Quentin's Way

Chapter 23

            In the following weeks after I was outed, I noticed how people gradually began to move on. There would be days where no one stared at me or whispered once I walked by. Demi told me he also stopped getting strange looks and rarely heard whispering or snickering whenever he walked by people. Although I was making progress on that front, I was stuck in a seemingly permanent cycle with my teammates. I'd speak to some of them while working out or after a team meeting, the jokes would stop for a day or two, and then someone would make a joke and the cycle would repeat itself. As pissed off as I still was with them, I had hope that they would get over it and accept me as their teammate.

            "Wassup, man," Orlando said to me the moment I stepped into our dorm after a class.

            "Wassup," I said back before closing the door.

            "Yo, I ate one of the cookies in that container on your nightstand just now. I ran out of snacks last night."

            "Oh, that's cool. Did you like it?"

            He smiled and answered, "Yeah, it was good as fuck."

            "Demi made those for me in his friend's kitchen."

            "Your boyfriend made those?"

            "Yep."

            "Well, tell him I said they're delicious."

            "I'll make sure to tell him." I picked the container up and took the top off of it before asking him, "You want another one?"

            He smiled again as he took one out of the container and then went back over to his bed. While eating it, he asked me, "How is everything goin' between you and him?"

            "We're doin' good. Valentine's Day is in two weeks and we still haven't figured out what we're gonna do."

            "King is havin' a couple's night that night, so y'all could go there. It ain't like none of your teammates will be there since all of us are either single or have girlfriends at far away colleges."

            "True. Thanks, bruh. I honestly didn't even know King was havin' a couple's night. I'll run it by Demi." As I sat down and pulled some books from my backpack, I noticed how strangely he was looking at me. "Yo, what is it?"

            He laughed a little before admitting, "I'm not tryin' to be disrespectful, Q. I'm still tryin' to wrap my mind around you bein'...you know...gay."

            "Would you have suspected anything had you not heard about that Twitter thread?"

            "No."

            "Then, I don't see what your problem is."

            "It's not a problem. Bruh, I don't have any problems with you. I think it's fucked up how some of the other teammates treat you."

            "Then how come you've been silent when they do fuck with me?"

            "Because I don't want them comin' at me. You know how niggas are? I take up for you and then everybody will start sayin' I'm on the low."

            "If you're not on the low then it shouldn't bother you. But it's cool. You don't have to say anything in my defense. As long as you're not one of the ones makin' everyday hell for me."

            "I guess the only thing that confuses me is you don't strike me as the gay type."

            "The gay type?"