Hiiiiii, just finished reading and had some thoughts/questions.
1). Did Joe intentionally sabotage the straw picking when the guys were planning the club outing? Did he not want to be impaired so he could keep a close eye on Alex 👀👀
2). I know Alex deleted Tj’s number, but will he be seeing or hearing from him again? I’m not asking to intrusive! But my messy can’t help but imagine the dramaaaaaaaaaaaa
3). What would you say really piqued joes interest in Alex? Was it one thing in particular, or a combination of things that intrigued him? I only ask cause it seems like right off the bat he finds Alex beguiling if at least superficially, but by the time we get to the club scene he’s full on infatuated and possessive (very hot)
4). Alex seems to suppress his traumas and maybe that’s by virtue of being an only child and the man of the family, that being said I was wondering if we’d ever get a little more insight into his relationship with his grandfather, he died right before Alex left off to Tennessee which I could only imagine did a lot of emotional damage to our sweet boy. He never really thinks or talks about it , so I’m curious to how that’s affected him over the years.
Also, I think you are so talented! This story is amazing and so immersive like I’m really invested in these characters and their motivations! You really did your big one with this!!!
HIIIIIIIII I fucking love these long questions. Let's get into it. Also thank you so much for reading and being interested enough to ask that is SO cool and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'll answer them all in order.
YES. He totally did sabotage it on purpose. There's one part where he holds the short straw in his palm and Yoshi tries to pull it but he can't so he just grabs another one. That's exactly why too. He was like my hot rookie is not going out for his birthday without someone to actually watch him.
YES. TJ will be heard from. I won't say how, but he is not simply a ghost in the story.
This is a reallllllllllllllly good question. So I think it started with Zac even floating the idea of Alex being "his" rookie. Like that started out a spark of kind of protectiveness and thoughts of "if I could prepare him best for this world, what would that be like?" and it started him looking at Alex in that light. From there, he watched old games and interviews from all through Alex's career that he could find and he was like wow this guy is something and someone I really want on my team. He's very talented and hard working and DAMN he's so pretty. But the pretty thoughts lingered in the background. He saw Alex as very genuine and then seeing those moments at the draft touched him too. So before he even saw Alex's face in real life he was like I would die to protect this guy. Then he actually sees Alex for the first time and he's even prettier in person and nervous and dressed badly but he tried. So seeing and talking to Alex just sealed what he'd already imagined in his mind and it's only gotten stronger.
Yes, Alex does suppress it a lot and I think that's just a virtue of feeling like he's got all of this responsibility. His dad and grandfather both passed away and so he's the only man they have to rely on now. In terms of his grandfather, that did a serious blow and I think that's part of why TJ destroyed him even more. Because that was one thing that he slipped in. One thing he did that could've ruined his opportunities that his family fought for and, in some cases, never got to see. It bonds him with Slavon (kind of LMAO) the most because he went through something similar too. Honestly though, talk of his dad will take up bigger portions later on. That's someone he never got to meet at all, so there's so much mystery but longing there too. So that'll be cool to show.
THANK you again for reading and for all of your kind words! I'm so glad you enjoy it and that's exactly the goal. I've made it as immersive as I can and it's so cool when people appreciate or think about the characters and why they're doing what they're doing. It's just so fun to create and have it enjoyed as well!
