Tag: boyfriends

Baseball?

Baseball?

by fnmanning ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Starting pitcher Luke has a lot on his mind lately now that the formerly straight athlete has found himself in a relationship with another guy, and really enjoying that relationship. A lot of people are wondering what this means for Luke. Is he gay or straight? Are there other options? Fortunately, he can take his mind off all that during a baseball game. Until, like a good boyfriend, his boyfriend shows up to cheer him on.

This scene is from One Little Lie, where a clueless jock learns the world is more than just gay or straight in this coming of age love story about secret relationships, friendship, and bisexuality.

~

Luke

I LOVE BASEBALL. ESPECIALLY DURING GAME TIME. Worried thoughts about my personal life weren’t important when playing ball. On the mound with all eyes on me, I felt great. People watched me because I excelled at this, not because of who I was dating.

The game started and I was in the zone. My whole focus was on the game.

Until Ryan. My stupidly distracting boyfriend.

As a likable athlete, I had few embarrassing moments until Ryan walked into my life. Still, what was lacking in quantity was now made up in quality.

Due to the nice day, Ryan wore a tank top and shorts. He looked innocent enough, plus so freaking tall. Grab a ruler and check if I lied, there were miles and miles of his long legs on display. So much skin, how were his legs so shapely and toned? Running, he claimed, even though I’d only seen him run his mouth.

Ryan sat on the bleachers, not being embarrassing for once. I embarrassed myself, unable to keep my gaze away. Dammit! I ogled my boyfriend instead of pitching. He saw me looking and waved. I waved back before remembering I should pay attention to the game. The runner at first advanced to second and I heard distant yelling from my coach.

Shit. Taking a moment, I refocused my attention. Time to strike this batter out. I lined up the pitch, got ready, and…

My eyes drifted back to Ryan.

–Grab the book here as part of the One Crazy Love Story box set, which features the first four books in the One More Thing series of contemporary YA novels.

Flirting! Yay!

Flirting! Yay!

by fnmanning ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Luke probably came out in the wrong order. Because he didn’t even know he was bi until long after having a boyfriend and claiming to be gay. So yeah. In hindsight, knowing you like boys is an important step to do before a clumsy, spazzy guy stumbles into your life and makes you feel all confused. In his defense, Luke has played baseball all his life and been part of a team, so he knows how to follow instructions. But when there’s no rule book or steps to follow… that’s when things get messy.

But in One Little Problem, not only is Luke aware of his sexuality and his feelings for a particular dude, he’s comfortable with those things. Ryan, the aforementioned spaz who caught Luke’s attention, is very pleased by this development. Not everyone has reached the acceptance stage, like Luke’s parents, but let’s not worry about that now.

In this scene, Ryan and Luke are holding hands at school and then they flirt… yeah, that’s what happens. And you already know the relevant information, so okay. Here’s an outtake from the novel.

~

Ryan

“Should we stop holding hands?” I asked. We weren’t always so touchy-feely. Lately, it seemed like Luke didn’t mind, but I wanted to be sure.

Luke just shook his head. “Guess there has to be some downsides to having an awesome boyfriend. I don’t care what people say to me.” Then his expression turned serious. “But if anyone messes with you? Tell me and I’ll kick their asses.”

“Say that again but this time take off your shirt.” I crossed the fingers of the other hand that wasn’t holding Luke’s.  Come on early morning strip show… that would be pretty weird, but I still wanted to see it.

“Some downsides in addition to you, I mean.” He smiled like he was cute. He happened to be cute, but still.

“You’re sleeping on the couch tonight,” I informed him.

“We don’t live together.”

Maybe one day, my brain said, and I told it to shut up.

“Want to come over after school and pretend we do?” I waggled my eyebrows in a way experts would deem excessive. “We’ll play house.”

“Roleplay already?” he asked but didn’t say no.

Oh. “Do you have a French maid’s outfit?” I could get into that.

“Okay, I’m leaving now.” Luke gave me a quick peck on the lips and we went our separate ways.

Luke recently had an identity crisis of sorts. Hopefully not a midlife one because his lifespan needed to be much longer than that. More of the sexuality crisis kind. It took him a while to figure things out and it might not always have been the most fun, but I was a supportive boyfriend and stuff.

If there was any evidence to the contrary, then I didn’t remember it and didn’t want to be reminded, but Luke was on the other side of that now. He was cool and confident and awesome. Stronger.  Comfortable. Way hot. He was always that one, but in a new way.

He was here, he was queer, he was used to it.

If only everyone else could be used to it too.