Three Strikes Ch. 06

There were a bunch of people around them so I knew I could go over there without being too obvious. I didn't want to upset the delicate line that had been set between Gordy and me. As I approached I saw that Aaron had joined Gordy and Drew. I didn't want to admit it, but I was jealous. At least having them around him gave me a reason to be close to Gordy. I had every right to talk to my two best friends regardless of how he felt about me.

I was ignoring everyone while mentally building myself up for the impending encounter when Sammy pulled my hand, making me sit next to him. I didn't have time to blink before I was ambushed by all of Gordy's friends. Let me tell you something, they're an intimidating bunch to be around. I kept looking back at Drew and Gordy but they simply waved me.

That's when an idea struck me. If I could win over Gordy's friends, then it might be easier to win him over, or at least get him to have a decent conversation with me. I hadn't ineracted much with them but enough to know they weren't all that bad. Friendly, even if they were easily excitable.

Everyone was talking to me at the same time and everything was so face paced I couldn't keep up. I not to let on that they were way over my head. I froze when Sammy crawled onto my lap while we were talking about the game and the night at the club. No one had ever sat on my lap before, not even boyfriends. Especially not in public. I wanted to shove him off. If anyone was gonna sit on my lap, it was Gordy.

But, I didn't want to piss anyone off, so I sat there like a good boy and tried to mask how uncomfortable I was. They were talking amongst themselves, not really including me (which was fine by me) when the guy who always stuffs his uniform mentioned going out.

"Since we don't have a game, we should go out tonight! We spent all of this time getting ready for the game and there's no reason to let it go to waste."

"Yesssss!" The twins added.

I thought I could capitalize on their excitement so I made a suggestion of my own.

"What if we all went out, together?"

There was a mix of excitement and something else that was a borderline a awkward secret that everyone was in on except me. Allé's face looked skeptical.

"Well, I don't know. Gordy probably won't go if you do. You haven't exactly made as good of an impression on him, as you have us."

And there it was, that awkward look that everyone had. I shouldn't have been surprised that everyone knew how Gordy felt about me, but I was.

"Why are you such an ass to him? You seem nice enough, but you sure treat him like a dick."

I only shrugged because I had nothing to say. I thought Sam was sensing my uncomfortableness because he moved the conversation along.

"If you want to ask him, then feel free, but we can't help you. We're probably breaking a bro code by sitting here with you while Gordy's alone with the two heteros. He'll straight up murder our asses if we ask him...in public...where he can't say no, to go out to the bars with you. So, go along now."

Sam got off of my lap and nudged me toward Gordy and my friends. I stood up and stuck my hands in my pocket so I didn't fidget like a food.

"Hypothetically, would you guys (I used my hand to indicate I meant all of them) want to all go out tonight for dinner and drinks at Mully's or something?"

Drew and Aaron seemed happy about the idea, and Gordy looked like he was about to say no, but instead, he said yes. I was surprised, I'd fully anticipated him to say no. I looked at Sammy and tried to figure out what I should do next since I hadn't planned on making it that far. The rest of the guys shrugged. They appeared to be as surprised as I was. I looked back at Gordy and asked if he was sure, he said yeah, and so we made plans to go. I watched my friends share a few words with Gordy as they made they're way off the bleachers before Drew left with Gordy and Aaron walked toward me. I didn't show it, but I could've exploded with happiness. I wasn't gonna screw this up.

"You're a fucking dumbass. I hope you know that, you fucking idiot," Aaron laughed as he squeezed my shoulder a little too hard.

I knew why I thought I was a dumbass, but I didn't know why he did.

*** *** *** ***

The drive to the bar was nerve-wracking. It was going to be the closest thing to a date with Gordy that I was gonna get. During the drive, I tapped my thumbs on the steering wheel and repeated the same phrase in my head, 'don't be an asshole, don't be an asshole'. I needed to instill it in my brain until it'd become a natural instinct.

I arrived first and got a table ready only a few minutes before the DONNAS arrived. I let them sit down first, I didn't want them to cage me in, and I wanted to try and sit next to Gordy. Aaron, Drew, and Kurt arrived next and filled the remaining chairs.

