Knight 31

Mason Maloney

“Holy fuck,” Pete exclaimed as the five of us walked back to Ross’s car. “I don’t want to be anywhere near your house when Nathan gets home.”

I didn’t either, but I had no choice.

“I’m sure he won’t ruin Thanksgiving over this,” Hilary said with optimism.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Bella commented in a warning tone.

I knew Nathan wouldn’t flip out when we had family over, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t sulk and be miserable all night. His attitude would create an awkwardness because no one would know what to say to him. I just prayed nobody would bring up the game to him during dinner. It would be best if football stayed out of the conversation entirely.

My family was already at the house by the time Ross dropped off Hilary and me. I didn’t speak to Ross at all on the ride home, not after he looked at me like he knew I was keeping a secret.

Mom and Celine were finishing up the food in the kitchen while Dad and Brandon were setting up the table and the kids sat in the living room, watching TV.

“Need any help?” I asked my mother as I walked into the kitchen.

She turned around and gave me a smile. “We should be all set. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes, but we have to wait for Nathan.”

I nodded and turned on my heel to leave the kitchen, joining my cousins in the living room. I took a seat beside Hilary on the couch while Millie was on her other side and Scott was on the two-seater by himself.

“There were a lot of cute boys at the game,” Millie commented to her sister.

Hilary rolled her eyes. “You’re too young to think about boys.”

“I am not!” Millie argued.

Hilary turned to me, her eyebrows raised. “Don’t you think she’s too young?”

I just shrugged, not wanting to get into it with them. One of the perks of having a brother was that there was no girl drama, so I never had to deal with this stuff.

“I’m not too young,” Millie huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Before Hilary could say anything else, the front door opened and in walked Nathan. We silently watched him as he made his way into the living room with his red football bag slung on his shoulder. Nathan looked up from the floor to see our stares.

“Hey, guys,” Nathan greeted our cousins with a smile and wave.

“Nathan!” Scott exclaimed, sitting up on the couch. “Can we play Madden?”

Nathan adjusted his bag on his shoulder. “Maybe after dinner.”

Scott nodded and slouched on the couch again, turning his attention back to the TV.

“Nathan, don’t you agree that Millie is too young for boys?” Hilary asked with a coy smile.

“Definitely,” Nathan replied seriously as he walked by the couch, toward the stairs. “Boys are trouble, you should just stay away from them forever.”

“Nathan!” Millie whined, throwing her head back in annoyance.

My brother chuckled before jogging up the stairs, presumably to throw his bag in his room. He had obviously already showered in the locker room since his hair was damp when he walked in.

Mom popped her head in the living room doorway. “Did Nathan just walk in?” she asked.

“Yeah, he just went upstairs,” I said, turning to face her.

“Okay, dinner is ready,” Mom announced before heading back to the kitchen.

Nathan bounded down the steps just as we got up from the couches to head into the kitchen. He changed out of his t-shirt and sweatpants and into a black and red flannel with dark, fitted jeans, his hair neatly pushed back.

“Dinner ready?” he asked, coming up next to me.

I nodded. “Yeah.”

He was acting strangely calm and normal considering he just lost a game which was so not normal for Nathan. However, I didn’t comment on it. I’d rather him be like this than be a mess for the rest of the day.

Nathan stayed calm and casual throughout dinner, making small talk with our Uncle who was seated beside him. No one mentioned the game, or even football at all, which I was grateful for.

After dinner, I headed to my room to get ready to go to Sam’s. I was going to be staying the night with him at his house, so I packed clothes and other necessities into a backpack. As I was packing, Nathan came into my room without knocking. I didn’t comment on it though.

“You heading out soon?” Nathan asked me, closing the door behind him.

“In a few minutes,” I answered.

Nathan nodded, putting his hands on his hips. “Just be careful, okay? It makes me nervous that I don’t know where you’re going to be or who you’ll be with.”

“I’ll be fine,” I assured him. “Don’t worry about it.”

Nathan let out a humorless chuckle. “That doesn’t make me less nervous, but thanks.”

We were silent for a few moments before I decided to speak up.

