Trade Deadline - Avon Gale Page 0,38

had it that time, somehow; his body moved as one on the board, comfortable and easy, and then he pushed up into a crouch...and into a full stand on the board. He wobbled and fell over almost immediately, but the grin on his face as he turned back toward Micah was as bright as a lighthouse.

I might be in trouble, here, Micah thought, giving appropriate props. It’s not just that he’s hot, it’s that he’s Daniel.

By the time they called it quits for the day, Daniel had ridden a handful of waves into the shore. The beach was becoming a bit more crowded, though, so they called it a day and dragged their boards up the sand to fall, exhausted, on their towels. He gave Daniel one of the large beach towels he’d bought, because that Colossus one was definitely too small, and they sat and let the warm air dry them off.

Micah had a better cooler than he did as a kid, and it kept a couple of sports drinks nice and cold. “You sweat more doing that than you think,” he said, passing one over to Daniel. “I have some granola bars in here, too.”

“What, no Cheez-Its or Capri Suns?” Daniel took one of the granola bars. “I’m starving. I forget what a workout that is.” He snapped a few pictures on his phone, slipping his sunglasses down as he typed. “I’m going to be that guy that sends pictures of how he’s at the beach to his teammates who are in Minnesota right now at a road game.”

Micah studied him. “Uh, Daniel? If your team is in Minnesota...”

Daniel glanced up, and for the first time all day Micah saw some tension in his expression. “Former teammates.”

“Because for a second I thought maybe you were so excited to go to the beach with me, you forgot about hockey,” Micah said, trying to lighten the mood back up.

“Believe me, surfing with you is awesome and way more fun than hanging out with my teammates.” Daniel sighed. “I love being home, and hanging out with you is, like I said, awesome. But my teammates...that’s not quite so great. And I keep thinking maybe...well, it doesn’t matter, I have a job to do, right? And that’s play hockey. But man, Micah, taking today to surf was...”

“Awesome?” Micah said, smiling a little.

“Yeah.” Daniel’s smile returned, maybe a few megawatts short of the one he’d given after surfing his first wave. “Can we do this again?”

“Of course.” The idea that Daniel might have said I keep thinking maybe I made a mistake coming here was a rough one, but the truth was, Daniel was here now and—

And what? his brain said. He’s hot and you’ve got all these great memories, but you’re not kids anymore. Having a crush is fine, but you better figure out real fast if you think there’s a chance for more and if you want to take it. As much as he could tell himself to chill out, Micah knew himself. These feelings weren’t going away.

Just because Daniel wasn’t straight didn’t mean Daniel was into him. “You know, when you first moved away... I kinda thought it was because we kissed.”

Daniel blinked, and then leaned back on his palms while the sea breeze ruffled his curls. “What? Of course not. It was a great first kiss. I wondered if you were gonna mention that.”

“I wondered if you were,” Micah said, the adult equivalent of I know you are, but what am I? “You play professional sports, and I’m not sure how friendly it is to queer people.”

“It’s getting...better,” Daniel said. “I—there are a few players who’ve come out to teams, that I can tell you. I’ve felt comfortable enough to tell various teammates over the years that I’m bi, and it’s never really been an issue. But it’s... I can’t lie and say it’s not a thing, though, honestly? It was worse in juniors, and from what I’ve heard from other queer players, that was the same for them. If we want this toxic bullshit to change, that’s where it’s gotta start.”

“Ugh.” Micah shook his head. “Do your parents know?”

“I think so? I made some comment one time, back before I met Tabby, about a guy being hot or something. I don’t think they’d have a problem with it or anything, hell, I’m not entirely convinced my dad wouldn’t try and set me up with one of his golf buddies just to get me to go more.” He laughed,