Rumor Has It (Longwood U)

Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

DAK

Graduation isn’t anything special. If you’ve been to one college graduation, you’ve been to all of them. The guest speakers change every year and sometimes they’re really fantastic. But not always. And more often than not, unless their speech creates a media spectacle of them, it’s not usually memorable either.

Some important person says some things. How often do those things actually resonate with the audience? Maybe they’re saying something really great, but the timing is just… weird. I obviously haven’t been through graduation yet, but I’ve been to a few over the years—cousins and shit. Those sitting there ready to go are almost always not paying attention. They’re excited, jittery, anxious. Their minds are in a hundred different places. Sitting in a folding chair for just one more lecture isn’t where their minds are.

I sat close to the side where I could see Ezlo and Sparrow walk. I made sure they both knew where I was. And I was sitting with Ezlo’s parents, too. Mine were on video so they could see Ezlo graduate.

Our families aren’t super close, but of their old ‘Gays Can Play’ hockey crowd from their playing days, Ezlo and I were the first generation born. I think us being so close in age had our parents hanging out more often than with some of the other players.

Which I always found funny because we didn’t even live in the same state. Still, we’d rent a beach house or a cabin on a mountain or whatever for a week and hang out. Ezlo and I stayed in touch via videos and text messages when we got older, but our families continued to get together three or four times a year.

When more of their old hockey buddies had kids, we had big gatherings twice a year, so everyone could catch up. Once in summer at the beach, and once in winter somewhere cold and snowy. They still have them and Ezlo and I still attend. I’m not sure when this summer’s gathering is planned for, but I know we’ll both be there. Hopefully they work around Ezlo’s summer class schedule, so he doesn’t have to miss it. I think now that the hockey kids are getting older and don’t need such close supervision, the parental generation is talking about resuming their summer boat trips.

Now I’m off the video with my parents after promising that I’ll call them later. Once I’m out of the crowd and noise. When I’m somewhere quiet.

That means when I’m in the hotel with Sparrow. It makes my heart race because I’m about to do something I’ve never done before and I’m fucking nervous.

Sparrow finds me. He’s still wearing his purple gown, but his cap is in his hand. His arms wrap around me as soon as he’s close enough to touch me. I grin when his mouth lands on mine.

“You need to socialize more or are you ready to go?” Sparrow asks.

“Let’s go.”

He nods and takes my hand, pulling me from the crowd. Winding his way through the many bodies. I’m both surprised and not surprised by how many people stop him to say hi or goodbye. It makes me realize I know so little about him outside of our own private circle.

“Don’t you have family here? And your best friend?”

Sparrow nods. That’s all.

I don’t ask more until we’re in our hotel room and I’m sitting on the bed with my tablet in hand. There’s a lot I haven’t told my parents. Not for any other reason than I was navigating them myself without having any solid answers.

When we could’ve been considered just hooking up or exclusive friends with benefits, that’s not the kind of thing you share with your parents. The decision to be more happened right before we started hunkering down for finals, so I barely did anything but study. And fuck.

Sparrow comes out of the bathroom in shorts and a shirt. There’s a sexy smile on his lips as he crawls on the bed, sitting in front of me. His hand cups the side of my face and he guides my mouth to his. I half expect him to ask, ‘yes or no?’ but he doesn’t.

“You okay?”

I nod. “I told my parents I’d call them when I got out of that mess.”

Sparrow nods.

“I haven’t told them about you yet so… I’m going to.”

His smile widens. “Good.”

“Your parents are here, aren’t they?” I know he said they were when I asked earlier, but I didn’t see them.

“They are. As are my brothers and sister and a whole lot of extended family.”

“Do they know about me?”

Now his smile is both amused and sympathetic. “Of course, they do. Because I went straight to fucking you as soon as Xavi and Nemy left that day, Nemy beat me to telling my family that I have a boyfriend. But yes, they know. We’re having breakfast with them in the morning.”

My eyes widen. “Are we?”

He chuckles. “Yes.” Sparrow moves so he’s next to me and pulls me practically into his lap. “You already know I forget to communicate some things, but I always have you included in my plans.”

“Meeting the family is a big thing,” I point out.

“Mmm,” he hums. “Time to meet yours.”

