Figuring You Out

Chapter Four

Oliver's POV

I shove the first of my once neatly folded gear into my bag whilst the irritatingly persistent sound of the dial tone continued.

"Hey, Olly," Emily finally chirped. Emily was my sister, who unlike me got straight A's in her GCSE's and A levels which allowed her to attend one of the leading universities in the country.

"Hey, Em," I greeted back, whilst fighting a one-handed battle with my t shirt.

"You alright?" she asks, I swear this woman has a crystal ball; she ALWAYS knows when something's wrong.

"Meh," I reply, she pauses, "Dad's got a meeting with my maths teacher who's not a happy bunny,"

"It can't be that bad," she comments, uneasily, I shrug out of instinct and then sigh realising she can't actually see me. I lay back on my bed, giving into the mess on my bed that was littered with laundry and kit and miscellaneous homework that more than likely I wouldn't do.

"I'll fill you in Monday," I say, not wanting to talk about it, "When are you down next?"

"Monday," she says softly, I groan slightly, "At least I'll be able to soften the blow if it all goes tits up,"

"You'll be able to convince Dad not to ground me for eternity, you mean" I laugh, picking at a thread on my sheets, she chuckles lightly before she heads off to a lecture. I glance at the time and shove the rest of my kit into the striped Adidas holdall then sling it over my shoulder and jog down the stairs. I tell Dad I'm leaving and he greets me with a small smile, all the animosity from earlier gone. He gets up and hands me a crisp note.

"In case your mum doesn't get home in time for dinner, I'll probably order whilst your out," he explains, clapping me on the back before I head out the door. I plug in my earphones and pump some blaring music before jogging to my local rugby club.

"Here comes the man of the match, we call him Chaps, the devils call him Slaps because-"

"Alright, Lewis calm it," I say, tugging the earphones out me ears, the blaring now being replaced by Lewis' ramblings. That was Lewis for you though he was our main man for defence but also hyping up the team even though it did annoy the heck out of us half the time because he never stuck to one nickname it was often a different one every week. I cross the drawbridge to the grey blocks of changing rooms and spot a large built figure lurking by the windows.

"So, who do you have you're eye on then?" Bram asks, noticing my presence behind him, "Freya Martin? Taylor Powler?"

I swallow a lump in my throat and let out a strained laugh, "Daisy Delores," I say, quickly finding a name to provide.

"Sweet," he replies and turns away from the window of hockey girls to the benches to change, I go to do the same when I spot Liam storming in red faced, a sight that was rather hilarious.

"What's happened?" I ask, containing a smirk.

"He scrutinizes me for being a fraction of a second late," he rants, taking his boots from his bag and slamming them on the floor causing a splutter of mud to decorate the floor.

"You are ten minutes late," Bram comments, me and Liam glance sideways at him, the classic best mate double death stare.

"Well, it doesn't matter. You guys aren't even changed,"

"We were talking about the girl's hockey team," Bram replies, pointedly, "Who you got your eye on then?"

Liam doesn't respond as I quietly slip off my shirt, I side eye him and even notice even he looks uncomfortable. I can't help but think he feels the same amount of guilt as me but then I make it out like everybody's gay just so I feel like I'm not the only one hiding this massive secret. I even doubted Dad's sexuality at one point.

"You really need to stop doing that," Liam responds after a beat too long of silence.

"What?" Bram replies, turning.

"I don't have my eye on any of them and its disrespectful to be talking about girls like that anyway," Liam says, Bram goes to reply but I widen my eyes at him to signal him the shut the hell up before Liam gets even more wound up.

"Come on, lets just get this over with," I say, pushing Liam in front of me out of the changing rooms. It's going to be a long training practice.