“Thank you for coming with me today,” Bentley said. He stood up and paced around the green room. Kit was busy updating Bentley’s social media for him, but he waved his boyfriend off.

“I feel like I should be here for moral support in case this woman tries something…” And that was exactly why he showed up. He wouldn’t be able to focus in class knowing that Bentley was on the talk show of a woman who could easily ruin his career just by asking insinuating and misleading questions. It wouldn’t hurt him to miss this class.

Bentley smiled a bit. He had on his sleeveless hoodie and a dark pair of jeans. “I promised you on the way here that this was going to go fine. Stop worrying.”

“It’s not you that I’m worried about,” Kit mumbled.

@Bentley_BMX: #TeamBenny, tune into @SamiTalkLive now!

He attached a photo he’d just taken of a smiling Bentley and watched as the retweets went from zero to four-hundred in the first couple minutes.

A social media person from Sami Perez’s talk show knocked a couple times on the green room door before walking in. He smiled politely.

“Hey, Bentley. Would you mind taking a quick Snapchat to let people know you’re up next?”

Kit looked away from them and at the screen. Sami’s first guest was some Disney actor who was promoting a new movie she had coming out. Sami seemed to be keeping it PG, thankfully. Hopefully she didn’t try anything when it came to Bentley, either.

“Thanks a lot.” The man turned and left, and a PA poked her head in to let them know he’d be walking out in two minutes. Bentley nodded, now pacing back and forth.

“You seem nervous.”

“I’m not,” Bentley said. “Just anxious. I hope this interview isn’t in vain. I really need to shed light on what happened in Toronto and let people know I’m not rolling over that easily.”

Kit sat back on the sofa. He couldn’t deny that he was proud of his boyfriend for doing this. He was just nervous for him.

“You’ll be fine,” he said instead.

Bentley winked at him. “I may need a pre-show kiss, though?”

Kit hopped up from the sofa and wasted no time wrapping his arms around Bentley’s shoulders. “If you can remember the website correctly, I’ll give you two kisses.”

Bentley laughed. “Teambenny.com/shop.”

Kit placed two kisses on his mouth, and a third one just because. “That one was for good luck.”

“I feel really lucky.” Bentley smiled and squeezed his waist. “Alright, honey. Let me go out here and kill it.”

Kit smiled at him, handing over the gift bag. “I’ll be watching from backstage.”

Bentley accepted it and nodded. “Alright, Kitten.”

??

The applause was deafening. Bentley hung out with a producer as he waited to be introduced. Now that he could see the cameras and the studio audience, his nerves were picking up a little bit more.

“Welcome back to On Air with Sami Perez,” the brunette woman said. “Next up, he’s a fresh-face in the world of BMX, but many fans of the sport know him as the son of Brian Williams and the nephew of Donald Kinsella. Having recently signed big endorsements with Red Bull and Adidas, this young man is making waves and climbing his way to the top. Let’s welcome Bentley Williams to the hot seat!”

Bentley glanced back at Kit who looked like he was about to puke. He winked at him before making his way to centerstage. The people in the audience cheered him on as he walked over to the Sami and shook her hand, then handing her the gift bag. She seemed genuine at least. They both took a seat on either side of the table.

“Welcome to the show, Bentley! Aren’t you handsome! Isn’t he handsome, ladies and gentlemen?”

There were some wolf whistles from the crowd. Bentley flashed his charming smile and thanked the audience. “That’s nice of you to say.”

“And he brought gifts?” She dug into the bag and pulled out a pink t-shirt first – the design with his silhouette on the bicycle followed by #TeamBenny. “Oh my goodness, look at this!” The audience applauded. “And what else?”

“I heard through the grapevine that you’re a big fan of soul cycle, so we brought you a little merch.”

It was a duffel bag with the cool “Ride or Die” logo. Sami showed the audience before hugging it against her body.

“You did your research because I love pink! Thank you! Where can the people find this?”

“Teambenny.com/shop!” Bentley stood up and showed off his hoodie. “If you’re team pineapple on pizza, you have a home on that website.”

The audience was a mixture of applause and faces of disgust. Bentley sat down with a laugh.

Sami turned to him with a smile. “So, first off, thanks for coming to the show.”

“Thanks for having me.” Bentley smiled at a woman who was still cheering for him. He hoped she’d keep her panties on.

