Chapter 27 (Jayson's POV)

It had been a few days since that game, but things were going well. We had won the first round against the Bulls, 4-2, and we were getting ready for our second round of playoffs against the Hawks. They had been a pretty good team during the regular season and would be difficult to beat but I knew me and my team could beat them if we stuck together and played our best. The school year was just about over so Duce was spending even more time with me when I was at home. Me and Tory had finally got our shit together and were spending more time with him together as well. I wasn't even really thinking about Indi anymore either, things had finally blown over with that Shade room post and the comments on her page had gone away a bit. She had come to some of my other games with Gem and that dude but I ain't care. She had moved on and so had I. I started back texting a few girls who were from my past and even me and Tory were getting close again. I mean it wasn't the same as when me and Indi spent time together, but that didn't matter. It was Sunday evening and our first game against the Hawks was on Tuesday. Me, Tory and Duce were just chilling watching tv after dinner. I was laying in Tory's lap while Duce sat on the floor drawing. Even without Indi here, Duce still continued to do art on his own and had progressed so much. If he didn't want to go into sports like his dad he definitely had a future being an artist he was so talented. Me and Tory were just watching him while she played in my hair. Duce left to go to the bathroom and it was only me and her in the living room. "Thank you for blessing me with a wonderful son, I'll always be thankful for that" I told her as I looked up at her. I really was thankful for that. "I know we have had our own problems in the past but I'm glad you're in me and Duce's life." "It's not a problem at all Jay, I'm really glad to have had Duce with you too. I know that I haven't been on my shit lately but I promise to be a better mother to Duce and a better friend to you."There was a beat of silence, I still did have feelings for Tory, I mean she was my first love and the mother to my child. I slowly went up to kiss her but she put her hand to my chest and stopped me. I sat up then. "What's wrong, I thought you wanted this too Tory?" I said to her"Jayson don't get me wrong I appreciate you wanting to try to make things work between us again but I have a confession to make." She looked at me and took a deep breath. "I came to the realization that I was gay a few years ago after Duce was born and I've been seeing this girl for awhile now. I was just waiting to find a good time to tell you this." "Oh wow" was all I could say I had no idea but it kinda did make sense because it could never work between us after we had Duce and now I knew why. "Well I'm happy for you Tory for being yourself and finding happiness. I'm glad you feel close enough with me to tell me this and you know I will support you on this journey and your relationship." I gave her a hug as she told me thanks. "I have a question then though, why were you pressing me a few weeks ago when I brought Indi to the game?" I asked her. I had told her about everything with Indigo so she was caught up on the situation. "Well I was just mainly surprised you had actually brought a girl other than me to one of your games and I was just being nosy really" she said to me. "But Indi is a nice person. I just wanted to know more about her. And the way you looked at her that day I knew you liked her. You still do, I can tell." "So what does it matter if I do? She got a new dude with her anyway. And she already told me she doesn't want anything to do with me. I told you that.""Okay and you believed that? You told me how she looked when she said that and she could have been lying just to protect herself in the situation. And do you even know for sure if that's her nigga? He could just be a friend. Think about it before you just cut Indi off for good" I hated when Tory made sense. I knew I just wanted to have a reason to be mad at Indi really for hurting my feelings. I didn't really know if that was her boyfriend or not but they sure seemed close, but he did with Gem as well. Duce had come back and he and Tory started drawing together while I took out my phone and scrolled on Gem's and Indi Ig page looking for dude's face anywhere. I finally got to a Christmas post of all three of them on Gem's page with the caption "Mi familia" and he was tagged in it. I clicked on his @, @micagemery and scrolled through his page. He was a senior at Boston State College and a football player. I got to a picture of him and Gem as kids and realized he was her brother. I scrolled back up and almost missed another picture. It was of him and another guy kissing with the caption. "My lover and no one elses" and I realized he was Bi-sexual from his bio. I rubbed my face and mentally slapped myself for assuming Indi was already talking to another guy when this was Gem's brother and he was already in a relationship. I then felt bad for how I treated her the times I saw her. I wanted to text her but I knew it wouldn't fix anything. "Well Tory you were right, please don't tell me I told you so" as I showed her the picture of the guy I was thinking Indi was with. "Shaking my head, mmm, mmm, mmm, Jay. What are you going to do to fix this with Indi?" "I mean I don't have to try to fix anything with Indi just cause she's not talking to somebody else doesn't matter. She still said what she said. I'm not trying to get hurt" I told her"Jesus you're so stubborn JT, she is probably thinking the same thing you know that right, just try to at least talk to her cause I'm sure she wants to talk to you just as bad but is scared to."I knew Tory was probably right so I decided to text her but this was the last time, after this if she still didn't want me I would be done done, for good.