Safety Net (25 page)

Then again, Dale thought, he’d
never been good at basketball and hadn’t tried to play it seriously. Maybe
there was more to it. He focused on Andy, trying to watch the game as an equal
to football in its elegance and complexity. He ended up simply admiring Andy’s
great legs and ass and beautiful arms.

After the game, Andy wandered over
to Dale, wiping his face with a towel. “Ah, sorry you had to see that,” Andy said
good-naturedly. Andy’s team had lost by ten points. “We’re going to Smokey’s
Pizza if you want to come.”

“Sure, I’d like that.”

Andy grinned. “Great. Wait here
while I get changed.”

Andy walked off to the changing
rooms, acknowledging the other spectators with a nod. The older man got up and
left, but the younger guys stayed, waiting until the players came back,
showered and dressed.

The team and friends took up two
large tables at Smokey’s Pizza, a dark hole-in-the-wall near the campus. They
ordered pitchers of beer and cola and a bunch of pizzas -- plain pepperoni and
plain cheese, none of the fussy toppings Menacker always insisted on -- and
filled the place with loud talk and laughter.

Dale, crammed into a corner next to
Andy, said, “I didn’t get a chance to ask Lowell about playing.” The times he’d
seen Lowell outside of practice this week, Lowell had been engrossed in his
course work and didn’t invite being disturbed. “Sorry.”

Andy looked at him for a moment. “It’s
okay,” he said. “I asked about a football team. Pedro said he’d heard of one...
Pedro?” He reached past Dale to the guy sitting on Dale’s right. “This is Dale,
the guy I told you about. You said you’d heard something about a football
group? Like ours.”

Pedro squeezed around to meet Dale.
“Ah, yeah,” he said with a frown. “It’s up in San Francisco. And I heard it’s
mostly older men, not guys our age, so it could be kind of weird. You know.”

Dale thought of Javier cruising him
at the student union. “Oh. Yeah.”

“Sorry,” said Pedro. “But maybe you
can find enough guys around here. Ask around San Jose State and the community
college.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Dale tried to
imagine how to do that without the team finding out. Then wondered where all
this copious free time in his schedule was going to come from. Pedro turned
back to another conversation, and Dale said to Andy, “Was that older guy at the
game someone like that? Likes to watch young guys? Or was he, um, a fan?”

“Oh.” Andy winced. “That was my
father.”

Dale raised his eyebrows. “Really?
He comes to the games?”

Andy turned his attention to his
pizza, picking off a pepperoni and eating it. “Yeah,” he sighed. “It’s, uh, a
whole thing.”

Dale was curious but didn’t want to
push. Plus they were in a giant group of people and it was loud. Not a great atmosphere
for talking about family stuff. He shifted the topic to asking how they’d
started their basketball group, and got a lot of colorful stories about people
he didn’t know, but he liked the camaraderie and the jokes. It reminded him a
lot of the Crocker team.

Andy offered to give him a lift
back to Crocker as Dale hoped he would, so he wouldn’t have to deal with the
stupid buses that ran once an hour. In the car, Andy said, “Yeah, about my dad.
My mom died when I was in high school. She had liver cancer.”

“Oh shit. I’m sorry,” said Dale. He
thought of his mother, tried to remember when he’d spoken to her last. He’d
called his parents after the Orange Bowl. They’d watched it on TV, much to his
surprise.

“My mom knew about me. I told her
when I was pretty sure. She... I don’t know. It’s hard to say what she thought
about it. But she didn’t give me a hard time about it. Anyway. She told me she’d
tell my dad when the time was right.”

Dale stared out the window, having
a horrible feeling he knew what was coming. “She didn’t get a chance, did she?”

“No.” Andy paused, then got
distracted raising his voice at the car in front of them, “You tailgated me for
the past five blocks to pull this shit?! What the hell!” He recovered when the
car had turned off their street and said, “Anyway, yeah. I had to tell my dad.
I told him the day I moved into the dorms because I was afraid he’d kick me out
of the house.”

“How’d he take it?”

Andy sighed a little. “Denial. My
entire freshman year he talked about setting up a marriage meeting for me. They
still do stuff like that in Korea, apparently. Arranged marriages.”

Dale glanced at Andy. “Your dad’s
from Korea? Like, born there?”

