I slept in later than usual on Saturday morning. Trevor didn't drop me off at home until late the night before and I felt guilty since my Dad had waited up for me.

After rolling over on my bed and checking my phone for the time, I realized it was past twelve. I groaned and pushed myself up off of the bed before heading downstairs. When I got there, I saw that my Dad was the only one home. It was oddly quiet without Mindy and Ava arguing in the kitchen.

"Morning, or should I say, afternoon," Dad joked when he saw me enter the kitchen.

"Hey," I rasped, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. "I'm sorry I came home so late last night."

Dad just waved me off as if saying "no big deal."

"I'm just glad you're finally going out with your friends," he told me with a smile.

I didn't have the heart to tell him that they weren't really my friends, so I stayed quiet and gave him a tight lipped smile before making my way over to the fridge to get a bottle of water and some milk for a bowl of cereal.

"Did you have fun?" Dad asked as I poured myself some cereal.

When I saw him waiting for me last night, we didn't speak much. I told him I was tired and he told me we would talk in the morning and now it was that time and I still didn't want to talk to him about it.

"Yeah, it was fun," I told him, taking a bit of cheerios I was eating over at the counter. I wasn't lying. I actually did have a good time out with the GSA kids after I stopped obsessing over Fox and Claudia.

"That's good," Dad replies cheerfully. "Where'd you go?"

"Just some restaurant," I stretched the truth. I didn't know how he would feel about me going to a club, no matter how subdued it was.

"What one?" he asked curiously.

"Um," I stammered, looking everywhere but him. "You've probably never been there."

"Oh. Is it some new place?" he asked me. "Maybe we can go some time."

My face flushed and I took a long sip of water before glancing at his curious expression.

"It's actually, it's uh," I stumbled on my words. "It's an LGBT place."

His eyes widened in surprise. "Oh," was all he said.

I looked awkwardly down at my bowl as I nodded in confirmation.

"That's great, Elijah," he added a few moments later, causing me to look up at him. "I'm glad you're hanging out with people you can relate to."

I nodded. "Me too."

"If only there were other LGBT hockey players in the area," Dad joked. "Then you could really relate to each other."

If only. I mentally rolled my eyes.

"By the way, great game last night. I'm really proud of you," Dad said, standing up from his seat and patting me on the shoulder.

"Thanks." Then a thought dawned on me. "Where is everyone?"

"Mindy is shopping with her friend, Ava's at a birthday party, and Joshua stayed at Ryan's," Dad answered. "Which reminds me, since we're alone, I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

"Your mother," he told me with a grimace clear on his face.

It was clear neither of us wanted to discuss her, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't curious about why she called the other day.

"Let's sit," Dad suggested and I followed him over to the kitchen table, sitting across from him. "So you know she called me the other day."

I nodded, urging him to continue.

"She was asking to speak to you," he admitted, giving me a look I couldn't really decipher, but I assumed it was one meant to comfort me.

"Why?" I asked confusedly.

"I'm not really sure. She said she had to talk to you and she wanted to see you," he replied carefully.

"And you told her no," I finished for him.

"I did," he said with a nod, "but I don't want to keep you from your mother if you want to speak to her."

I didn't know how to answer because I didn't even know myself if I wanted to speak to her.

"I'm going to be honest with you, Elijah," Dad started to fill the silence I left. "I don't want you to speak to her or go see her, at least not right now."

"Why?" I managed to choke out.

"I don't believe her intentions with you are what's best for you," he answered. "I don't think she's just changed her mind about you being gay and I think what she has to say could be harmful to you and I don't trust her."

There was no doubt my Dad loved me, but did he really know what was best for me? The two of us barely had a relationship until I got kicked out of my mother's house and while I didn't entirely blame him for that, that was still partially his responsibility.

"But like I said," he continued when I didn't say anything, "I don't want to keep you from her if you want to see her. The decision is yours to make, but please think about it for a while before you decide."

All I could do was nod at his words. He reached across the table and placed his hand over mine in a comforting way.

Before anything else could be said, the sound of the front door opening and closing filled the house and Josh made his way into the kitchen a few moments later.

"Oh, sorry," he said when he saw the two of us. "Didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"You didn't," Dad assured him. "We just finished."

Josh nodded before he made his way over to the fridge for a bottle of water. He placed his bag down on the floor next to him and walked over to where we sat at the table.

"How was your night with Trevor?" Josh asked me, though his tone told me he was only asking to annoy me.

"It was fine," I grumbled, looking over to my father and hoping he wouldn't say anything about Trevor. The last thing I needed was him questioning me about it too.

"Did you go home with him?" Josh asked, causing my eyes to bug out of my head.

"Josh," I hissed in annoyance, sending a nasty scowl his way.

"No, my good son came home last night, unlike my other one," Dad teased with a smirk up at Josh.

Josh rolled his eyes, taking a sip of water and leaning back against the counter.

"You have a good night?" Dad asked Josh to which he just shrugged.

"Yeah it was fine," he answered, looking down at the floor.

A wide smile painted itself on Dad's face as he looked lovingly between Josh and me. Dad let out a content sigh before he spoke.

