More Than Friends

Chapter Five

When he got to the park at three forty-five, Zach was already there with a group of four other guys. He recognized them from the party and they were all really cool. They divided into three teams with Zach and Ryan on one team together. They went last so Ryan was able to study how each person stood and released the discs.

By the time it was his turn, Ryan was able to get a pretty decent throw in and wasn't the furthest from the basket. He was confident his story of having played a few times would not be questioned. Zach, on the other hand, was practically a professional. He was the best player out there, by far, and kept their team from having to buy dinner for everyone else that night.

They headed to a local brewery and grill that Ryan went to often. It was a regular hangout for the students and had the best burgers in town. Their microbrews were also pretty good but Ryan wasn't up for drinking so he stuck to Coke with dinner.

He got along really well with everyone and agreed to join their weekly games. He wasn't sure that Zach would want him on his team going forward but the other guys seemed more interested in having fun than competing so he was excited to do it again.

When they were waiting for the server to return with the credit card slip, a woman stopped by the table and started hanging on Zach. She was a pretty brunette with surgically enhanced tits that were shoved into a white tank top that was begging to be sprayed with a hose. She was trashier than Ryan would have expected from Zach, but he barely knew the guy so he really had no idea what he was into. Everybody has a type.

When the semi-drunk woman finally removed herself from Zach's lap and wandered back to her own table, Ryan nudged Zach with his shoulder and asked, "Ex-girlfriend?"

Zach almost spit out the last of his drink on the table.

"What? Uh, no."

"Well, she seems pretty into you. Maybe a future girlfriend?"

"Probably not since I'm gay."

Zach stared hard at Ryan, waiting for a reaction. Ryan seemed a little stunned at first and then he stared back at Zach, as if looking for visual clues.

His hair seemed straight. His clothes were fashionable but still masculine. He liked video games and sports. Ryan couldn't pinpoint any clues that would point to Zach being gay...well, at least according to his somewhat ignorant expectations of what gay guys were like.

Ryan didn't know many openly gay guys growing up and when he got to college, the gays were so flamboyant that they were pretty easy to recognize. Nothing like Zach. Zach was very much like Ryan and it wasn't adding up to him.

"Seriously? Hunh, I wouldn't have guessed that."

"Do you have a problem with it?" Zach's tone had a hard edge to it and the other guys at the table went silent, watching the conversation play out.

"No, not at all. I'm just surprised. You seem to be just like me so I assumed you were straight. But, it doesn't matter to me either way."

Ryan tried to play it cool but he wasn't sure if smiling too broadly would seem insincere or like an invitation. He mostly just looked down at his napkin and fidgeted with it.

Finally, one of the guys took pity on him and cleared his throat.

"Well, we're all settled up so I'm gonna head out. Marcy is waiting for me to watch Survivor with her," Joe, the throat clearer, said.

Everyone stood up and said their goodbyes. While walking to their cars, Zach was silent. Ryan felt like he was getting the cold shoulder but honestly didn't know what the reason was. He wanted to find a way to smooth things over with Zach because he genuinely liked the guy. He was fun to be around and funny to talk to. And he was a damn good disc golfer.

"So, next week, same time, same place?" Ryan asked as he got to the door of his car. Zach was parked across from him so they were facing each other.

"Yeah, whatever. If you can't make it, just let me know so I can get a replacement."

Zach seemed almost sad when he said it. Ryan wanted to make it clear to Zach that being gay wasn't a deal breaker as far as their friendship went.

"I'll be there. I had a great time today. And, if I'm gonna learn, I want to learn from the best," he said with too much enthusiasm. This got Zach to look at him to try to gauge what he really meant.

"I figured you knew. Drea usually introduces me as her gay cousin so I never thought to bring it up. I'm sorry if you think I was hiding it from you. I wasn't. I don't hide who I am." Zach spit that last part out as if accusing Ryan of something that he didn't understand.

"Dude, it's cool. I swear. I don't care. We can be friends, gay or not. It doesn't matter to me."

Ryan was thinking that maybe it did matter a little and it would definitely taint some of the things they did together but not enough that he didn't want to hang out with him.

"Hey, I was gonna ask if you might have time this week to tutor me. I have a huge test coming up and I'm having some trouble with Hinkle's MacEcon class. You probably took it so I thought maybe you could help me study or something? If you have time."

"Oh, yeah. Sure. How is Tuesday? I'll be home by six thirty so anytime after that is fine. I think Drea will be back home packing so my place will be quiet for studying." Zach's attitude took a 180-degree detour. He went from being pissed off and slightly rejected to looking excited.

"Cool. I'll come by after work. Probably around seven, if that's okay. Do you want me to bring a pizza or something? I'm usually starving by then."

"No, I like to cook so I'll make something."

Ryan got home in a better mood than usual. He felt like he was getting back into a normal groove of hanging out with friends and having fun after a month of sulking about Brooke.

He contemplated Zach's sexuality for a little bit, wondering if he was giving him the wrong idea about their friendship. But, Zach was the same guy prior to his admission as he was after it so Ryan felt confident they could have a normal guy relationship.

Ryan had female friends that he wasn't sexually attracted to but liked to hang out with. Although, after giving it a bit of thought, Ryan realized that he would have slept with any one of those girl friends if they showed the slightest bit of interest. Especially since he was several months into a celibacy streak that was starting to get really old, really fast.