Sam demanded I sit on the chair to his right. Aaron sat next to me, then an empty chair, then Drew, Kurt, Oliver, Nelly, Nick, and Allé connected the circle back to Sammy. Instinctively, I knew Gordy would sit between Aaron and Drew.

Except Drew unexpectedly removed the last chair, setting it off to the side before joining us. I was confused, now there wasn't a chair for Gordy. He and Aaron were both wearing smug-ass smiles when they saw me looking at them with confusion.

"Gordy's not coming."

I wanted to ask, 'why the fuck not?', but instead, I kept my face as controlled as possible. The DONNAS freaked out enough for all of us. They had no idea Gordy wasn't coming. So maybe he was coming after all? I mean, wouldn't they know about something that important? After the DONNAS rained a hundred questions that they wanted answered, Drew finally spoke up.

"Well, technically, Shane only asked if we hypothetically wanted to come out and the answer to that question was yes. Evidently, he didn't actually want to come out, but that wasn't what Shane asked," Drew shurgged, never breaking eye contact with me.

"Did he say why?" One of the twins shouted.

I must admit, I was interested in the answer to that question.

"Yep. He said there was a class he wanted to take at the gym tonight."

"And because Shane's a big, fat asshole who says dumb shit all of the time," Aaron concluded Drew's statement with the more obvious answer.

Everybody's eyes shot in my direction and yelled.

"SHANE!"

I cringed at the sheer volume of noise and raised my hands in an effort to offer an explanation.

"I know! I'm sorry. I'm an asshole. I was going to try and use tonight as a peace offering, but now—."

But now he won't come. But now I have no chance. But now—it's over.

"But now we have to fix this. We're going to get him to come and when he shows up, you better be so fucking nice to him or I swear to God!" Allé didn't need to finish the sentence, I knew what was implied. Allé terrified me because he might actually follow through with his threat. Following Allé's command, everyone had their phones out and were furiously sending text after text to Gordy.

Even Drew had his phone out and it looked as though he and Aaron were working together as Drew's fingers typed out a message. He didn't send it though, instead, they both turned to me and Drew gently waved his phone in a taunting manner.

"Why should we send this message to Gordy?" he asked in a playful tone.

We hadn't talked about it and I hadn't said anything out loud but I was pretty sure they suspected I might like Gordy.

"I don't care. You don't have to send anything," I shrugged, indifferently. But really I wanted to snatch the damn phone, press send, and then throw it at his stupid head.

"We'll send it, but seriously dude, you need to stop being such a fucking D-bag to him."

I was happy they didn't say it very loud. They used their inside voices, which kept our conversation away from prying ears.

"I know. I'm trying," I whispered without making eye contact.

No one mentioned Gordy after that, and I didn't see anyone check their phones again. Was he coming? Did he tell them to fuck off? I had no idea what was going on, and that was only part of my pickle.

Sammy had been flirting uninhibitedly since we were at the ballpark. He was hanging all over me and, no matter how much I tried to pull away, he continued to touch me and coo into my ear. I should've never let him sit on my lap in the first place. I was so busy trying to be nice to him in an effort to impress Gordy, which clearly didn't work, and now it was going to backfire in my face. I got up a few times to get a new beer and I tried to get one of my friends to run interference but they must've decided I was on my own.

If that wasn't bad enough, I couldn't focus enough on the conversation at hand because I was too busy watching the door and hoping Gordy was going to show up. Sam was getting irritated because I wasn't listening and everyone was starting to look at me strangely.

I wasn't doing a very good job of keeping anyone happy. If Gordy did show, would everyone be talking about what a weird flake I was? Would Sammy tell him that I'm a tease? Gordy was going to think I slept around with everyone when the truth was, didn't. I hardly ever did anything. I only wanted to sleep around with him.

Aaron squeezed my shoulder in an effort to comfort me. "Dude, you need to calm down. You look stressed."

He had no idea, but instead of accepting his comfort, I shrugged him off.

"Nah, I'm good."

My head jolted forward when Aaron's hand collided with the back of my head.

"I told you to stop being a fucking asshole. Don't you care that Gordy just walked in?"

