With You

Epilogue

The thing with being good at something is that it's great, and fun, and your entire life, until it's not.

I had become the worst of the best, but I was getting better.

I drilled forward, running across the field, the soccer ball dribbling between my boots until I reached the goal. I swung my foot back before kicking the ball right past the head of the goalie – Amar. It hit the net with a swift thwip and the coach blew the whistle.

"Alright, Georges, go get some water," he said, passing me. "Alex, you're up."

I nodded, jogging past him to the bench. Dropping to the grass, I grabbed my water bottle and began to spray it into my mouth.

"Don't get cocky."

I turned, frowning to see Reed sitting on the bench. Rowan had managed to break his nose after the chaos at our last match, and now Reed was refusing to play until it had healed. In case of permanent disfigurement, he'd claimed.

"I'm not sure what you mean," I said, taking another sip of water.

"You're not going to be playing for long," he replied. "When I'm back on the field –"

"Oh, careful, Reed. We wouldn't want to injure your little nose again, would we?" I teased.

He grumbled, his voice raising as he said, "You think you're so funny, just because you scored one goal. Don't forget who you really are."

I lifted a brow at him. "Who am I, exactly?"

"You know," he said.

I almost laughed. It was like he was allergic to the word gay. "No, Reed. I don't know."

He huffed, turning away for a moment before opening his mouth again, but I'd decided I'd had enough of this conversation. Besides, there was someone else who deserved my attention more.

I threw my bottle back to the grass and walked to the edge of the field where Rowan was waiting.

Unlike usual, today, he wasn't reading. Instead, he was clutching a plastic bag to his chest. I walked right up to him, leaning forward to boldly press a kiss to his lips. His stubble rubbed mine and we pulled away, smiling.

"What was that for?" he asked, still smiling snidely.

"Just missed you," I replied, as if I hadn't seen him an hour ago. I nodded towards the bag. "So, what'd you get?"

He dug his hand into the bag, pulling out a few KitKat bars and a bag of M&Ms, as well as a packet of tampons and some pain medication. I nodded in approval. Flora had gotten her period this morning and missed my practice. Since Chloe was back at college and unable to attend to her girlfriend, we were put in charge of taking care of her.

And since it was spring break, in a few hours, we'd be leaving for my place. We needed to leave her with a full weekend's supply of stocks so she wouldn't have to leave her dorm until Chloe was able to get here to spend spring break with her.

"I think KitKats are her favourites," Rowan said, looking down at the chocolate bars. "Or was it Hershey's?"

"KitKats for sure," I said, although I had no idea. Rowan's smile grew slightly, and I grinned widely. "She'll love it."

"Cool," Rowan said, attempting to sound casual. "Do you think this can count as our gift to her for her birthday too?"

I laughed. Her birthday was coming up next week. I didn't think that Flora would be expecting a gift from us, but I nodded anyway. He could ask me if the sky was purple and I'd agree, just to see him smile.