by Tony Correia
I think for a moment. Should I tell them the truth? I think about Arshdeep’s words: What good would that do anyone?
“No. It’s still a total mystery to me,” I say.
“Had to be Thunder,” Brittany says.
“I might never know for sure,” I say.
“We missed having you here,” Troll tells me.
Arshdeep and Romeo come back from the office.
“You guys get warmed up for practice,” Romeo tells Troll and Brittany. He points his finger at me. “You come with me.”
I follow Romeo out the front door. We start to walk around the industrial park. I forgot how much I love coming here.
“So what’s this about you getting arrested?” Romeo asks.
“It was so stupid,” I say.
“You’re telling me it was stupid. Are you trying to throw your life away? Didn’t you learn anything while you were here?”
“Of course I did. Things just got so crazy so fast.”
“How are your parents taking it?”
“Mom is taking it pretty hard. Dad doesn’t say anything. But I can tell he’s pretty worried about me.”
“So you want to come back here or what?”
“Yeah. I think I do.”
“You think you do.”
“I know I do.”
“Ricky will be pissed. This might get you blacklisted.”
“I know.”
“Screw Ricky. You’re still young. You have plenty of time to turn things around. I’ll make sure to help you.”
“What about my name? What about the gym? I can’t just hop back in the ring and expect everyone to forget what happened.”
“This isn’t my first time to the rodeo, Jorge. There’s a very easy way to work around this. I can’t believe none of you idiots hadn’t already thought of it.”
Romeo digs into his pocket and throws a black piece of fabric at me. I hold it up to look at it. Staring back at me are two eyeholes and two breathing holes. Romeo might be old school, but he knows what he’s doing.
21
Masked Man
The crowd at Cloverdale is going insane. My match with Arshdeep is getting a great response. In the two months since I came back to Canadian Pacific Wrestling our rivalry has been a big draw.
Arshdeep whips me off the ropes and knees me in the stomach. I go flying over his knee and land flat on my butt. Then Arshdeep tries to pull my mask off my face. Arshdeep gets the mask over my chin but then I pretend to rake him across the eyes. I go for another couple of low blows. He comes back from the beating, but I surprise him with a sucker punch. I pile drive his head into the mat. Then I use my feet on the ropes to ensure the pin.
I take the title belt. I raise my arms in victory as if I actually won the match and it wasn’t all planned out.
I have no idea if the marks know it’s me under the mask. I don’t care. Rumours have swirled in the comments on Bobby Bentley’s wrestling blog. I figure that’s just Ricky trying to stir the turd.
I make my way back to the dressing area. I try to avoid looking in the direction of the concession stand. Out of the corner of my eye, I’ve seen Thom watching me a couple of times. This is the first time we’ve been in the same place since he threatened to call the police on me. I was so worried about what was going through his mind. I’m amazed I didn’t screw up the match.
I whip off the mask as I go behind the curtain to towel off. I’m dripping with sweat. I have to wait until the crowd is gone before I can leave, so no one will recognize me. Romeo wants to wait for a little while longer before I show my face again.
“Did you see Thom working at the concession stand?” Arshdeep asks.
“Yeah.”
“Aren’t you going to say hello?”
“I was thinking about it. But it’s been a while. Knowing Thom maybe he’s already met someone new.”
“I have it on good authority that he hasn’t,” Arshdeep says.
“Did Pria tell you to say that?”
“Pria would never tell me what to do.”
“Pria is always telling you what to do. You’re about as subtle as an elephant in the room.”
“Would it kill you to say hello to Thom?”
“What if he accuses me of stalking him again? I’m just starting to get my life together. I couldn’t handle anyone accusing me of being a psycho. Especially Thom.”
“Trust me on this. He’s not going to accuse you of being a psycho.”
“I’ll think about it,” I say.
Romeo gives me the signal to leave the dressing area. I poke my head through the curtain to make sure the coast is clear. Then I look in the direction of the concession stand. It’s closed down and the window is shuttered.
Oh well. Maybe I’ll say hello to Thom the next time we have a show here. I start toward the exit.
“Jorge! Wait up!”
I turn to see Thom coming out of the concession stand. He locks the door behind him and then scurries to catch up with me.
