Changing the Game (Offsides #1)

by J.J. Mulder

You are damn impressive, son. Just incredible.” ​And now my throat feels tight for an entirely different reason. It’s obviously not the first compliment I’ve ever received, not even the first with a ‘son’ attached to it, but it feels different. Like I’ve just eaten a bowl of soup and it’s sitting, comfortably warm, in my stomach.

He smiles at me, and I send it back with a silent I love you attached.

The strands are silky and cool to the touch, and so familiar to me that I want to die.

I nod, listening to the groan and creak of the house as it settles in the frigid night air. It’s unbelievably pleasant to know it’s cold outside, and even in this room, but to be wrapped up in a warm cocoon, sharing blankets and body heat.

I wonder if I’ll be lucky enough to do this forever; to be able to find his body in the dark without having to reach; to laugh and talk and breathe together long past the time we should be asleep.

‘Smile’ I told him. ​And here it was. Me, in Troy’s hoodie and a pair of pajama bottoms that didn’t match, hand visible on his hip with fingers splayed, as though wanting to touch as much surface area as possible. June was right about the lighting. My hair looks more gold than dirty blonde, and my dull brown eyes are wide and bright. It’s quite possible I’ve never seen myself looking so happy.

Troy always smells so good; hair holding onto the citrus and sandalwood fragrance of that fancy shampoo he uses, and his skin a mixture of locker room soap and something woodsy, like he just came back from a camping trip. I want to take him to a perfumer and have them bottle the scent for me.