PENALTY by Annika Sturm (best contemporary novels TXT) 📕

alight.'

Lastly, Alex spoke to David, his agent, who tried everything to stop him from revealing his identity. 'Alex, the fans will go bizerk. This is bloody suicide. You will be booed and ridiculed on the pitch, do you realise this?' Alex was patient and explained his view once more. The more people he spoke to, the more determined he became. In the end David promised to set up a call with his club manager and coach in the afternoon to agree next steps on how to handle this situation.

When Alex joined the boys back in the lounge, he felt exhausted. Tom jumped up and hugged and kissed him. 'Changed your mind? There is still time.' He said gently stroking his cheeks. Alex shook his head. 'I'm afraid you're stuck with me.' He whispered. 'How is your stomach?' Tom checked his bruise again and carefully touched it. 'Ouch, not too good.' Alex forced a smile but was breathing hard with pain. 'You won't be able to play in two days Alex.' Tom looked at him with concern. 'Let's worry about that once I have outed myself, shall we?' Alex winked at him and kissed his cheek.

Tom's club's press conference was about to start and all boys sat down and were glued to the television. 'Winter flew in for it,' Kai cheered, 'he's just brilliant.' Tom and Alex held hands again as they listened to the club's president's Bauer’s official statement.

'Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending this spontaneous, unscheduled press conference, which we felt was important to hold to comment on the news story which broke this morning with regards to Tom's alleged homosexual relationship. I can assure you we can keep this short because ultimately there is not much to say. Tom will make a statement through his agent in the next day or so. As for the club's position on these events, I am speaking on behalf of this club, the manager, coaches and the whole team when I tell you that we are all 100 per cent united in our support for Tom. He is an invaluable player and colleague to this club. His sexual preferences are and should be a private matter. Having said that, let me make very clear that this club will not accept any homophobic behaviour and I would urge all fans and supporters to echo this. We will not tolerate any expressions of homophobia in our games or stadium.' The president took a sip of water and passed the word to Winter. Tom exhaled with relief and Alex kissed his cheek.

Winter thanked Bauer and echoed his view and statement. 'I wanted to be personally present at this conference to make crystal clear that over and above a football league level, homophobia in the German team is also totally unacceptable. We will not tolerate any homophobic feelings whatsoever. Tom therefore, should he confirm any of these accusations, will have my full protection and support.' He sipped some water and the journalists were given the opportunity to ask questions. A couple of obvious ones came up straight away.

'Mr Winter, would you say that these allegations are true then?' 'I cannot speak on behalf of Tom. I'm sure you will understand that.'

'Mr Winter, you have been working with the German team for some time now. The story alludes to Mr Stiller having an affair with another player. If this is true, surely you would know about this already. What's your view on this?' Winter laughed. Tom clutched Alex’s hand. 'I am certainly not here to comment on any allegations in this story. Tom's private life is none of my business and whether he is or isn't in a relationship with any of his colleagues is totally irrelevant for me or indeed anyone else.'

'Mr Bauer, we understand Mr Stiller and in fact two of your other players have not attended training today. When will they be back?' 'We agreed with Tom and Felix and Kai, who are with him to support him today, that they will join the training routine as normal from tomorrow.' 'Is Alexander Hanisch with Tom Stiller as well at the moment?' 'We have no information on this but given they are close friends, this is of course a possibility.'

'Phew,' Felix said when the conference was over, 'that wasn't too bad considering.' He patted Tom's thigh playfully, 'it'll be alright Tommy. You know what, I think people will actually have respect for you that you have the balls to go out there and say ‘I'm gay. So what.’' Felix crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked pleased. Kai still wasn't so sure. 'I don't know Tommy. It's the fans that worry me.' 'Well, tough,' Felix said, 'we'll just have to help Tommy where we can. Same goes for Alex of course.'

Alex and Tom exchanged a look and went into the bedroom. They felt like being alone for a moment. Alex shut the door behind him and the boys sat down next to each other. 'Do you remember our weekend in Austria?', Tom looked at his friend and gulped. Alex laughed sadly and nodded, 'I wish we could beam ourselves back there now,' Tom said, 'we were so happy then and now it's all so messed up.' He shook his head and Alex hugged him. 'We knew it would be tough,' Alex said gently, 'hopefully it can only get better from here.' Tom looked at him and then kissed him longingly. He carefully stroked his chest and back and pushed him over on the bed. 'Tommy,' Alex said quietly grinning, 'what are you doing?' 'Taking us back to Austria.' Tom whispered and smiled, slowly undressing his friend.

'Hey, are you boys hungry? We need to get some food I think. Tommy?', Felix was knocking on the bedroom door, 'hello?' He rolled his eyes. Alex and Tom giggled quietly and kissed each other under the duvet before Tom jumped up and got dressed within seconds. He opened the door and walked out, quickly pulling it shut behind him. Alex knew he had no chance of getting up fast. He hurled himself out of bed and slowly got dressed. He checked his phone and had a text message from his sister. 'Ready when you are.'