"I'm so happy I get to watch both of my boys on the same team," Dad admitted. "I'm proud of you both."

"Dad," I groaned.

"Don't go sappy on us right now, Dan," Josh said with a pleading look.

"Okay, okay," Dad replied, standing up from the table with his hands out in front of him in defense. "Fine, I won't tell you guys how much I love you and watching you play."

"Yes, please don't," I replied, looking up at him through hooded eyes.

He playfully shook his head. "Fine, I'll take this as my cue to leave."

After he left the room, Josh and I sat in silence, the only sound being him sipping his water as he continued to lean against the counter.

"So," Josh started and I nearly groaned, knowing this conversation would end up somewhere I didn't want it to be. "I'm surprised you didn't let Trevor have his way with you last night."

I glared at him and stood up from my chair. "What's your problem?"

"I don't have a problem."

"You obviously do," I spat in annoyance, "You're always bringing up Trevor like it would be a crime if I decided to be with him. Not to mention how you acted around him last night."

Josh's casual look changed to a sardonic one at my words.

"And how did I act around him last night?" he asked mockingly.

"Like you were uncomfortable around him," I nearly shouted. "You were being rude."

"Was I?"

All I could do was let out an irritated huff and storm out of the kitchen. I wasn't going to stand there and let Josh ridicule me and what I had to say. Maybe I was overreacting. Maybe the way he was acting was all in my head.

***

"Guys, listen up!" Fox exclaimed as the team got ready in the locker room.

Conversation ceased and all eyes were on Fox as he climbed up to stand on top of a bench in the center of the locker room.

"This weekend we have back to back away games, so you each need to hand in fifty dollars for the hotel to either me or one of the coaches," he announced, waving around the envelope in his hand. "And any donations for a teammate who needs some help are welcome."

Fox jumped down from the bench and conversation started up again.

"Dan gave me a hundred for us," Josh said, coming to stand next to me.

I nodded. "Okay."

I still wasn't really on speaking terms with Josh ever since our slight argument over the weekend. It seemed like I was never actually keen to speaking to Josh and it bothered me, but it wasn't like he ever made an effort to make amends with me either. So I tried not to let it bother me too much.

I slowly finished getting ready before heading out to the ice with the rest of the team. Ever since Corey had apologized to me, I felt less afraid of what the other guys on the team thought of me. Not to mention, they were warmer toward me after I scored in our first game. I wouldn't consider any of them my friends, but it was a start.

I spent the majority of practice with Ian doing defensive drills and practicing D to D passes. Coach Silva and Merton had already established the two of us would be partners for most of the season, not that I expected anything different.

"Hey Ian," I called out as the two of us continued our pass drills.

"What?" he grumbled, sending the puck my way.

Part of me felt like I should just leave Ian alone, knowing he would never like me for some unknown reason. But the other part wanted to have some type of relationship with him since we were going to be working together for the season, whether that relationship be as friends or just acquaintances.

"How does the whole hotel thing work for the away games?" I asked, stopping the puck with my stick and sending it back to him.

"What kind of question is that?" he snapped, sending me an annoyed look.

I rolled my eyes. "I meant who gets roomed with who and where are we staying."

Ian shrugged. "Coach Merton usually makes the room assignments and we stay in whatever hotel lets us."

Before I could reply, Coach Silva blew his whistle to signal for us to start new drills. Ian slid the puck on his stick and glided away from me toward the center of the ice where the rest of the team was lining up for drills. I shook my head before following him. He was going to be tough to crack.

After practice, I quickly changed and showered before the majority of the team had the chance to get in the showers and then sat on the bench in front of my locker to wait for Josh. It took me a moment to realize that I was alone with Fox in our row of lockers. Without really thinking about it, I reached into my wallet and pulled out a ten dollar bill I had stashed in there.

"Here," I said, thrusting my hand with the money out toward Fox.

He raised his eyebrow in a confused expression. "What is that for?"

"To donate to whoever needs it," I said as if I was stating the obvious, shaking the bill in my hand.

Fox just stared at it for a few moments before taking it from me and giving me a nod as a thanks. I knew I probably wouldn't be able to get any more words out of him, so I left it at that and pulled my phone out as I continued to wait for Josh to be finished.

"You ready?" Josh startled me as he came up behind me, causing me to jump slightly at his voice.

I nodded and stood up from the bench, pulling my bags with me, and left the locker room with Josh. We were in the car for a few minutes before Josh decided to speak.

"Coach Merton will probably put you and I in the same hotel room," Josh told me, never taking his eyes off the road.

"Okay?" I responded in confusion as to why he decided to share that information. I had figured we would be rooming together because I knew the coaches wouldn't want to put me with anyone who could potentially harass me.

"I'm just letting you know because it's four to a room and I usually room with Fox and I know you two are weird with each other," Josh explained further.

"We're not weird with each other," I mumbled my lie.

"Yeah, okay," he sarcastically replied. I could telling he was rolling his eyes without even looking at him. "Everyone notices it."

I chose not to reply. At the moment, I couldn't think of any excuse as to why Fox and I wouldn't like each other that would make any sense. And it wasn't like I could tell him the truth. No matter how Fox treated me, I would never even think of outing him to anyone.

**