The Professor At The Bar [bxb]

Chapter 16

Miguel

When the coach called me and Mathias to his office, we knew exactly why that was. We'd gotten a contract. It's been the talk and the coach had always insinuated that we were good enough, but moreover we both knew we were good enough. We'd worked our assets off for this our whole lives. We'd done the draft, we'd caught a scout's eye, and we had made it.

But fuck if I wasn't nervous. I'd be separated from Mathias and Harvey. We could end up playing in entirely different states. Of course, there would be off seasons but otherwise... No. Stop. This was it. This was our dream. Worry about everything else later.

The coach sat at his desk with papers in front of him, and he gave us a smile when we entered. He raised his eyebrows when we looked at each other nervously. I don't know why I was standing closer to Mathias and why he was almost leaning on me.

"Hey, coach." I greeted.

"Why the fuck you both standing there like you have to puke?" He grunted.

"Stop. Don't tempt me." Mathias said.

The coach shook his head at us and said, "I'm pretty sure you know why you are called."

"Don't drag it out, just tell us how far we will be." Mathias sputtered.

I almost smacked his head. God, he was impatient. The coach looked at me and sighed. My heart sank. He knew us, he knew our friendship. Everyone in the team knew we were insuperable.

"Turns out you guys are lucky sons of a gun, you'll both be playing in New York. Different teams, of course. But well, who'd have thought?" He said.

Mathias hadn't given me time to let that sink in as he threw himself onto me. My arms worked on their own around him. The coach was probably pissed off at our inconsideration but screw that, we were going to be together. We weren't going to be miles away in two different states.

When I looked over, I noticed that the coach was actually smiling. It made me soar. I couldn't wait to tell Harvey. Oh, shit. I'll be in New York. Miles away from here. Harvey would be teaching... or not, he'd have to leave in two months. But he probably won't come to New York, his dad... His family was near here. And that's why he starts here in a job that he doesn't particularly like. Not that it would matter, no matter how much I wanted Harvey, I knew this was a temporary thing. We were a temporary thing.

"I think the teams will contact you on their own. Get out of here now." The coach told us.

We left the room and Mathias turned to me. "What are you going to do?"

I sighed. "You're saying that like it's up to me. I can't give my NFL dream to date my professor, even if he wanted to date me. Giving up your dreams for someone else only makes you miserable. Harvey has a few more months here. He could shift somewhere else. Or he might be offered a permanent position here. We were never going to be anything more than what we are."

"You can't do that. You like that dude, you more than like him. You might even..." Mathias broke off and looked at me.

My heart started beating faster. I knew what he was going to say. He was going to say love. He wasn't wrong, and I wasn't sure. How the fuck was I supposed to know anything about love?

"I might. I don't know." I muttered.

Mathias squawked. "How the fuck do you not know!?"

"Means I fucking don't know! There ain't a fucking test I can take to know this shit." I replied.

"Oh Jesus. How the fuck does everybody else know, then?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be freaking out."