“Just so it’s out there, I’m not embarrassed or anything. That’s not why I’m nervous.”

“I didn’t think that.”

I nod and put a little distance between us. When his hand rests on my thigh, giving me a reassuring squeeze, I say, “I’m going to put a hard limit in place. No sexy stuff when my parents are around or on the phone or anything. Okay?”

Sparrow gives me an amused look. “Yep.”

“Okay,” I repeat and take a breath before I hit the call button. It rings twice before my Dad’s face fills my screen. He smiles widely. “Hi, Dad.”

“Hey, Dak. How’s Ezlo? His parents have him now?”

“Yes. I’ve transferred custody back to Deryke and Max.”

He chuckles. My Otec and Pops join Dad on either side of him. “Dakky!” Pops says. I grin.

But then Dad’s eyes narrow as he studies the screen. “Where are you?”

“Hotel,” I answer.

“Why?”

“Because my room is packed up.”

“Are you hiding a girlfriend?” Pops teases.

“No,” I say and brace myself. “I’m hiding a boyfriend.”

Pops laughs. He’s one of those men who smile all the time. There’s rarely a memory I have of him without a smile. He has some very obvious crows feet at the corners of his eyes because of it. I love that about him.

“Are you?” Otec asks, a smile spreading across his face.

I nod and glance to my side.

“Well, let’s meet him, then,” Pops says.

Dad is still looking at me and I can imagine the questions he has even though he’s not asking them. I shift closer to Sparrow and move the tablet so his face is next to mine on the screen. “This is Sparrow. And my dads, Otec, Dad, and Pops—Jakub, Credence, and Ethan.”

Sparrow smiles as my parents say hi. His mouth opens to say hello but then he tilts his head. He looks at me with surprise. “Bozik. Fu—Da—” He shakes his head. “I was a little slow on that.” He laughs and turns back to the screen. “Sorry. Hi. Nice to meet you.”

Pops laughs. “You’re a hockey fan?”

Sparrow shrugs, nodding. “I don’t eat and breathe hockey, but yeah. I have some extended relations who are retired hockey players.”

“Who?” Pops asks, leaning forward.

“My…” Sparrow shakes his head. “These are relations that aren’t blood related. Just putting it out there, but there’s Uncle Caulder, who I’m quite sure you know. ”

Now Dad smiles. Caulder is my dad’s best friend.

“Yes!” Pops says. “We were just talking to him last week. How did I not know about you?!”

“I’m not technically related. Chosen family and all that.”

“Ah. That’s fair. Then you must know Vinny—Owen Vincent?”

Sparrow nods. “Yes, I know Uncle Owen too. One of my first memories of hockey is watching one of Uncle Caulder’s last games before he retired. You guys were already done, though.”

All three of my dads nod.

I listen to them talk hockey for a few minutes as I sit back and enjoy them conversing. The smile I have can’t be helped. They’d have been nice to any person I introduced them to, but I think the immediate common ground of hockey instantly gives my parents something to get comfortable with.

Honestly, I didn’t know about his uncles. I knew he knew hockey and enjoyed the game from time to time, but I didn’t know he’d been exposed to it quite like that.

“When will you be coming home?” Otec asks.

I glance at Sparrow.

“We’re spending the summer cruising the ocean,” Sparrow answers for me, “but we’ll be making pit stops along the way to visit family. We haven’t discussed those details yet.”

“Are you reachable on this boat? There’s Wi-Fi?” Dad asks.

Sparrow nods. “I’ll make sure Dak sends you the details on it. There’s even an app you can download to track where we are. My parents have used it for years to make sure I’m safe without them.”

All three of my parents relax, and I bow my head to fight my smile. Sparrow is good with parents.

“This isn’t a boat with a captain then?” Dad asks.

Sparrow shakes his head. “Nope. I’ve been driving it since I was thirteen. I convinced my parents to let me take it on my own when I was sixteen. Since then, I’ve spent most of my summers on it. I have life jackets and two life rafts. All of which are equipped with alarm signals that go off and send immediate S.O.S. signals as soon as they’re submerged. I promise, we’re very safe.”

“Good to hear,” Otec says. Dad is still frowning, but he doesn’t argue. I’m going to be twenty-one in a week, so there really isn’t any way he can prevent me from going. Not that I think he would. But if one of my parents is a careful one, it’s Dad.