As he gets near, I’m not sure if I should hug or kiss him. There are butterflies in my stomach. I’m afraid to speak because I’m afraid I’ll stutter.
“How have you been?” Thom says.
“Good. Better than the last time I saw you.” I try to laugh it off. “I never got a chance to say how sorry I am about that. I should have left well enough alone.”
“It broke my heart to be so mean to you. I was really confused. I knew you had a lot going on. But I was worried that if I didn’t stop making excuses for your actions, you might really hurt me.”
Thom’s words are like a shot through my heart. I know he’s only being honest. He’s not trying to punish me.
“I was pretty screwed up,” I admit.
“Pria tells me you’ve been taking night classes.”
“Just high-school math and English. I want to make sure I get my diploma even if I don’t go to university. I can’t stop hearing your dad’s voice, warning me I could get hurt in the ring and left without a career.”
“Really? I’m still mad at him for how he treated you that night.”
“That night wasn’t all bad,” I say with an evil grin.
“No. I guess it wasn’t.”
We leave the arena. There are very few cars in the parking lot. I can see the van in the distance. I don’t want to part ways just yet. But I don’t know what is left to say. I search my heart for what I’ve been wanting to tell Thom these last couple of months.
“I know I behaved like a real jerk before we broke up,” I tell him.
“You don’t need to say that.”
“It’s true. You deserved better. You treated me like a king, Thom. All people see in me is what I do in the ring. You were the first person who listened to what I had to say. And even if you didn’t agree with me, you didn’t make me feel like an idiot because of it.”
Thom kisses me on the forehead. “And you were the first person I ever went on a date with,” he says, “who gave his leftovers to a homeless person. That’s the guy I fell in love with. That’s the guy I missed when you started doing steroids.”
“I gave a homeless guy some food just this morning on my way to the show,” I say.
“That’s the sexiest thing I’ve heard in two months.”
“There’s more where that came from. If you’re hungry, I can tell it to you over something to eat.”
“I’d like that.”
“Let me walk you to your car.”
Thom takes my hand and leads me in the direction of his car. He rests his head on my shoulder. It’s like we’re on our first date again.
Thom squeezes my hand as if to remind me he’s still there. The bit of pressure against my palm makes me remember when I’m at my happiest. It’s when I’m being true to Thom and the other people I care for.
And it’s a two-way street. I can’t be true to them unless I’m true to myself.
Second chances are hard to come by. I’m not going screw this one up.
Acknowledgements
As always, thanks to my editor Kat Mototsune for all her help and support guiding me through this book. I would also like to thank Jim Lorimer for allowing me to write the books I wish I had access to growing up as a queer teen in the eighties.
Special thanks to Dan Horwood and Wylie Ryan for making sure I got out of the house; Dean Mirau and Chris Dorey for letting me talk my face off after I spent too much time alone; Morgan Brayton for her unwavering support of my work and helping me overcome my fear of public speaking; and Billeh Nickerson for helping me keep it real.
About the Author
TONY CORREIA lives in Vancouver, B.C. He has worked as a waiter, bartender, bouncer, barista, receptionist, technical writer for a software company, as well as writing a newspaper column, a memoir and the Real Love title Same Love.
Copyright © 2017 by Tony Correia
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
James Lorimer and Company Ltd., Publishers acknowledges the support of the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), an agency of the Government of Ontario, which in 2015-16 funded 1,676 individual artists and 1,125 organizations in 209 communities across Ontario for a total of $50.5 million. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. This project has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada and with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
We acknowledge the [financial] support of the Government of Canada.
Nous reconnaissons l’appui [financier] du gouvernement du Canada.
Cover design: Shabnam Safari
Cover image: Shutterstock
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Correia, Tony, author
True to you / Tony Correia.
“Real love.”
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4594-1255-2 (softcover).--ISBN 978-1-4594-1256-9 (EPUB)
I. Title.
PS8605.O769T78 2017 jC813’.6 C2017-903313-1
C2017-903314-X
This digital edition first published in 2017 as 978-1-4594-1256-9
Originally published in 2017 as 978-1-4594-1255-2
James Lorimer & Company Ltd., Publishers
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