“Are you okay?” I asked him. “With what happened today?”

Nathan sighed, taking a seat beside me on my bed.

“It’s not the end of the world,” he said, his voice void of emotion.

“I know it’s not, but you’ve never seemed to know it’s not,” I said, raising my eyebrows.

“I just feel bad because everyone was blaming Brian,” Nathan admitted, referencing the kicker who missed the extra-point.

“I can’t believe he missed the extra-point,” I said, shaking my head.

“He hasn’t missed one all season, he was bound to eventually,” Nathan replied. “Everyone’s allowed to mess up sometimes, it’s up to the team to be able to cover for our teammates’ mistakes.”

“You’re right,” I agreed.

“Do you know how many passes I’ve missed this season?” Nathan asked. “Too many to count. Brian has missed one kick, it’s not the end of the world.”

“You know you’re allowed to make mistakes too, right?” I asked him, causing him to look down at his lap.

“I can’t though, the team relies on me,” he said with a sigh. “I don’t care if they blame shit on me, but I don’t want them doing it to each other. It’s not Brian’s fault we lost today.”

I smiled at him. “You’re a good captain, Nate.”

He looked up at me, giving me a questioning look.

“You understand what being a team means,” I explained. “While everyone else is quick to place the blame on someone, you don’t. You’re a leader.”

“I guess,” he muttered, looking back down at his lap. “I just hate that it was against Knight.”

I didn’t comment on that.

“Whatever, when we play them again in the playoffs, I’ll kick his ass,” Nathan added, his tone firm and determined. “There’s no way I’m losing to him twice in one season.”

I could see the fire in his eyes. Although Nathan was keeping a calm exterior, I could now tell he was fuming about the loss. Even though he wasn’t showing it, Nathan’s hatred for the Knights, more specifically Sam, grew deeper today. And the idea of that unsettled me.

My phone buzzed with a text from Sam, letting me know he was at the spot we agreed to meet at. The spot was only a few houses down since he didn’t want me walking too far when it was getting dark out, but it was far enough that Nathan wouldn’t be able to see who was picking me up. I hadn’t spoken to Sam since the day before, not even to congratulate him on his win.

“I gotta go,” I told Nathan, standing up from my bed. He looked up at me.

“Your man is here?” he asked, standing up as well.

I nodded. “Remember I’m at Pete’s because we are picking Secret Santa names,” I told him my lie so that we were on the same page with that.

“Right,” Nathan agreed, following me down the stairs.

My parents were in the kitchen with my Aunt and Uncle, sitting at the table and sipping on red wine. My mother’s eyes snapped to Nathan and me as the two of us entered the room.

“I’m off to Pete’s,” I said with a wave.

“Okay, honey,” Mom said. “You’re staying there tonight?”

“Yeah,” I replied before bidding everyone a goodbye and walking toward the front door with Nathan following me.

“Be careful,” Nathan reminded me as I opened the door to leave.

“I’ll be fine,” I insisted.

Nathan looked at if he didn’t believe me, but refrained from saying anything else. I waved to him before walking out the door and down the sidewalk to where I saw Sam’s car idling on the side of the road. A wave of excitement washed over me as I approached the car, anxious to see him.

I opened the passenger’s side door and slipped into the car with a smile on my face. Sam immediately leaned over to me and placed his lips on mine, before I could even shut the door. I smiled into the kiss before he pulled away with a smile of his own. I shut the car door and put my seat belt on and then we were off.

“I missed you,” Sam admitted confidently.

I felt my cheeks burn. “I missed you too.”

Sam smirked, placing his hand on my knee as he drove out of my neighborhood.

“Congrats on your win today, by the way,” I told him, placing my hand over his.

“Thanks,” he said awkwardly, as if not knowing how to take it.

“Seriously,” I said. “Don’t be weird.”

Sam chuckled. “It just doesn’t feel as good to win when Nathan played just as good as I did.”

“Well, he’s a good quarterback,” I replied with a smirk.

“I know,” Sam said, looking at me briefly.

“So,” I began after a few moments of silence, “is Mae’s family aware that we’re… together?”