I snapped my head up and sure enough, there was Gordy. The entire table erupted with cheers when they saw him coming. He was a crowd favorite. At least that's what every practice, game, and outing had told me so far. He smiled at everyone and said hi and I envied the way he carried himself, how effortless he made everything look, and how confident he was with himself.

There was no one in the world who could pull off the name Gordy, but he did. The first time I heard someone yell his name, I blanched. I'd envisioned calling him a lot of things, but Gordy was never one of them. I tried to imagine introducing him to my friends and family. 'Hello, I'd like you to meet my boyfriend, Gordy.' It didn't exactly roll off the tongue.

I reprimanded myself for thinking that way, 'And these are exactly the things I can't say out loud'.

I didn't know if I was more anxious waiting for him to show up or actually having him there, but I was frozen to my chair like an ice sculpture. I felt so much pressure to not be a dick. I didn't want to be a dick, it was just my default setting. I could feel it bubbling inside. The fear. If I say something nice, would everyone know how I felt? If so, was it the worst thing? Maybe? Ugh! He hadn't even looked at me, yet, and I was close to screwing everything up. I could feel it growing on the tip of my tongue, so I swallowed hard.

We were all wearing our baseball clothes from the earlier games, but Gordy had changed at the gym. He wasn't dressed and groomed like normal, but he looked just as hot, only a different hot.

He was wearing straight cut blue jeans, which were rolled at the cuff, with leather flip flops and a white, zip jacket that highlighted his tanned skin and green eyes. The most surprising thing was the fact he was wearing a baseball cap, backwards, like me. Normally, he didn't wear a cap—not even during games when they were required by all players. I think it had to do with it interfering with his hair.

He looked so down to earth and boyish...and did I mention, fucking hot? That's when I decided that, when the time was right, I was going to compliment him on his hat. Something simple that wouldn't attract suspicion from everyone—just a dude complimenting another dude's hat. I had dozen at home, maybe one day he'd wear one of mine. Some guys like their boyfriends to wear their clothes, mine would be my hat. Although, he'd look cute in my shirts too.

Gordy was standing behinds Aarons chair with his hands braced on the top for support as he spoke to Drew.

"Do you have a tab open? I'm here only because you're buying."

Drew smiled back. "You know it! Anything you want for the rest of the night is on me."

"Does anyone else want something while I'm up?"

Gordy looked around the table. Most everyone had already gotten a refresher so they declined. I still had a little beer left, but decided I could use the opportunity to move things along so I held up my beer.

"Sure, I'd love another."

Gordy looked and me and raised his brow in annoyance.

"Do I look like your servant? No."

With that said, he walked away and everyone looked at me with disappointment, like I'd purposely been rude.

Aaron whispered into my ear as everyone returned to their earlier conversations, "Come on man, what are you doing?"

"What did I do wrong? He asked if anyone wanted anything and I took him up on his offer."

"Yeah, but you haven't earned the right to ask him to fetch your beers."

"I didn't ask him to fetch me a beer. He offered!" I whisper-shouted back.

I was so confused. Why was everything so confusing? If I hadn't been stressed before, I was now. I felt as though there was a whole new set of rules but they were written with invisible ink. I was already close to failing with the commonly practiced rules. There wasn't any way I was going to survive the night.

"Regardless, you need to play it cool."

Gordy came back with a red, fruity-looking drink in his hand. Of course that's what he drinks, I don't know why I expected him to drink anything else.

Aaron and Drew shuffled to make room for Gordy. I'd hoped Aaron would shuffle his chair over and put Gordy next to me, but of course, that didn't happen—he sat him between them. Aaron must've noticed the look on my face because he leaned in and whispered.

"You're not ready to sit at the big-boy table. Play nice and I'll gladly find a reason to move."

"Asshole," I whispered beneath my breath.

That caused his attention to immediately shoot back to me with an evil smirk.

"That, wasn't playing nice."

His voice was smug and I wanted to deck him in the face. He never broke eye contact as he leaned all of the way back into his chair and opened up their conversation to me. I rolled my eyes when he smiled his cocky smile. I was thankful but I couldn't say that to him because he'd never let it go. I had to hope he knew me well enough to know I appreciated the gesture.

I looked around and figured it was as good of a time as any to compliment him. Everyone seemed happy, there was light conversation, but I nothing too serious. So I decided to go for it.

