?”

  “Yes. I’m going to do the voice.” He smiled back at me and was quiet for a second. “Okay. Let’s go to your house.”

  We didn’t talk about anything special on the drive to my place. He wasn’t leaning against the door to stay away from me. He was leaning against it so he could look at me. I couldn’t have been happier if I tried.

  He looked a little bit cautious when I opened the front door and held it for him. Almost like he was waiting for a bunch of people to jump out at him and yell “Surprise” or something. He relaxed a little bit more when we went into the kitchen and I offered him something to drink. We sat at the kitchen table and pulled out books and my usual homework and practice questions and started to work.

  By the time we were done, he hadn’t sighed once. He hadn’t even rolled his eyes. “See, Dylan? You’ll do fine. Don’t freak out about the test. You’ve got more days to study. You can do it.” He paused and looked at me. “I believe it. Honestly. I said it before and I’ll say it again—you’ll do great.”

  He looked me right in the eyes, and my mouth went dry. I grabbed my water bottle and chugged it before I garbled whatever it was I was going to say. I leaned forward, just a little bit. “Thanks, Tommy. Really. Thanks for everything.” He leaned forward, and we stared at each other, totally silent. I licked my lips, and a second later he licked his. “I mean that.”

  My phone rang. Tommy looked startled and pulled away, which of course, meant that I had to pull away, because otherwise I would have looked weird.

  I answered without looking at who it was. “What!” I practically barked into the phone. It was Riley. I put my hand over the phone and motioned to Tommy that I would be right back. I walked into the living room, where I could see Tommy, but he couldn’t hear me, as long as I talked softly. “Dude. You just totally jockblocked me.”

  “Oh, man, I’m sorry,” Riley said. “Man, I’m really sorry. I didn’t know you guys were going to seal the deal.”

  I sighed. “It’s okay. You didn’t jockblock me, really. Well, maybe you did. I think he was going to kiss me. Maybe. We were really close to each other.” I checked to make sure Tommy was still sitting at the table. “Do you think he was going to kiss me?”

  “Dude, how the hell would I know? I’m not there watching. And I have no idea how it works between two guys.” He was silent for one second. “Have you ever kissed anyone before? How do you know if he’s a good kisser? How do you know if you’re a good kisser? You know what? You should get some advice about kissing.” I could hear him snap his fingers. “Talk to Val. She likes to kiss. I’ll bet she can tell you how to do it. Do you think she’ll want to practice with you? Have you ever kissed a girl?”

  “Riley, that’s embarrassing. You’re embarrassing me.” I wanted him to stop talking. Then I thought about it. What if he was right? What if I was a bad kisser? Would I turn Tommy off? And, who the hell could I get advice from besides Val? This was not something I could ask my dad. “Crap. Now I think you might be right.” I shook my head. “Did you call for a real reason or was it just to ruin any self-confidence I had?”

  “Don’t be such a drama queen,” Riley said, and I could tell he was smiling over the phone. “I read that online. I’ve got a whole new vocabulary now. It’s freaking awesome. I wish you’d come out years ago. Hey, girl, hey! Cool, right? Anyway, I just wanted to see how it was going with Tommy. Call me later, dude.” He hung up, and I shoved my phone in my pocket.

  Tommy cleared his throat, and I jumped, scared that he overheard me. “Dylan, I should get home. My dad and all.”

  “Right.” I nodded, and I looked at him for a second. “Right, and I drove you here, so I should give you a ride home.” I ran to the kitchen table and grabbed my backpack and keys and wallet. I’d have to buy dinner tonight. I didn’t think I’d have enough time to drive Tommy home and cook before Dad got home. “Right. So. Keys.” I held them up to show him I had them.

  “Yep.” He hesitated when I didn’t move. “Should we take the keys to the car?” I blinked for a second and then realized he was laughing at me. He was teasing me. I laughed back. He pointed at me. “Is there a reason you’re bringing your backpack? Are you going to study at the stoplights?”

  I laughed again. “Yeah, I don’t need that.” I put my backpack down on the couch, and we went to the front door. “Sorry about the phone call,” I apologized, locking the front door. “Riley.”

  “Is everything okay?” Tommy walked to the passenger side, and I reached around him to open the door. He dropped his backpack on the floor, and I answered before I shut the car door.

  “Yeah. Everything’s good. He’s having girl problems.”

  I shut the door and went around to the driver’s side. I was settled in and backing the car out of the driveway before Tommy said anything. “So he called you for advice?”

