Us (Him, #2)

by Sarina Bowen

The way I feel about Ryan Wesley…it’s something I thought existed only in the movies. He’s my other half. We complement each other in more ways than I can count. When he’s in the same room, I’m focused on him, and when he’s gone I walk around missing him. There’s an old quote my mother once painted on a ceramic platter. Love is friendship set on fire. I get it now.

I fucking long for the day when I can proudly introduce Jamie Canning as my boyfriend. When I can talk to my teammates about my personal life and tell them about Jamie’s amazing family, or invite them over for drinks without having to see Jamie duck into the guest room when he has to go to bed. Because he’s not a guest in our condo, dammit. It’s his home. And he’s my home.

I chose happiness over other people’s skewed opinions and cruel judgments. I chose Wes. But now I have to hide that choice. I have to pretend that Ryan Wesley isn’t my soulmate. I have to look at goddamn Instagram pictures of him dancing with hot chicks and pretend I’m not jealous.

He told you this before yall got together

Why are there still so many bigoted jerks in this world? And why aren’t we shipping them all to Antarctica?”

I once watched him push his own loose tooth back into place right on the bench in the middle of a game after taking a hit to the face.

Is that even possible??

But it’s so fucking scary to think that I’m competing with both men and women for Jamie’s affections.

Bad take. Ew dont like this.

“But you knew going into this that you were going to keep the relationship on the DL,”

Thank you jess

“It’s all just the luck of the draw, okay? And even if I’d earned every penny digging ditches, there isn’t anything I have that I don’t want to give you. Not one thing.”

And I look…centered. It’s not a word I’ve ever used to describe myself before. But everything I ever wanted is in that photo—the man of my dreams, and my teammates. I’ve left my smug smile behind in favor of one that’s so shiny I hardly recognize myself. But it’s me up there for sure. It’s us. And it’s perfect. T