“Where to begin?” Sami asked. “It just seems like you have so much going on, now. You were a big deal as a football player at UCLA, but left to pursue BMX, is that right?”

She did her research, too. Bentley nodded. “Yeah, actually. I dropped out of school before this semester began, unbeknownst to my family. I was even semi-homeless for a while.”

She laughed. “Semi-homeless?”

“Well, I stayed with a friend. I don’t want to get him in trouble, so I’ll only say that much. Then, my now-boyfriend hooked me up and let me stay with his pops until I got on my feet with this whole BMX thing.”

“And you’re doing amazing so far. We have to congratulate you.” The audience applauded after Sami’s words, and Bentley smiled again.

“Thank you.”

“So, before we get into your BMX success, you mentioned your boyfriend. Kit, right?”

Bentley nodded. “Kit. He’s actually here with me today,” he said, gesturing over to the backstage area and smiling.

“Look at him,” Sami said, smiling as the audience cheered. “You two make a rather handsome couple.”

Bentley could tell that Kit was smiling just to be polite, but deep down inside he didn’t trust the talk show host enough to let her borrow two cents. He thanked her once more.

“Kit makes that easy.”

There were some coos from the audience as Sami resumed. “So, most of us know about your relationship because a blogger/reporter for an online news source pretty much outed your relationship.”

Bentley licked his lips and nodded. “Unfortunately, yes. He got some pictures of us at a party and posted about it. I want to start off by saying that I am proud to be with Kit. I’ll never be ashamed of him. The letter I posted to the world in response to the quote-on-quote journalist outing me was sincere, and it frustrates me that he stole our moment to go public whenever we decided.”

“Absolutely,” Sami said, waiting for the applause to die down. “But – I’m curious.”

Bentley looked at her quizzically. Where was she about to go with this?

“You’ve never been with a man before, but you’ve dated girls – one of which, a UCLA student named Zoey, accuses you of using your relationship with Kit as a publicity stunt to get you further in your BMX career. What do you have to say to that?”

Well. That was news to Bentley. He hadn’t heard from Zoey in what felt like months at this point, and it was his understanding that she wanted nothing to do with him and that they should just move on. What gave her the right to comment about his current relationship or how genuine it was or wasn’t? Who made that her business? He shook his head and looked out at the audience who patiently awaited his response.

“Since I cannot curse on the air, I will say it’s complete bull crap. With the utmost respect to Zoey, I honestly couldn’t care less what the girl thinks about Kit and me.” There were a few oooos from the audience. He looked at Sami and continued. “I don’t want to single her out, so that goes for anyone who has an opinion on my relationship. Kit didn’t know me from a hole in the wall, yet he took the time to listen to my dreams and support me. Since the beginning, he told me that I should go for what I want and he’s been there. I’m sure you guys understand that if I was looking for a publicity stunt, Alex Kim wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to out me. I would’ve been seeking attention from day one.”

More applause, and Sami Perez nodded attentively. Bentley observed her. He couldn’t tell how interested she was in this conversation now. She probably wanted him to say something disrespectful about both Alex Kim and his ex-girlfriend, Zoey, but Bentley wasn’t here for that. He didn’t care enough about them to be petty.

“What’s this I saw on your social media about you two meeting ten years ago?”

Bentley began to laugh. He wished that he could glance back and Kit without it being obvious on camera. “Yeah. Uh, Kit and I met for the first time at Cedar Point in Ohio when we were just seven and eight years old.”

Again, the audience ate it up.

“His father tells the story best,” Bentley continued. “Apparently I was a little love-struck puppy and didn’t want to leave. Not much has changed.”

Sami perked up – a grin on her face. “Are you saying that you’re in love with Kit?”

Bentley could feel himself blushing hard. He dragged a hand down his face as he laughed. “I, um –”

“There’s only several million viewers watching. Oh, and your boyfriend who happens to be backstage.”

Bentley smiled at the audience’s laughter as he placed his hands back in his lap. “I’m… I’m in pretty deep.”

“We’ll take that as a yes.”

Bentley bit his lip into a smile. “Wow. Uh, Kit’s fantastic and I’m lucky to be with him. I’ll say that.”

“We’re going to take a quick break, but when we come back, we’ll discuss Bentley’s recent Red Bull Tour and his controversial comments about his Toronto competition. Stay tuned.”

