Teddy watches the tennis ball disappearing in the night sky while the racket is tightly held in his right hand. He's been waiting for half an hour, and he's almost sure that Marco isn't going to show up. He picks up another ball from his bag and just stares at it for a few moments thinking back about Spring Break and Tripp and how cheap he felt for a moment when he had met the boyfriend.
He hears the metal door behind him opening and closing and when he turns around, Marco is standing a few feet away, hands deep into the pockets of his jeans and a simple white t-shirt that makes his skin look even tanner than usual.
Teddy smiles. "It's the first time I see you in normal clothes."
Marco laughs and comes closer. He picks the ball from Teddy's hand and starts playing with it. "I don't play soccer all day long."
Teddy nods and sighs. "Look, about the other day..."
"I get it," Marco cuts him off. "You told me that you just had your heart broken, and I should have thought that you wouldn't be up for dating and..."
"I want to date." Teddy quickly cuts him off. He grabs the ball from Marco's hand and lets it fall to the ground. "I went to Mexico with my friends for the Spring Break, and I saw someone I..." he trails off and looks away for a moment. "Someone I liked back at my old school I thought he was straight, but we hooked up. Then I expected for something more to come out of it."
Marco nods and glances towards the lights of the city. He puts his hands back in the pockets of his jeans and looks at Teddy with a small smile. "It didn't work out?"
"Not really. He has a boyfriend and an open relationship."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"I'm not," Teddy says, stepping closer for a moment before reminding himself that this time is quite different and so takes two steps back. Things with Ian started from a one night stand and with Tripp it was sex right away too so this time he wants to do things differently, not his way. "It got me thinking. I thought that after being a player with so many girls, I could just pick up right where I left off except with guys this time, but I don't want that. Not anymore. So I'm sorry that I was a jerk, and I want to do things your way." He smiles and picks up another ball.
Marco looks down at the yellow ball and takes it in his hand smiling up at Teddy. "So, this is our first date or something?"
Teddy laughs and shrugs. "I don't know man. I'm not good with this kind of thing. I'm just starting to understand myself, so I don't really know what I'm doing."
Marco smirks and takes the racket from Teddy's other hand. He turns around towards the city and glances at Teddy for a moment, one hand confidently holding the racket and the other ready to launch the ball up in the air. "That's ok. I know what I'm doing."