"Nice hat."

Short and simple. Maybe a little too short and simple. What I meant to say was, 'I really like your hat', but judging by the expression on his face, I think it came out more like 'nice cap, you loser' and then I felt Aarons heel dig into my toes—clearly a punishment for saying the wrong thing. Gordy's lips pursed, he wasn't happy with the compliment that didn't come out as a compliment.

He used both hands to uncomfortably fidget with his cap. "Well, I wasn't planning on going out, and I didn't have time to run home, so..."

I thought he looked amazing and I hated that he thought I meant it as anything else. I was trying to find the words to fix it or, at least, clarify what I'd meant, when Drew jumped in.

"Are you kidding? Shane's right. You do look great, but then again, you can pull off anything."

Drew playfully elbowed Gordy for good measure and it seemed to perk his spirits. That should've been me. I should've been the one to make him smile with the compliment, but instead, I'm the reason Drew got to be the knight in shining armor.

I didn't know what to do because the cards were stacked against me and I had a feeling that no matter what I said, it was going to be twisted and turned into something it wasn't. Too afraid to say anything, I watched everyone engage while I sat there brooding. 'Nice cap?' I replayed in my head. Fuck me.

I was brought back to reality when Sammy snapped his fingers in front of my face.

"Well?"

Everyone was staring at me and waiting for an answer, but an answer to what? I had no clue.

"We're talking about getting a bunch of app-a-teasers. Are you in?"

"Yeah, sure." I paused, "You know what—I'll go order a bunch and bring them back. Yeah?"

There appeared to be no objections. I'm sure everyone was glad to have me out of the way for a minute. I sat at the bar and placed an order for enough food to cause serious damage to someone's arteries and a fresh beer for the wait. I picked at the label and thought about my options, which appeared pretty slim at that point. I could give up and walk away, with some dignity intact. That would probably be the easiest and also what Gordy would prefer, or I could—.

Mid thought, my phone vibrated. A text from Aaron.

[Aaron] Come back and join us dipshit! And be a dear and bring Gordy a new drink. #husbandpoints

—or I could start by taking him a new drink. I smiled as I repocked my phone.

"I need whatever he's drinking—the cute one in the cap," I pointed to Gordy.

The bartender got to work and before I knew it, I had a new fruity drink in my hand. Curiosity got the best of me so I took a sip. I'd been prepared for something sugar laden and sweet but what I tasted was something tart and not very good. I turned back to the bartender and asked.

"What the fuck is this?"

"Raspberry vodka and club soda with a splash of cranberry juice. You wanted what he has, right?"

He looked worried as he pointed at Gordy, that maybe he'd messed up, but in all actuality, it was I who messed up...with my assumptions. I waved him off, letting him know it was fine. I walked back at the table and set Gordy's drink down in front of him—next to his empty one.

"Here you go," I offered him a smile before speaking to the rest of the group, "and I ordered a bunch of appetizers for the table. They should be here soon."

"Oh, okay. I guess I'll have one more, but I'm done after this one," Gordy moved his new drink around in circles and everyone looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Why?" Oliver asked.

"I don't need to make another drunken mistake. I'm still recovering from the last one."

The silence was deafening, you could've heard a pin drop.

"Well, that was rude," I mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear.

And it was. I didn't care what had happened, that was a rude comment to say during a group setting with the person you made the mistake with sitting one chair away.

"Well, you're fucking rude all of the time, so—"

He left the statement open ended but his intent was clear. He hated me. I bit my tongue. I deserved the last comment because I had been rude to him, but at the same time, I didn't deserve all the hate. He was a willing participate last weekend, it wasn't just on me.

The table remained silent for what felt like forever, before he finally broke the silence again. He was leaning back on his chair watching me intently.

"What? No snarky reply?"

He slung one arm over the back of his chair, provoking me. I didn't want to prove to him, what he was trying to get me to prove—that I'm an asshole. So I quietly sat there while everyone waited. When it became abundantly clear no one was going to say anything, I decided to change the subject.

"Does anyone want to do shots? My treat?"

That broke the tension and the awkward tableau. I signaled for the bartender and counted the group—there was a total of ten of us, but Gordy made it clear he wasn't drinking.