Alex took a deep breath before he dialled his parents' number. 'Hey mum,' he said nervously as she picked up the phone, 'how are you?' After a few lines of polite chat, Alex had built up to it. He reminded her of his very good friend Tom, who used to play with him in his club. 'The one who is gay?' His mum shouted into the phone. Alex almost laughed. 'Yes, well, that's why I'm calling actually mum. So...,' 'Apparently he has a relationship with some other poor devil in the German team,' his mother interrupted him, 'you must know something about that?' His mum said, hungry for a piece of sensational gossip. 'Well, yes, I do actually mum. The reason I'm calling...' 'You know I don't know what's wrong with these young men these days.' She continued. 'Mum.' Alex jumped in. 'Yes darling.' He took a deep breath. 'It's me. The poor devil. It's me,' he said gently. There was a pause, 'mum?' Alex almost started crying with stress. 'Alex, you shouldn't joke about things like this. First you tell us you have left your family and now you have the nerve to make inappropriate jokes.' His mother said in a strict voice. 'I'm not joking mum.' Alex whispered. 'Anna, get your father.' His mother sounded assertive. Alex rolled his eyes in frustration. 'Alex, it's dad. What happened now?' The conversation went further downhill from there. Alex and his father argued for a good half hour and in the end Alex just hung up and threw his mobile on the floor in anger.

Tom stormed into the room. 'Hey,' he sat down next to him and hugged and kissed him, 'I heard you argue on the phone. Just wanted to check... Alex?', he was stroking his hair, 'your dad?', he asked. Alex nodded, 'what did he say?' 'That I'm abnormal,' he gasped for air, 'that I have deeply disappointed him and brought shame on my whole family,' he forced a laugh and wiped tears off his cheeks, 'thanks dad.' He muttered. Before Tom could say anything more to comfort him, Alex’s mobile rang again. 'Oh great,' Alex said as he saw his agent's number come up, 'conference call with my managers. Bring it on.' Tom kissed his cheek. 'There is pizza once you're done.' He smiled at him nervously and kissed him again before he left the room.

The conversation went round in circles for a while. His club manager and agent collectively tried to change Alex’s mind once again. He listened but rejected all their arguments to their great despair. 'Are you going to fire me?' Alex laughed bitterly. 'Alex, you will regret this decision.' Alex took a deep breath. 'I've made up my mind. So. You can either support me like Tommy's club did or you don't. And get rid of me,' he gulped, 'up to you.' He added quietly. 'Alex, you are one of our best players, of course we will support you,' his manager said hectically. Alex knew the whole story would be such a headache for them to deal with. He didn't care, 'okay, okay. So when is your big announcement going to happen?' They asked in despair. 'I'll confirm tomorrow. Tommy will publish his statement first thing in the morning. We can do ours whenever you want. Oh, and I have an injury so will most likely be out for the match on Saturday but I'll see one of Tommy's physiotherapists tomorrow to get that checked.' There was a pause. 'Ah. Well I'm glad you told us. Anything else we should know about Alex?' His manager was fuming. 'Think that's it for today.' Alex couldn't help but smirk a little. 'We'll prepare for the press conference then. Speak to you tomorrow Alex,' David sighed, 'and take care, okay?'

It had turned dark again outside. Alex thought of his son and painfully remembered how this was his bed time. He missed him so much. One day, he thought, perhaps he would be able to spend some time with him again. He tried to push those thoughts aside for now and slowly stood up. As he went back into the lounge, he could hear the others play Xbox games to put their minds off things and it looked like Tom was winning. Alex smiled looking at them all laughing together for the first time that day and it made him feel a little better. Tom turned around when he heard the bedroom door open and jumped up. He ran towards Alex and hugged him tightly. 'How did it go?' He smiled at him anxiously. 'Yeah. Everyone's delighted.' Alex laughed and Tom hugged him again. 'You must be starving. There's some food left for you. And beer.' 'Sounds perfect.' Alex gazed at his friend and kissed him.

'Your turn lover boy!', Felix shouted towards Tom, 'come on, we'll finish this game and then Kai and I leave you two to it. Someone has got to distract the journalists.' The boys laughed. 'They must be frozen by now anyway, standing out there in the snow all day.' Kai said. Tom joined them again and sat down on the floor to finish the game while Alex got himself the rest of the pizza and a beer. He sat down behind Tom, who made himself comfortable leaning back against him. 'Oh dammit!' Tom shouted and the boys were roaring with laughter as he missed out and lost the game after all. Alex tickled him from behind and kissed his cheek grinning. 'Not so clever after all!' Felix said and laughed. He and Kai cheered and high-fived each other. 'Bastards.' Tom shouted.

'Right, time to go home,' Felix