  “Hmmm?” I was watching out because sometimes ou
r neighbor’s cat liked to run across the driveway, and it was always when I was backing out. “Oh, yeah. He wanted….” I was looking for something to tell him and I hesitated. Which reminded me that I might be really good at keeping secrets, but I suck at lying. “He wanted kissing advice.”

  “Kissing advice?” Tommy looked like he didn’t believe me for a second.

  “Sure. When. How to know if she was into it. That kind of stuff. Everyone needs advice now and then. You know what I mean?” I stopped at a red light and looked over at Tommy. “Don’t you think people should ask about things like that?”

  “I have no idea.” He lowered his voice. “I’ve never kissed anyone.”

  “Really?” I guess I was surprised. Even I’d kissed a few girls. Nothing heavy. Just some kissing. Maybe I could ask one of them if I was a good kisser. No. If I was going that route, it’d have to be Valerie. I looked back at him right before the light turned green and saw he was blushing. A thought popped into my head and, of course, I said it without thinking. “Holy crap, dude! You’re embarrassed to talk about sex.”

  “I’m not embarrassed,” Tommy replied, looking away from me. “It’s just, you know. It’s embarrassing.”

  “Sex isn’t embarrassing, Tommy.” I waited until he looked at me. “It’s just sex.”

  “I wasn’t raised in a locker room, Dylan. We don’t talk about, you know, stuff like that.”

  “You never talked to your parents about sex?”

  “Do you?” He tilted his chin up and looked like he was gonna challenge me.

  “Sure.” I paused for a second. “Well, I did with my mom. Well, she talked to me about it.”

  “I’m sorry, Dylan. I forgot. About your mom.” I shrugged and he smiled a little. I think it was because he knew I wasn’t mad at him. “What did she say?”

  “I don’t really remember what she said,” I replied. “I remember she was really funny about it. I wish I’d taken the time to remember more about what she said to me. About everything, you know what I mean?” I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t help staring at his eyes. “I do remember her telling me about where babies come from and all the regular stuff. She started talking about condoms and that kinda stuff.”

  “My parents never talk about it.”

  “You, um,” I hesitated because I wasn’t sure how to ask the question, but I had to ask. “You know about sex, right?”

  “Yeah, I do!” This voice was the one he used when he wanted me to change the subject. “I read a few books at the library. That may sound stupid, but my parents would rather die than talk about sex.”

  “I get it, dude. Believe me.” I took a second before I decided what I wanted to say. “Can I tell you something? Last week, I realized my dad and I didn’t actually say one word to each other for almost two days. Just a couple of texts.”

  “I’m sorry, Dylan.”

  “It’s cool.” I shrugged it off, but I could tell he knew I was lying. It bothered me. A lot. I wish my dad and I were closer.

  “Sometimes my dad yells. Really yells.” He looked down at the table again. “I can’t wait to graduate and go away. I’m never coming back here again.”

  “Never? Not for holidays or anything?”

  “Well, for holidays, sure. My dad’s just… my dad’s just my dad. You know.”

  I didn’t. Not really. My dad never yelled. Even when Mom was around he didn’t say too much. I wasn’t sure what to say to Tommy, so I went with the obvious. “You know, if it ever gets really bad at home, you can stay at my house.”

  “Really?”

  “Sure. It’d be like… we were brothers. Or something.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Right.” This was another voice he used. The one he wanted to use when I said something he totally disagreed with, but was still afraid to tell me because, even after all this time, he still thought of me as a jock jerk. “We could never be brothers. We don’t have a lot in common.”

  I wanted to say that I didn’t really want us to be brothers. I wanted us to be boyfriends. I wanted us to date and hold hands and kiss while we watched TV. I wanted to say all of that, but I wussed out and said, “People don’t need to have a lot in common to, you know, be brothers or friends or stuff.”

  “You don’t think so?”

  “You don’t know anything about football. I don’t know anything about chess. Doesn’t mean we can’t teach each other, right?” The way he smiled at me, I thought I couldn’t breathe for a second. That amazing smile. It was the one that went all the way up to his eyes. I wanted to make him smile like that every day. I knew I should keep my mouth shut, but I couldn’t. “I missed you at the game the other day.”

  “Yeah. I’m sorry I didn’t go. I heard you were pretty incredible in the last half. That’s what my friends said anyway. Rick and Robby went to the game. They said they heard you were a great guy.” We were almost back at his house. “I have to get my own homework done.”

