ONE YEAR LATER Justin’s POV Last year had been very eventful for me. I originally wanted to move (or better flee) to Florida. But then I thought “Who the fuck plays soccer in Florida?” It’s a paradise for surfer. So I changed my plans and went to Ohio. And since a few months I play for the “Cleveland heroes”. It wasn’t an exceptional team, but good enough, so that I didn’t feel unchallenged. (I would have hated it to play with a bunch of amateurish losers) The guys were really nice, and although I was the only gay boy, they didn’t make my life to hell. On the contrary, they have been very supportive and even wanted to get me another boyfriend when they found out that I was lovesick. (Needless to say that they didn’t find anybody that I wanted. But it was cute that they tried though) I had a beautiful apartment in the center of the city with a great view at the baseball stadium. And even with all that soccer training I still had enough time to paint. I should be happy. Should be. Yeah. But I wasn’t it. There were hardly any minute where I didn’t think of Brian. I never thought it was possible to miss a person so much that your heart was constantly cramping in pain, you always had to cry when you saw a happy couple and sometimes you couldn’t even breath. I had hoped that with time I eventually would get over him. Instead my yearning for him became worse and worse. Sometimes I thought I just would go crazy if I didn’t see him again. And I asked myself very often now if it was right to run away from him. If it was the right thing to do, why did it feel so wrong? Just one Sunday when I was very depressed again and couldn’t even enjoy the little party we had after a match we won, our coach told us that we soon had to play against a team that we never had played against before. When I heard where this team came from, I had to gasp loudly and then I grinned like an idiot. Destiny was on my side! Brian’s POV I was pretty lazy today. I wasn’t really looking forward to our match that would start in a few minutes. It was a beautiful sunny afternoon and I preferred to sit in a deck chair and bath in the sun. Yesterday I was checking myself in the mirror and got alarmed how pale I was looking. I had been neglected myself a bit since Justin left me. I had been constantly moping around and hadn’t cared much what I looked like, simply because I hadn’t been interested in fucking any other guys. But now I was getting angry with myself. Why was I still regretting a guy who obviously wasn’t worth it? He probably had forgotten all about me already. So it was time to move on. Tonight I would finally go to Babylon and see if I still could get any man that I wanted. I really had to do something for my ego again! “Fuck you, Justin!” I thought. “I had suffered enough because of you! It’s over now!” “Do you know the Cleveland Heroes?” Michael suddenly asked me. “No.” I shrugged. “But who gives themselves such a silly name, can’t be any good. So don’t be afraid of the unknown.” I smiled a bit boastfully. But come on, for those guys it probably was a heroic deed already if they scored a goal once a year. I tried not to laugh so hard when I saw the group that wandered to the mid-line. They were all so small and lanky. They looked like a gym team. But suddenly my breath caught. I swallowed the wrong way and started to cough so violently that I almost died a heroic asphyxia here. No, no, that couldn’t be true! My eyes must lie to me. There was no way that the blonde guy in front of me, was Justin!! He must be a hallucination because I had been thinking too often of him lately. But I had to admit that he looked good even for a vision. His hair was a bit longer now - and it fit him. He looked mature now and not like a kid anymore. “Hi Brian.” The vision suddenly said and it cost me all my strength not to faint. Justin’s POV Brian starred at me with his mouth wide open. Oh, it must be a real shock for him to see me. (Yeah, my surprise was felicitous) I wish I wasn’t so nervous though. Just an hour ago I still had been brave and had known exactly what to tell him. But now I could hardly get a word out. Only my heart was talking, but Brian couldn’t hear it. Damn, how could I show him without any words that I loved him? I couldn’t throw myself at him now. What should my teammates think if I kissed the opponent? Besides I was not sure if Brian would have liked it. Maybe he was still together with his Finnish boyfriend? I haven’t seen the fat guy yet, but that must not mean anything. Maybe he just had to stay home because he didn’t fit in the plane? (Could you tell that I got mean when I was jealous?) And if he was here though, I would make sure to find a way to get rid of him! Brian was mine! Okay, it took me a while to realize that, but there was no way that I would let him go again! But obviously I still had to convince Brian that he belonged to me. I managed to stand exactly opposite to him at the salutation. But while all the other guys shook hands, Brian completely ignored me. “Asshole!” My friend George mumbled next to me. “That match isn’t even that important and he shows a inept rivalry!” “Doesn’t matter.” I shrugged and starred at Brian’s retracting ass. “I’ll get him. I’m onto him.” Instead of running after the ball, I followed only Brian during the match. I guess he didn’t find it very flattering though. When he was looking at me, his eyes killed me. Maybe he was already unnerved that he couldn’t escape from me. Yeah, I was just as fast as him, maybe even faster (hee, hee) In the middle of the second half-time he finally had enough. “What the fuck are you doing, Justin?” He yelled at me when I stood so close to him again that I could smell his skin. “I’m only doing my job. I’m your covering player.” I smiled sweetly at him. “Don’t bullshit me, Justin! You didn’t look one time where the ball was, not even when your team was attacking. Instead you are sticking on me as if I was a magnet. So, what do you want from me? Why did you come back at all? If you are trying to get me back, the trouble was in vain. I don’t want to be together with a cheater like you!” “Who do you call a cheater?” I hissed. Now I was getting angry too. “How do you dare! YOU have been the one who was cheating on his boyfriend. I just couldn’t stand to be used by such a lying bastard! That’s why I ran away!” Oops. That wasn’t very sensitive. In my rage I said things that I really didn’t intended to say. Fuck, now I probably had made it even worse and could forget about my plan to seduce Brian. Argh! I could have kicked myself. But I preferred to run away now. “Yeah run! That’s what you can do best!” Brian shouted. I didn’t have to turn around to know that he was following me. Damn, Brian and his long, long legs. I had no chance when he fouled me. I flew through the air and landed vehemently on my belly. Aw. But I had no time to recover because a few seconds later Brian fell on top of me. Brian’s POV I really didn’t want to foul him. It was a pretty brutal method, but I hadn’t known how to stop him otherwise. There was no way that I would let him run away from me again without an explanation. (even if it was only till to the other side of the field). But now where I had caught him, I took my chance to talk with him. I turned him on his back, so that I could look into his eyes. “So Taylor, let me know. How can you assert that I was cheating on my boyfriend when I never had one?” “You never had a boyfriend? You liar! What about that Finnish guy? You called him boyfriend!” “What?” I starred incredulously at Justin. And then suddenly I had a suspicion what was going on here. Could it be that he ran away from me because he thought I’d be together with another guy? And the twink was just jealous! A strange feeling of happiness poured through my body. And then I couldn’t help myself anymore. I kissed him. “Well, that’s a completely different meaning of the word friendly match.” I suddenly heard a voice. And when I looked up again, I saw a group of grinning soccer players standing around us.