At the direction of the producer, the audience applauded as they went into the commercial break. Bentley took a deep breath and sat back in the seat. The lights were bright. He was sweating. And, he’d been exposed as a whipped boyfriend on national television. Sami’s hair and makeup people ran over to touch her up, and Bentley turned in his chair to see Kit hanging out with a production assistance. Kit shook his head at him, but smiled warmly. Bentley couldn’t help but smile back.

Kit had to know he was in deep by now, right? It wasn’t like he was finding out at the same time that the rest of America was.

He was allowed to sign some autographs for his fans in the first couple rows before returning to his seat on stage. Sami told him he was doing amazing as the director counted them down from five.

“And we are back with young BMX stud Bentley Williams.”

Bentley smiled at the crowd before giving the host his complete attention.

“I mentioned at the top of the interview that you come from a line of BMX riders. Your father, Brian, and your uncle, Donald. What does it mean to carry the torch and pick up where they left off?”

Bentley sat back and nodded. “For those of you who don’t know, my father’s no longer with us, but he and my uncle are the biggest reasons that I have any interest in BMX. They were the ones who kicked off the freestyle movement, and growing up while they were in the heights of their careers was such a big deal for me.”

She nodded.

“I got to see them compete, and learn from them, and fall in love more and more each day. My father hurt himself on the ramps, and that shook me up a little, but it never changed the passion I feel when it comes to the sport. Being able to pick up the torch and carry on the Williams’ legacy means the world to me. I just want to do him justice – to make him proud.”

The audience clapped, and Sami continued.

“I’d like to think you are. You recently got to go on an amazing European tour with Red Bull. How was it?”

“Incredible. It’s a blessing to be part of Red Bull’s talented team. It was a group of five of us – one of which is my new roommate here in SoCal, and we met fans and filmed and performed for them. I got to show off my moves to fans in Spain, Germany, France… I never even thought that would be possible.”

Sami smiled and continued. “And then, you ended up in Toronto for a competition?”

“For X-Jam, yes.”

“You came in second place,” she continued. “That’s not bad. Decent prize money, and it shows people who are still learning of you in the sport that you’re a good rider. Why were you so upset?”

“Firstly, because I’m better than a ‘good rider’ and the people of X-Jam knew that.” Bentley paused for a moment to form his words correctly. “I would like to say, on the record, that I should have won that competition. The people of Toronto know this.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Sami pried.

“Though he denies this, one of the judges was blatantly homophobic. I’d written my letter to Kit and the world on social media a few days prior, and it made waves not only in my sport, but basically all over the Internet. Victor Davidson may deny this, but he underscored me consistently and gave Simon Dubois higher scores than he deserved, which landed him in first place.”

Sami gasped dramatically. “Is this your way of saying that Simon Dubois didn’t deserve to win?”

The audience was at the edge of their seats.

Bentley answered confidently. “I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I’m sure Dubois is an okay guy, but he’s mediocre at best. I was the better competitor. The blogs said it, analysts on ESPN said it, and BMX isn’t even an area they commonly cover. It’s a fact.”

“Wow!” Sami looked out at the crowd who grew louder. “So you’re saying that if that judge wasn’t involved, you would’ve beaten him?”

“If the judges were all on the same accord and judging solely on talent instead of who I go home to at night, then we would not be discussing Simon Dubois right now.”

“Who thinks we need a rematch?” Sami asked the audience.

The applause was loud. Bentley looked out at them and nodded. He could agree. A rematch was necessary.

“It’s funny you say that, because Simon and many other BMX stars who are much more seasoned than I am will be competing at XCM in Vegas next month. Problem is, Victor Davidson blacklisted me from the competition after I said what I said. I think it’s because he knows it’s true. But, if the chairs at XCM were willing to extend an invite, I’d 100% compete. They can’t be afraid of the new kid, right? What’s the harm?”

“Is that something you’d be interesting in seeing?” she asked the audience. There were several people who stood up to applaud, and Bentley knew those were the fans of the sport who’d shown up. The others cheered loudly and he nodded.

“So, you’re saying that if XCM were to extend this invitation, you’d be ready?” Sami reiterated.

“One-hundred percent,” Bentley confirmed. “And I’m coming for first place. Know that.”

She grinned like she’d hit the drama jackpot. “You heard it here first, folks.”