Sam nodded. “They know.”

I nodded, looking out the window.

“Well,” Sam started again, “I think they do.”

“Sam!” I shouted exasperatedly, widening my eyes.

“Mae just told me they would be fine with it, she never said if she told them or not,” he explained.

I sighed, rubbing my face with my hand. I had been hoping that Mae’s family already knew about our relationship so we wouldn’t have to go through the awkwardness of explaining everything. Now, I had no idea what I would be walking into.

“It’ll be fine,” Sam assured me. “Quit being dramatic.”

I rolled my eyes, turning to face Sam to give him a dirty look.

“I’m not being dramatic,” I muttered, crossing my arms over my chest.

Sam gave me a look as if he didn’t believe me, a smirk breaking out onto his face as he shook his head.

“Whatever, Drama Queen,” he replied.

Soon enough the two of us ended up at Mae’s parent’s house. The house was larger than I expected it to be, showing that Mae’s parents were obviously well off. It was white with tasteful black shutters and a porch that wrapped around the house. Sam parked the car next to the curb in front of the house, along with a few other cars.

“Who else is here?” I asked as the two of us got out of his car and started walking toward the house.

Sam shrugged. “Probably Mae’s brother and sister.”

He led me to the door and opened it without knocking. I was met with a gust of warm air as I entered the house behind Sam. I stayed close to him as he brought me through the large space, heading toward the dining room. Loud conversation was heard the closer we got to the room. Once we entered, all eyes were on us.

“Sam!” a short woman, who I assumed was Mae’s mother, exclaimed. “I didn’t even hear you come in!” She wrapped him up in a tight hug, making him bend down so she could place a kiss on his cheek.

“And you must be Mason,” the woman said with a warm smile when she pulled away from Sam. She pulled me into a brief hug, the smile staying on her face.

“Mase, this is Danielle, Mae’s mom,” Sam introduced us.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said kindly.

Sam motioned for me to follow him, presumably so he could introduce me to the rest of the family.

“Sam,” a man greeted with a smiles, shaking his hand. He held out his hand for me to shake and I obliged.

“I’m John, Mae’s father,” he introduced himself.

“I’m Mason, nice to meet you,” I replied. I didn’t want to introduce myself as Sam’s boyfriend, in case they weren’t aware of it.

“Hey, guys!” Mae exclaimed as she entered the dining room, holding a bowl of mashed potatoes. Jonah was behind her, holding a plate that contained the turkey.

“Mason!” Lila screeched as she came in running behind her parents, throwing herself at me and wrapping her arms around my legs.

I chuckled, placing my hand on he back. “Hi Lila.”

Eventually I was introduced to Mae’s younger siblings, Maya and Jack. Jack was only a year older than Sam and me, in his first year of college, while Maya was in her early twenties. We sat down for dinner soon after I was introduced to the family. I sat next to Sam while Mae was across from me with Jonah next to her, across from Sam.

“So, Mason,” John started, “Do you have any siblings?”

I nodded looking up to where he sat at the head of the table. “I have a twin brother.”

“The other quarterback today is his brother,” Mae added, looking at her father.

John sent me an impressed look. “He’s a great player.”

“He is,” I agreed shyly, looking over at Sam.

“My dad loves football,” Mae told me with a smile.

“It’s always a good game when Sam plays your brother,” John continued. “It’s an actual competition, instead of Sam just dominating the whole game.”

I let out an awkward laugh and nodded in agreement.

“So, you’re dating your football rival’s brother?” Jack asked in disbelief, looking at Sam as he sat on his other side.

“Yep,” Sam replied, taking a long sip of water.

Jack laughed. “How does he feel about that?”

Sam and I looked at each other silently, neither of us knowing what to say. How do we tell these people that we are hiding our relationship from everyone we know?

Jack’s eyes widened. “He doesn’t know, does he?”

Sam shook his head. “No.”

“How long have you guys been dating?” Maya asked.

“Almost a month,” Sam replied quickly. It had completely slipped my mind that our relationship had been going on for that long. Maybe time just went by faster when I was with him.