  “Didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, dude.”

  “You didn’t.”

  “Next time, you have to come to the game, though. Okay? Promise.”

  “Sure. Next time. Promise.” I wasn’t sure if he was lying.

  THE NEXT day Jonny sat in physics with a second notebook on his desk. Every time he saw Tommy do something Dylan might find useful, Jonny wrote it down for the Big Gay Board in Riley’s basement.

  At the end of class, Tommy started walking down the hallway with a girl Jonny had seen before. They were watching something on her phone and he started laughing. Jonny wondered what was going on with these two. He’d been in Tommy’s classes a couple of times, and he’d figured the guy was gay. But, on the other hand, he’d figured that Dylan was straight, so maybe he was wrong about Tommy.

  Half jogging up to the two of them, he called out. “Hey, Tommy!” He caught up with the two of them and tried to act casual. “Oh, sorry, did I interrupt?”

  “No. We’re watching a video.” Tommy wasn’t suspicious exactly, but Jonny hadn’t ever really spoken to him much before. “What’s up?”

  “I was just wondering if I could borrow your notes for physics. I was having a little trouble following the last part of class.”

  “Sure. I’m in the office after school today, so I can photocopy them if you want to come by.”

  “Great. Thanks.” Jonny turned to the girl. “Hey….”

  “Allie.” She half scowled, half smiled at Jonny. He was tall and towered over the two of them. Allie had dark hair, right below her shoulders with a couple of streaks of blue and green in it. She was curvy and Jonny couldn’t help but notice how different she looked from the cheerleaders who usually caught his eye, but didn’t seem to keep his attention.

  “Right. Allie.” He smiled back at her. “Hey, are you two, you know.”

  “Are we?”

  “You know,” Jonny said. “You two going out?”

  “Leaving campus? Lunch isn’t for another three periods.”

  “No. I mean, are you dating?”

  “What?” Tommy looked at him. “Why are you asking that?”

  “Just, you know, kinda curious.”

  Allie stopped walking and looked up at Jonny, who was, at least seven inches taller. “No. We’re not dating. We’re friends. Men and women can be friends without any romantic feelings.”

  “Right. I know that,” Jonny said. “Like that movie with that guy.”

  Allie looked confused for a second. “Sure. Exactly like that.” She crossed her arms. “How did you get into AP Physics?”

  “Allie!” Tommy turned bright red. “That’s not very nice. Jonny’s friends with Dylan. The guy I’m, you know, tutoring.”

  “No. That’s fair.” Jonny didn’t look angry. In fact, he looked like he appreciated Allie’s sarcasm. “I’m really good with numbers. I suck at English, but physics is just scientific math. No big deal.”

  Allie’s eyes narrowed, as if she was sizing up his reply. “You’re funny.” She said it without smili
ng at all, but it was sincere, and she and Jonny spent a minute staring at each other.

  Tommy rolled his eyes and grabbed Allie’s shoulder. “We’ve got to get to class.” He walked away and turned his head to remind Jonny. “Come to the office after school, and I’ll get you my notes.”

  “Sure thing.” Jonny waved at Allie and pulled out his phone to text Dylan.

  To: Dylan Dog

  From: Jonny

  Good news! He’s not dating any girls that I know of. More good news. I think I just figured out that smart girls are hawt!

  RILEY’S BASEMENT smelled like burgers and fries and we were filling in the Big Gay Board before we moved on to the real event of the night, which was the first three Star Wars movies. Not the first three in time order, but the first three in release date order. (Some of the guys on the team were spending the night at Riley’s.)

  Riley took charge, because that’s what Riley did. He was only a month older than me, but he always acted like my big brother. “Jonny,” Riley said, pointing with the marker. “Are you sure he’s not dating anyone?”

  “I didn’t get exact confirmation, but when I asked if him and Allie were dating, neither one said he was seeing someone else.”

  “That’s good news.” Riley added the word “single” underneath Tommy’s picture. “We’re going to need firm confirmation of his gaydom. Steven, Chad, how’s it going with the chess club?”

  Chad shoved a handful of fries into his mouth. “They’re good. We played chess at lunch on Friday and—”

  Steven hit Chad on the shoulder. “Seriously, man. Mouthful of food? Don’t be gross.” Chad stopped talking but kept chewing, and Steven took over. “They’ve been hearing nothing but how awesome Dylan is, but I can’t just ask them if they know if Tommy’s gay.” He paused. “We can’t just ask them that, can we?”