Andy rolled his eyes. “My dad was
born in Belmont. The closest relatives I have in Korea are great-great-aunts
and uncles. He was just being stubborn. Playing the cultural heritage card to
try and straighten me out,” Andy emphasized the pun.

“What happened?”

“I brought my first boyfriend over
to the house to meet him,” Andy said with satisfaction. “I shoved his face in
it. Then we argued. And argued some more. And he threatened me: he’d stop
paying for school, he’d cut me out of the will, he wouldn’t let me visit my mom’s
grave.”

“Oh, whoa.” Dale watched Andy’s
profile, admiring how calmly he talked about this.

Andy briefly caught his glance. “One
day it stopped. The arguments, the threats. He started calling me once a week
and asking how I was doing. After a month or so, he asked how my boyfriend was.
We’d broken up by then, but I lied because I was afraid that would start my dad
planning marriage meetings again.”

Andy fell into silence, and Dale
watched the lights of mini-malls and car dealerships go by. “And the basketball
games...?”

“Oh. Yeah,” said Andy. “I was
really good at basketball in high school. I mean, uh, I was very, very good. I
could’ve gotten a basketball scholarship to Crocker, Rockridge, UCLA.” He
flashed a grin at Dale and said, “You didn’t see me at my best tonight. I’m
getting rusty.”

Dale thought he’d looked pretty
damn great tonight, but he hadn’t exactly been paying attention to the game.

“I didn’t go for an athletic
scholarship because I didn’t want to be on the team,” Andy said. “Because I
knew what that would mean. That’s why... Um. Anyway. My dad’s paying for my
tuition and there’s this silent argument between us. That because I’m gay I
gave up a basketball scholarship, which means he has to pay, so he insists on
coming to watch me play with my buddies. It’s weird, I know. You’d have to know
my dad to understand it.”

Dale was silent for a long moment.
Unexpectedly, the thought of his parents watching the Orange Bowl on TV had
come to mind. He frowned and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Maybe he just likes to watch you
play,” he said.

After a pause Andy said, “Hm,” like
he’d never thought of that as a possibility.

They talked about less heavy topics
for the rest of the ride, and when they got to campus, Andy walked Dale back to
Poitier even though it was out of his way. Dale leaned on the bicycle racks in
front and got out his ID to swipe inside.

“Tonight was fun,” he said,
flicking the ID against his hand. “Let me know when the next game is and I’ll
come.”

Andy stood with his hands in his
jacket pockets, rolling one heel against the sidewalk. He smiled. “Really? Sure.”
He narrowed his eyes and said, “You’re not into basketball though, are you?”

Dale grimaced. “Busted. But I did
have a lot of fun tonight.”

“I did, too.” Andy bit his lower
lip and looked around. Dale flicked his ID a few more times. He wanted to
invite Andy inside, but maybe that would be too forward. And, oh God, what if
Lowell was there, horrible thought.

“Well, um...” Dale said. Andy
looked at him like he was waiting for something. “Oh. I’ll remember to ask
Lowell about the basketball group.”

Andy glanced down, nodding. “Yeah,
okay. Thanks.” He rolled his heel again and chewed on his lip. He had lush,
beautiful lips. Dale looked down at his ID, flapping it against his palm.

“Dale.”

Dale looked at him. “Yeah?”

“I... Um. Anyway. I was wondering,
maybe instead of basketball, we could do a movie? I mean, you’re more than
welcome to come, but if it’s boring...”

Dale sensed that Andy had said
something different than he’d intended to, but he was so pleased at the
outcome, he didn’t question it.

“Movie would be awesome.” And to
seal the deal, leave nothing to chance, he added, “Next weekend? Sundays are
better for me, we have practice on Saturday. I think the new Denzel Washington
movie is opening next week.”

Andy smiled warmly at him. “Sounds
like a plan. Sunday it is. I’ll text you?”

“Do that.”

“Okay. Goodnight, then.”

“’Night.”

The following Sunday Dale went to
the new Denzel Washington movie with Andy. It was a basketball movie. Laughing
about it later, they made plans to see another movie the next weekend,
carefully choosing the one about escaped convicts and robot soldiers.

Their third movie was Vin Diesel’s
latest, a disappointing mishmash of comedy and explosions. But Vin Diesel spent
a quarter of the movie in his underwear, so Dale had no complaints. Afterwards,
they sat in Andy’s car for a while and talked about the movie, and Dale, heart
hammering as he worked up his nerve, leaned over and kissed him.

