¤ LONGLISTED IN THE OPEN NOVELLA CONTEST 2022 ¤
// COMPLETE
- stand-alone sequel to featherlight -
Chase Collins steps onto a late night train, his last in the city before he moves to a new state with a job promotion.
What he doesn't expect, how...
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"I'm so glad you're here!"
Chase smiled at his friends as he shouldered his way through the crowd, which was made out of a swarm of college students, most already tipsy or flat-out drunk. He looked at his boyfriend who had just spoken, Lucas, and put his arm around him. He took a swig of the drink in his hands. A gin and tonic, as Chase had expected: Lucas never drank anything else. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and grinned. "Like I would miss this," he said.
"You bailed last time," Camila said, the sheen of sweat on her tan skin gleaming in the flashing lights of the darkened room. She was a hockey prodigy, spending more time training for matches than in her lectures learning about biochemistry. She'd had offers from various teams and was planning on joining one and going pro once they all graduated at the end of the year.
"I didn't bail," Chase retorted. "I had the flu."
Chase lived vicariously through Camila's sporting life, following her training sessions and matches and feeling the pain of her injuries and defeats with her. It was the only way he could keep a semblance of the old Chase that he often longed for. The one who'd woken up early to run laps of Melrose's grassy training grounds; the one who had lived and breathed football so much that his blood had probably been more sport than haemoglobin. Chase came dangerously close to growing jealous of Camila, but he knew that it was his fault for not keeping football in his life.
It hadn't always been that way. Initially, he had joined the team, and had excelled in it like he'd always done. But with one frat party and gym session too many in his freshman year, his grades had started to slip. And he'd taken it as a sign to wean himself off football and finally start studying. He had first been a reserve for the college team and then had dropped off the squad altogether.
And here he was, tipping his head back to do a shot of vodka. It tasted of nail varnish and he screwed his face up as the burning hit his throat. He coughed, and then mixed himself a rum and coke. "How long have you been here?" he asked Lucas.
"Long enough to be missing you," Lucas said, his body warm and close.
Chase swirled the drink in his Dixie cup and rolled his eyes. "Cut the cheesiness," he said, but his voice was husky- and judging from the shift in Lucas' expression, he'd heard it too. Chase swallowed and headed out of the kitchen back into the chaos. He hadn't been dating Lucas for very long: less than half a year, and they'd decided that they would have a friendly and mutual breakup before their graduation. It was easier that way, and Lucas had said that it was a lot simpler to maintain a friendship than a long distance relationship.
Chase didn't exactly agree. Perhaps it was harder to preserve a relationship with someone who lived half the world away- Lucas was planning on working in Indonesia- but that didn't mean it wasn't difficult to stay friends with someone over the years.
Kyle Rivera, for one. He had been someone who Chase had stopped talking to, despite the fact that at one point in his life that would have been unthinkable. As Chase walked into the middle of the room, where the air pulsed with music and lights and people, he wondered briefly how Kyle was doing. He no longer loved him, which was evidence of how the phrase time heals everything really was true. No, Chase just missed Kyle: a simple nostalgia for the friendship that they'd once had.
