Chaos Theory of Love

Act 11: With you by my side

Finally, the day of the tournament arrived, and the competition between the track and field team was scheduled for this morning. The night before, Gaint was barely able to sleep. This was not uncommon for him, but that night was especially sleepless as the memory of the evening with Rome at the driveway was still very present. The boys talked briefly and realized that both of them seemed to be confused and scared about the feelings between them. This gave Gaint some comfort as he didn't feel so alone anymore. The hug Rome gave him was more than pleasant, and for the first time, Gaint really enjoyed it without feeling guilty. The smell of Rome's perfume, the feeling of the boy's bare skin, the warmth coming from his body were so surreal.

After their talk and their decision to just see where the road led them, Gaint went back to Lille greatly relieved. Though he wished that he would finally come to clear terms about Rome and his feelings, it was a first step in the right direction. Thankfully, no one had seen them hugging. None of their companions had noticed anything when the boys returned. As soon as possible, Gaint convinced Lille to leave the party. Although she had wanted to stay longer, they both left the party shortly after midnight. While they passed Rome and Desiree standing together near the edge of the pool, the boy smiled at Gaint. Even though his mind was now clearer, Gaint wondered what might happen to them in the future.

"Where will the road lead us? Am I ready to be in such a relationship? Can I be with a guy?"

Those questions kept him awake. The sleep he was able to get lasted about five hours, and nevertheless, Gaint felt quite rested when he woke up. It was the adrenaline running through his blood vessels in anticipation of the competition that didn't let him feel his exhaustion.

The whole morning he was kind of absent. He ate his breakfast without saying anything while his parents just stared at him from the other side of the table. They thought that he was just nervous about his tournament. That was part of the reason. The other one was that he hadn't seen Rome since Sam's party which was two days ago. Today Rome would be in the audience, cheering for him with all the other students. Competing in front of him, made Gaint nervous. Nevertheless, he forced himself to eat something to have enough power to deliver a good performance.

With a numb feeling in his stomach he finally left the house, and the driver drove him to school. A big crowd was already standing at the parking lot, some students from his school and some from the two other schools which would also participate. A group of six boys was wearing the uniform of St. Stephan's. St. Sebastian's track and field team would compete in a few minutes with Gaint's own team, and in the afternoon it would be the swimming team's turn while the basketball team had to wait until the evening. Gaint didn't think that far. When he entered the school, he saw some students he knew and didn't know, but all of them greeted and wished him luck.

The other members of his team already waited in the locker room for him. The rival teams were accommodated in empty classrooms which were transformed into chancing rooms. His teammates also seemed to be as nervous as him. Flo was as pale as a ghost, and Gaint was worried that he might faint before he could set a foot outside the building.

"There you are, Gaint," greeted Sam his friend. "How you doing?"

"Nervous," he tried to smile but failed miserably.

He occupied his place in front of his locker and started to change into his team uniform. The others were already half dressed and finished in silence. Suddenly, Gaint's mouth felt unbelievably dry, and he wished he could drink some water. He didn't as it would result in him needing to go to the toilette, probably while he was running.

Before Gaint was able to put his shirt on and finish changing, his phone rang. It was very unusual that someone called him right in front of a competition. So he was curios to see who it was. On the display appeared a short message.