Andy immediately placed his hand on
Dale’s neck and kissed him back, a delicious full kiss.

“Mm,” said Andy, lightly rubbing
Dale’s neck. “I was hoping that would happen.”

“Were you?” Dale softly kissed him
again.

Andy smiled. “Since we met.”

Dale sat back a little. “Really?
But I thought...”

Andy gave him a questioning look,
and Dale glanced away. Staring at the dashboard he said, “I thought you were
interested in Lowell.” He met Andy’s gaze and smiled ruefully. “Me and my
Lowell issues.”

Andy laughed gently. “Afraid so. He
seemed nice enough, but my attention was already somewhere else.”

“Oh.” Dale’s cheeks warmed.

“Besides, I’m not attracted to
blonds,” Andy said, and kissed him again slowly.

“That’s reassuring to know,” murmured
Dale. He sat up and glanced around. “Your car’s nice enough and all, but we’re
close to Poitier.” He almost reached for his phone to text Lowell and make sure
he wasn’t in the dorm.

Andy sighed a little and stroked
Dale’s neck. “Don’t you have practice in the morning? At some ungodly hour?”

“Yeah. And I like to take a run
before that,” Dale said, letting go of his slight disappointment. He rested his
hand over Andy’s. “Next weekend? Another movie? Or whatever you like. I, um.
Just so you know. I don’t mind if we go slow. One step at a time.”

Andy smiled warmly at him. “Boring
and normal?” he asked.

Dale cringed. “Maybe not so much
with the boring. But normal would be a welcome change.”

They kissed again before Andy walked
him to Poitier and said goodnight.

-----

Between one thing and the other,
Dale didn’t see Lowell or Erick outside of practice for a couple of weeks,
until one evening when Lowell was at the dorm, studying in the living room.
When Dale came in, he said, “Hey,” and Lowell looked up from his laptop and
said, “Hey. Uh, Dale?”

Dale wandered over and leaned
against the wall. “Yeah?”

Lowell glanced at his laptop and
frowned. “I, uh. I said some stupid things last time. I didn’t mean it. You
know.”

Dale blinked at him. That had been
weeks ago.

“Homie. Don’t tell me you’ve been
letting something that stupid eat at you all this time.”

Lowell smiled a little. “Um, no.
Not really. I’ve been so fucking busy, it’s not even funny. These extra
classes, bro.” He pushed his laptop aside and stretched his legs. “Why didn’t I
take summer classes? Why did I goof off so much? You should’ve stopped me, man.”

Dale folded his arms over his
chest. “Can’t save you if you won’t save yourself. And about that other
stuff...we’re cool. You know that, right? We’re always gonna be cool.”

Lowell smiled at him, that
heartbreakingly genuine and beautiful smile. Dale was more or less immune to it
now. “Sweet,” said Lowell. “Thanks.”

Dale looked down at his fingernails
and said, “Besides, um. You were right. Andy and I... we’re sort of dating.”

“Really?” Lowell grinned. “Dude.
That’s awesome. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You’re never around, remember? And
jeez, calm down already. Before you start planning our wedding. I’m taking it
slow this time. Casual. Nice and normal.”

“Casual,” Lowell repeated,
squinting at him. “That doesn’t sound good. Look, maybe it’s none of my
business, but you go too slow? You’re gonna lose him. Andy’s a good guy. This
one’s a keeper, Lennart.”

Dale smiled thinly. “You’ll forgive
me for not taking dating advice from
you
, Menacker.”

Lowell leaned back in the chair. “You
don’t trust my patented blend of rampant sex and insanity? I wonder why.”

“I wonder,” said Dale, and Lowell
chuckled, pushing his hands through his hair. “How is Erick, by the way? At
this rate, I feel like I’m not gonna see him again until I’m watching him on TV
receiving the Heisman.”

Lowell got the goofy smile he
always got when he was talking about Erick. “Erick’s good. His classes are
kicking his butt this quarter, though. And he’s had a ton of extra training
with the quarterbacks. I guess they’re already trying to groom his replacement.”

“Already,” said Dale soberly,
letting the reality of their upcoming final season sink in.

“Yeah.” Lowell rubbed the back of
his neck. “I know how it looks and stuff, but actually, I don’t see him much
these days, either. We’ve both been studying our asses off. This fucking
composition course... I should’ve taken it two years ago and gotten it out of
the way.” Lowell sighed in frustration.