Chapter Twenty-Seven

Dan’s game was suffering.

He had been on a points drought for four straight games and he’d probably be willing to blame his sexuality confession like the media if it wasn’t for the messages he couldn’t stop re-reading.

“Stop letting it bother you,” Helena said, kicking his knee. “Turn off your phone.”

Dan looked at her over the top of his phone, unimpressed. They were having their movie night, apparently a new tradition according to Helena, and while he wasn’t interested in what was playing, he did like having company. Except when she was telling him to get over himself.

“Apparently coming out was a deliberate way of getting to him.”

“You’ve said.” Helena rubbed at Bear’s back. He was stretched out over her legs and Dan was beginning to think he loved her best. “Bobby hasn’t really been himself.”

Dan made a face. “Kayla seems to think he’s perfect.”

Helena was staring at the television, apparently, Dan’s love life wasn’t interesting anymore. “It’s easier to dismiss someone over text than it is in person. Admit it, if I hadn’t shown up at your door, you’d have ignored my texts.”

It was a fair assessment. “Shut up, I let you in.”

Huffing a laugh, Helena bit into a slice of pizza, dropping a few meatballs on her sweater. They were immediately inhaled by Bear. Not the best diet for a dog, but Bear had eaten worse things. “Bobby is the same. It’s easier for him to be angry over text than it is for him to ask you how you’re feeling.”

Dan didn’t want to tell Bobby how he was feeling. He wanted Bobby to support him, not question his motives.

“Maybe he’s scared,” Helena added. “You were unattainable before because you were closeted. Maybe you being out gives him way too many feelings about what’s possible.”

That was plausible. “Still a dick move though.”

Helena shrugged, waving the slice of pizza dangerously above Bear’s nose. If she wasn’t careful he’d grab it from her. “He probably thought the same thing about you choosing hockey over him in that hotel lobby.”

Helena was a much nicer person when she wasn’t shitting on his decisions. He glared at her instead of saying that, hoping that he was stressing the point enough that she’d stop talking. Giving him a sweet smile, she shoved the rest of the pizza in her mouth.

Neither of them should have been eating the pizza. It wasn’t in their meal plans, but neither of them had cared. They’d both been on a four-game stint and now that they had a day off, they’d agreed to meet up for bad food and movies. Ian had moaned, wanted to spend time with his girlfriend while they were home, but oddly Helena had chosen Dan. Dan was trying not to believe it was because his friends were worried about him and just that she wanted to bother him.

“I could still kick you out,” Dan said.

“But you won’t,” Helena said with a surprising certainty. “You know I’m right.”

Dan dicked around on his phone for the rest of the movie, only bringing up Bobby’s number when the credits were rolling. He couldn’t remember what the last scene was, so preoccupied with his thoughts.

Dan: You didn’t have to ask me. I’m not doing this because it’s what you want. I’m doing it because it’s what I want.

Bobby: It wasn’t what you wanted a month ago. What changed?

Dan: If you don’t know what changed, I don’t know what to fucking tell you.

Bobby: You told me you’re not doing it because it’s what I wanted.

Dan: I didn’t. Those two things aren’t the same.

Bobby hadn’t replied since, and Dan had been agonizing over it ever since. Most of him was just mad. He hadn’t been expecting fanfare and congratulations, but he also wasn’t expecting the third degree. Bobby clearly couldn’t decide what he wanted from Dan. Maybe if he’d made a different decision during the Olympics. He hadn’t and now they were both going to have to live with that.

“Anyway,” Helena said, shutting off the movie and kissing Bear on the neck. “I better get going. Definitely going to have to spend the day with the ‘boyf’ tomorrow.”

“Your ‘boyf’,” Dan said, making a face, “is my brother. You can say his name.”

Helena snorted. “He might appear. I would hate to subject you to that.”

Startled, Dan laughed and kicked the bottom of her foot. “How kind of you.”

“I know,” Helena sighed, grinning. “I’ll see myself out.”

Dan waved her off, grateful for the distraction she had offered, but glad to get his house back. Bear followed Helena to the door, whining unhappily as she shoved him back so that she could leave. Dan was left with the cleaning and throwing the boxes away, but he would just invade her space next time and leave a mess for her to clear away.

“Come on, boy,” Dan said, grabbing Bear’s leash. He didn’t like walking him after dark, but he couldn’t wait till the morning unless he wanted to wake up to an accident on the carpet.

It was about ten, so the roads were still busy, and Dan headed for the small park at the end of the road. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be too many dogs out. Bear wasn’t the best at playing with friends. It wasn’t until he saw a couple bend their heads together whispering that he realized he’d left Bear’s Hunters bandana on, something he’d made a habit of removing when he was out for fear he’d be recognized.

He tugged his cap further over his head, trying to hide his face, and hoped Bear would get his business done quickly so they could go home.

“I love you, boy,” he muttered, “but I don’t wanna be out here longer than I need to.”

“Excuse me.” Dan raised his head to see the same young couple from before, the woman stepped slightly toward him while the guy looked embarrassed. “Are you Dan Matthews?”

“Yeah,” Dan said quietly. He hated being recognized, even more when people wanted autographs.

Thankfully, the woman didn’t seem to want anything, just gave him a bright grin. “I wanted to say thank you. My little brother’s gay and loves hockey. He’s so proud to have a player who’s just like him.”

“Uh,” Dan started, clearing his throat. Bear was tugging at the leash and usually, Dan would use that as an excuse to run, but he held on tight.

“Sorry,” the woman said, with a blush. The guy was rolling his eyes. “My boyfriend said I shouldn’t stop you, but I thought it would be nice for you to know we don’t all want you to get traded.”

“Trish,” the guy hissed.

Dan couldn’t help but smile. “It’s all right. Thanks, yeah, it is nice to know not everyone regrets what I did.”

The women nodded, adjusting the bag on her shoulder. “It’s not easy, I know that. But you shouldn’t regret it.”

“Maybe I’ll think of your brother,” Dan said. “Did you uh, want me to sign anything?”

The woman's eyes widened, and she nodded eagerly, spending the next couple of minutes trying to find something for him to sign – and to sign with. Thankfully she had a sharpie in the bottom of her bag and a receipt.

“Write your brother’s address on the back of there,” Dan said instead, aware that he couldn’t give her brother a signature on a receipt. “I’ll send him something out.”

“Wow,” the women said, her cheeks pink. “Thank you, this will mean the world to him.”

Dan shrugged, taking the proffered receipt, double-checked the name and address, and putting it into his pocket. Bear was tugging again, drifting over and whining when it was clear Dan wasn’t moving. “How old is Micah?”

“Fourteen.” The women leaned down to pet Bear quickly before straightening up. “I’ll let you leave. Thank you again.”

“Thank you,” Dan said quietly. “You actually helped.”

“Good.” The women gave him a quick wave and jogged over to her boyfriend, whose wave was jerkier.

Dan stared down at Bear, unable to keep a smile from his face. “Guess they’re not all bad, huh boy?”

Bear, predictably, didn’t answer, just dragged Dan over to a nearby tree. On the walk back to the apartment, Dan thought about Bobby’s messages and the tone of them. He tried to look at it from Helena’s point of view, that Bobby was saying things he might not be able to in person, but it didn’t help. There was no way to tell tone and attitude from text, and maybe that was part of the problem.

The Hunters’ next game was in Detroit.

Dan brought up Bobby’s number and asked him to meet. It was the only way he could deal with Bobby’s assumptions about his coming out, the confusion over his meaning, and get his game back on track.