"I like you" Jeremiah cupped angels face with his hands like it were a spectacle ready to vanish at any moment. Like an eclipse or a night blooming cereus cactus. There was so much earnestness in his chest that it was becoming harder and less bearable to be here without vomiting everything he wanted to say to Angel everywhere.

          But Jeremiah pulled himself off of him. Angel was out but it wasn't his place to out him in front of the whole school with his impulsive feelings.

           The two of them plastered themselves on the grass under a pitched tent to get out of the way of the later runners. They weren't hiding their exhaustion, taking profound breaths of air to slow their heart rate, and craving water. Osvaldo, Scott and one of the non-track volunteers were sitting a few yards away from them holding some plastic water cups from earlier.

          Jeremiah sat by the boy's legs to massage his sore calf. He was familiar with Angel's cramps, having everything he's ever learned about Angel written in his heart like a nutrition label listing the all the ingredients that made Angel himself.

          The win was satisfying—to Angel and Jeremiah. Exhilarating, even. Angel missed winning. And Jeremiah missed seeing him happy.

          Seeing the satisfied look on his face made Jeremiah profess again, "I like you"

          "I–I heard you"

          Jeremiah laughed at himself. He was acting like a fool. He looked him in the eyes, his panting lessening into normal breaths, and squeezed his leg fondly, "You did great. Now everyone knows your secret. That you're amazing"

          It was a bittersweet compliment to Angel.

          "I was going to tell you later and not now, but I had to make sure you'd follow through with the marathon. I've seen you at practice. Like you're on the edge of committing but then you slow back down. I needed you prove it to yourself. That you shouldn't be scared. And then...maybe out of pocket I told you too soon–que te quiero, Ángel"

          Angel was at a loss for words. He'd said it maybe three times already. Angel personally wasn't comfortable with saying it once. To himself. Let alone out loud. Three, no, four times. He eyed the stage where his other friends were standing on, "Quit sayin' that. It's embarrassing"

          Venus rushed from her place next to Carson to the two of them at the edge of the football field, screaming erratically, "Angel, you selfish dumb bitch, why didn't you fuckin' tell me you were good-good! That was beautiful!" She had water bottles in her arms. She emptied one on both their faces, neither complaining from how cooling it was.

          Angel scrunched his face up and wiped the liquid down with his shirt, "My bad. Must have slipped my mind"

          People were surprised. No one knew the winner. Angel was the quiet transfer from some community college. It was a teensy bit funny to him since he was certain no one bet on him. He showed up, did well, and now he could leave knowing he did his part for charity. This called for a shower and a celebratory nap.

          "Congratulation to number 2: Angel Romero. Times will be posted shortly. We'll announce the lucky winner of the bet in a minute" Carson was the one on the microphone at the stage. Speakers were lined up by the bleachers, the track and down the entrance to the football field for the participants to hear as they returned to the oval.

          "This'll be quick" Angel murmured. A harmless pessimism laced in his tone.

          "I don't know about that" Venus said hinting at something else.

          "Did you bet on me for a free meal? I thought you didn't think I'd win?"

          "I'm not a shit friend! I didn't bet on you not because I didn't believe in you or I didn't want the free meal, but I couldn't 'cause student government is runnin' the event. It's not allowed. It would be selfish" She countered defensively. So Carson couldn't have either.

          "Then who bet on me?"

          "Jeremiah Perez, to the stage, please"

          Betting in this race was like playing a card game knowing everyone else's cards and holding the winning deck. All Jeremiah had to do was lay them down. Easy money. He'd won the lottery in secret.

          But his bet wasn't for the win. Not for the dumb prize. This was an opening for Angel's sake. For Jeremiah to unveil to everyone how talented the boy was. How he knew all along. The coach knew it. He always knew it. Now it was time for the team and the school to know.

