Tom Daley - Splash (boyxboy)

Chapter 2

To say I was taken by surprise would be an understatement. Did Tom really kiss me? There were always rumours about him on the internet, but I never really paid them any attention. Did this mean he actuallywas gay? I wasn’t sure what to do about this. I wanted to text him or call him, but I didn’t know what to say. I figured I would wait until our next meeting and see how it goes.

It was all I could think about for the next couple of days. Even at school, my mind would wander to thoughts of Tom. I would think about his laugh, his smile, and how helpful he always was. Sometimes, the thoughts strayed to his body and his Speedo…. but I’d push those out of my head.

Tom and I usually met for our training on Thursday evenings. As I was getting dressed and putting my Speedo trunks in my bag, my phone vibrated. It was a text message from Tom.

“Can’t meet this week. Something came up. Sorry! :( ”

I sighed loudly. I was really looking forward to our meeting tonight; we had so much to talk about. I knew Tom cancelled on purpose, I couldn’t really blame him. I can’t imagine what’s going through his head. 

I decided to go to the pool anyways, to clear my mind. When I’m on the platform or in the water, nothing else is going through my mind, and everything is quiet. When I got there, I noticed somebody sitting on the 10 metre platform all alone. It was Tom.

I put my bag down and made my way up the stairs to the board.

“Tom,” I said quietly. He turned his head so quickly that I don’t know how he didn’t break his neck.

“Oh! Hey! You…scared me for a second. What are you doing here? Didn’t you get my text?”

As I went to sit down next to him, he pushed over just a little bit. He felt awkward around me now, something I never wanted to happen.

“I came to clear my head,” I told him. “What are you doing here?”

“Same,” he said almost inaudibly. “I just… I’m so sorry for the other day. I don’t know what happened. It was so rude of me, please don’t hate me.”

I was shocked to hear him say that. He thought I hated him?

“I don’t know what came over me. You were there and I was really happy and it just happened-”

“Tom,” I interrupted. “It’s ok. I understand.”

“No, you don’t understand!” Tom cried. “What if someone finds out? It’s been so hard for me to keep it a secret for so long. Nobody knows,  not my mum, not even my brothers, or my teammates. It’s tearing me up inside! If anybody found out, it would be all over the internet — as if there weren’t already enough rumours. How would my fans react? It could ruin my career.”

I had never seen him this mad. His face was growing red and tears were starting to drip out of his eyes. I wanted to tell him that nobody would care, that if anything, it would only help his career. But I knew that isn’t what he needed to hear right now. I grabbed his hand, hoping he wouldn’t pull away, and I squeezed. I didn’t know what else to do, but for once, I wanted to be as helpful to him as he always was for me. He accepted my gesture, and pulled me in for a hug. I was taken by surprise, but I didn’t let it show. He cried on my shoulder for what seemed like forever.

“Tom, if you don’t want me to, I won’t tell anyone. You have nothing to be afraid of.”

“I know you will,” he said as he wiped away what was left of his tears. “I trust you.”

So we sat there, atop the ten metre platform, fully dressed and hand-in-hand, talking for hours.  When a janitor came in to warn us the pool was closing, we were jolted back to reality.

“Thank you so much, Marco,” Tom said, looking longingly into my eyes. “I just –”

He choked up before he could finish, but it didn’t matter. I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, wiping away the fresh tears. 

“Good night, Tom. Next week?”

“Of course. Hopefully I can see you before then.”