We talk for a while longer and then end the call. Sparrow immediately takes me into his arms, and I try not to let us roll onto the tablet. “You didn’t tell me you’re the child of three pro athletes.”

“I find when I volunteer that information, people change. If they realize it on their own, I’m already rarely getting their authentic selves from the beginning.”

“So if you don’t share it at all and let your boyfriend figure it out on his own…”

I grin. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you knew hockey enough to recognize them, honestly.”

He hums. “I do and I don’t. I only recognized their names because of Uncle Caulder. Otherwise, maybe like three years down the road I might have put it together when someone made a comment about them playing or something. I like hockey, but I’m not a huge fan. Just a mediocre fan.”

I laugh. “Okay, now tell me who I’m meeting tomorrow.”

Sparrow’s family isn’t all here. For which I’m thankful because the list of names he rattled off last night and how they were related to him was massive.

We’re led into a room in the back of the restaurant that is already crowded with people. I see Nemy and I’m immensely grateful for one familiar face because there are a ton of very unfamiliar faces, even though Sparrow spent quite some time going through pictures in his phone to show me.

The only ones I remember for certain are his parents—River and Jordan. Maddy and Dad. He also explained that if I talk about his Maddy in any other way than by name, their pronouns are they/them. I now also understand why he doesn’t go by his legal name. It can be confusing when one of your parents shares the same name.

I also tried to remember his siblings—triplets Corvin, Jordan, and Violet. And again, because one of them shares a name with their father, Jordan is known as Phoenix .

Then there are the ‘uncles’ that make up Nemy’s family—five fathers, one of which was a giant pink Viking man named Vulcan. I also learned that two of Nemy’s fathers are brothers of the hockey players that Sparrow knows. Nemy also has five siblings—three older and two younger. All of which are present. His three older siblings also have families who are here as well.

If that wasn’t enough, there’s another family of six men and their three teenage kids—the Whitakers. Who are also another set of ‘uncles’ of sorts.

And grandparents, an actual uncle and two aunts, plus their families.

To say I’m overwhelmed when we walk in is an understatement. Thankfully, Nemy glues himself to my side, so even when Sparrow’s attention is taken by someone, Nemy is there, and I feel less awkward.

They all know my name. They all know about me. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this, but fuck, big family. Big, big family. Otec has a sister, and Pops has an older brother and younger sister. Admittedly my uncle has a bunch of kids, but we didn’t grow up close. And Otec’s family still lives in Czechia. Dad is an only child, though, and is estranged from almost all of his large family because they disagree with him ‘making the decision’ to be gay.

Yep, that’s in my blood.

You know, maybe. Probably. I’m not entirely sure who I share my genetics with.

Most of the interaction with Sparrow’s family happens in a blur of faces and names and voices. I’m so overwhelmed with everything, I think I end up compartmentalizing in a way I didn’t know I was capable of.

I’m relieved when we leave. Just the two of us, although his parents walk us out and give Sparrow a tight hug. I receive a hug too, which doesn’t feel awkward at all. Though I think maybe it does just a little because I’m incredibly overstimulated.

We gather our luggage from the hotel and check out, take a Shuttled to the train station and finally, begin our journey to L.A. When we’re in the silence of a mostly empty train, Sparrow takes my hand and kisses the back of it.

“Little much, huh? ”

I smile. “I think meeting smaller numbers at first is probably the better way to go. I have no idea what just happened.”

He chuckles. “Sorry, Risk. They were all already here and I wasn’t sure how to calm it down. I’m used to a lot of noise, not only as someone who grew up with siblings, but because I grew up in a neighborhood that was filled with who we considered family. So I’m used to chaos. I forget that not all people are.”

“I can already tell that you have a great family. But yeah, I’m going to enjoy the quiet for a while.”

Sparrow grins and kisses the side of my head. “That’s fine. But just so you know, as soon as we get the boat out of the harbor, you’re riding my dick until we get to tonight’s destination.”

My skin heats thoroughly. “That’s not safe, is it? If you’re going to tell me you’ve done it before, I don’t want to hear.”

He laughs. “I haven’t. I haven’t brought anyone on my boat except a few friends here and there. And family.”

“Your boat?”

Sparrow just smiles.