“Okay, that’s enough interrogating them,” Mae said, sending each of her family members a warning look.

The rest of dinner went by smoothly. Mae’s family stopped asking us questions about our relationship after she had warned them to stop. Her family was actually very nice to be around and they were all just as kind as her.

After having some dessert, Sam whispered in my ear.

“Wanna get out of here?”

***

Sam Knight

Christo, Jake, Owen, and some other guys from the team had been blowing up my phone all night. They were adamant about going out to celebrate our victory over the Warriors and no matter how many times I told them I wasn’t going, they continued to pester me about it. I was ready to kill all of them.

Mason and I were just getting ready to leave Mae’s parents’s house. I had planned on taking him over to my house since I knew Mae and Jonah were going Black Friday shopping tonight and the kids were staying here with their grandparents. There was no way I was going to miss an opportunity to have Mason all to myself.

“We’re going to get going,” I announced, causing all eyes to be on Mason and me.

Danielle got up to give each of us a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you both so much for coming.”

“Thanks for having us,” Mason said kindly, a sweet smile on his face.

We said goodbye to everyone and headed toward the front door, Jonah following behind us. I sighed and turned to face him, giving Mason the keys so he could go start the car.

“What?” I asked in an annoyed tone.

“I know you’re taking Mason back to the house,” Jonah said, causing me to roll my eyes.

“Okay? That wasn’t a secret,” I answered.

Jonah gave me a serious look. “Just be good and be safe.”

I nodded. “I will,” I said impatiently.

Jonah looked away from me awkwardly. “There’s condoms in my dresser, please use–”

“I have my own,” I cut him off. “You don’t need to tell me to use them. I know.”

Jonah sighed, looking back at me. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I bid him a goodbye before turning on my heel and heading out to my car where Mason was seated in the passenger’s seat.

“Jonah was just reminding me to use protection,” I told Mason jokingly when I got in the driver’s seat.

Mason let out a short laugh. “Seriously?”

“I wish I was kidding,” I replied, pulling the car away from the curb.

My phone started buzzing in the cup holder a few moments later. I groaned, already assuming it was one of my friends trying to force me to go out tonight. Mason tilted the phone so he could see the caller ID.

“It’s Christo, do you want to answer it?” Mason asked.

I shook my head. “No, he’s been bugging me all night.”

“Bugging you about what?” he asked, shutting the ringer off on my phone.

“The team wants to go out tonight,” I explained. “To celebrate the win.”

“Why don’t you want to go out with them?”

“Because I’d rather be with you,” I answered honestly and I swore I saw his cheeks turn pink.

Mason smiled at me, but didn’t say anything. We arrived at my house shortly after and wasted no time getting inside. I led Mason upstairs to my room and placed his backpack down on my floor before grabbing the back of his head and smashing his lips to mine, causing him to let out a quiet moan.

I moved my hands to his cheeks and walked him to my bed, lowering him so that I was hovering above him. Mason wrapped his legs around my waist and pulled my face closer to his, deepening the kiss. He tugged on my shirt, signaling for me to pull it off. We both discarded our shirts onto the floor and Mason moved to switch positions so that he was straddling me. I smirked as he brought his lips back down to mine and tugged on my hair. I let out a quiet groan as his fingers continued to play with my hair and his tongue found its way into my mouth.

Being like this with him was pure bliss and nothing could ruin it. I moved my hands down to his waist, and went for the button on his jeans.

“Hey, I told you–”

The voice of someone who barged into my room forced Mason and I apart. Mason jumped so far he nearly fell on the floor.

Christo stood in my doorway with his mouth hung open and his eyes nearly popping out of his head. I looked to Mason, who wore a similar expression, before looking back to Christo. I was breathing heavily as I lied back on my bed, unsure of what I should do. The three of us stayed silent, no one moving an inch. Christo looked as if he was going to pass out so I decided to speak up.

“Hey.”

**

Thanks for reading!

What did you think about Nathan’s reaction to losing? What about Mason and Sam’s Thanksgiving dinner? And what about Christo walking in on them? How do you think he’s going to react?

Let me know!