Never Meant to (Book one of series)

|Good Game|

ACE POV

He was purposely ignoring Zhi, he just couldn't believe he wasn't able to control himself earlier. What if someone had seen him getting hard? It's true, the last couple of years he had become attracted to his best friend. Other guys as well, but most recently, Zhi. It was confusing because he wasn't suppose to see him that way, but he didn't know how to stop it. Zhi was everything Ace loved in a person, from the outer to inner person he was. This last year his muscles were getting bigger, he was taller, he dressed better, he smelled good. He was just fine, to make a long story short. Ace turned on his stomach, pulling a pillow over his head. How am I crushin on this man this bad? His phone rung, pulling him from his thoughts. It was him. Great.

"Yo," Ace answered.

"Just checkin on you. You wasn't yourself today."

Ace turned on his back, staring at a picture of them on his nightstand. "Yeah, don't trip. Just wanna make sure we win this game Friday, then exams coming up, prom and graduation. Everything becoming real."

"Damn, you was stressin about all of that? No wonder you was quiet."

"Yeah," he lied. I was stressin about yo ass. He wished he could say.

"You wanna spend the night this weekend?" He asked.

Ace had to really think this through. How was he going to survive a whole weekend with Zhi? He was turned on right now, just hearing his deep voice. "Ugh, yeah. I'll crash." There was a short pause and Ace knew he was inhaling his weed.

He coughed a little. "Aaight bro, goodnight man."

"Goodnight,"

"Ace?"

"I'm still here."

"Love you man,"

That just made Ace's heart flutter. Zhi was never a shy about expressing his love for him. Family and friends knew Zhi really and truly loved Ace, but not the way Ace wished he did.

"We goin to get through this shit together. I'm always here for you, literally since the womb...you don't ever need to keep anything from me. I remember a couple years ago when you was dealing with depression and held it in....bro, please don't keep nothing from me again. I'm here for you."

"I know. Love you too." He took a second to take in Zhi's words. "I promise it ain't nothing serious, goodnight."

"I believe you, see you tomorrow."

They hung up.
He just laid there with the phone still to his ear. Then he snatched the picture of them off the nightstand. 'The hell am I going to do? I have to hurry and graduate and stay far away from him, in order to save our friendship.' He places the picture on his pillow and went to sleep.

***********************************
Game Day

The guys were ready for whatever these boys wanted. He was glad it was a home game, riding back to school on the bus, then riding to Zhi house was going to be a lot. Dante, who was Mrs. Haines son, Zhi's cousin, was sitting next to him. He was talking to him about some party later on. He watched his friends face light up. He loved dancing and being seen.

"You think you will be up for it?" His eyes found mine.

"We can slide through, this been a wild week."

Zhi tapped his shoulder. "We there, let's go win this game and send these boys home crying to they mamas." Everyone huddled together. The coach gave a speech, and they headed out the locker room.

He couldn't help but steal a peek of Zhi in his tights. That ass was nicer than most girls at this school. He licked his lips, and shoved his helmet on his head. "Let's go!" They poured out into the field. The people in the stand were going crazy. These games were always packed, even more so than their homecoming game. It was a little bittersweet knowing this would be their last time playing together.