          "As the closest and...actually, the only person to have guessed Angel Romero would win" Carson laughed on the microphone along with some of the crowd whom were equally surprised, "Jeremiah Perez has won the full-paid trip to any restaurant, amusement park, or location of his choosing for two people"

          Jeremiah climbed the steps, wet in his own sweat, and yet, so proud. Their track mates in the race had all finished and talked between themselves, joking that Jeremiah should or will pick one of them, an 'edgy' gay joke here and there that was harmless and not exactly homophobic, but Angel took it uneasily.

          "You understand that you still have to choose someone out of any of your teammates for the date..." The student government president paused, rethinking his word selection.

          Jeremiah nodded regardless.

          "Would you like to skip the announcing of your pick or who will be the poor soul of your choosing?" Carson's kidding but Jeremiah is insane enough to drag Angel's name into a loud and fully functioning microphone for the many, many people to hear.

          Jeremiah mumbled something into his ear and Carson looked shocked. He even glowered at Jeremiah before concealing it. He didn't like Jeremiah but he was the SGA president and he was in front of an audience.

          Please don't, don't say it. Don't say anything. Angel pleaded in his mind, hoping he could invoke a telepathic connection to the handsome idiot on stage. Angel said he wanted to be out, but not like this.

          Jeremiah looked right at him. The track team catcalled and wolf whistled, teasing the man on stage with more gay jokes. Angel wanted to bury himself.

          "Actually" Jeremiah faltered, "I'll keep that a secret. I think he already knows I wanna take him on a date"

          No matter what he meant by it, Angel was beet red, red as tomato, red as a cherry, redder than Satan's tan lines. The team had caught onto who he was talking about, considering the only person not fooling around just as obnoxiously as them was Angel. And the very well-known fact Jeremiah stuck the closest to Angel more than anyone else.

          "Thank you for participating, thank you to everyone who bought a ticket. Times will be posted at the entrance once all runners finish. Congratulations again to our top five runners, Angel, Jeremiah, Osvaldo, Scott and Esmerelda. There will be food trucks, raffles, and..." He stopped listening to Carson after Jeremiah finished talking. Angel went around his teammates, Venus who tried to comfort him, the SGA staff, and classmates of the crowd that tried to approach him. He didn't care about the charity medal.

          Thank the fucking gods, Jeremiah didn't say anything to the whole school.

          Jeremiah jogged after him as Angel fled towards his dorm room, "Hey, where you goin'?"

          "Why would you do that?"

          "What do you mean?"

          "The whole team fuckin' knows who you were talking about" Angel combed his sweaty hair straight back from out of his face. Two strands from atop his forehead fell back down. "Jeremiah, be honest, what're you doing?"

          "I'm...being honest"

          Angel thought Jeremiah looked like a lost puppy. Maybe it was the anxiety, or how overwhelmed Angel felt from being socially overstimulated, but he wanted a shower and a nap. "Look, I don't–I'm not...Jeremiah I..." He didn't know what to say. He wasn't present enough to know if he was ready to say anything yet.

          Jeremiah was too caught up on the thrill of knowing Angel was gay and the guilt of what he did after the kiss to think about the possibility of the other not feeling the same way. Angel kissed back. But that didn't mean squat if he didn't really like him or want to like him. His plan was to ask him out, and if Angel wasn't interested after trying, he'd give up. But he'd have to have a chance to even get a trial date.

          He settled for a half-smile and tucked Angel's loose locks of hair back with the rest of it. Right now was not a time to demand anything from Angel. Jeremiah made mistakes, maybe his impulsive stage presence was a mistake, but he tried to be considerate of Angel's social anxiety. Little things like knowing he was okay and taking care of him like this was enough.

          He felt the silky strands on his fingers and his knuckles. Every time it came in the way of Angel's eyes, he would almost always be there to brush it back. This was enough. "It's okay. You're tired. Go back to the dorm. Hit the showers. Take a nap, or go eat with Venus. We'll talk some other time"

          Ángel stared undecided.

          "It's cool, Ángel. Lo entiendo. No necesitas explicármelo"

         "...You sure?"

          He smiled, lovingly, "Of course, corazón. We can talk some other time. You won a marathon. Go relax, Cupid"

          Jeremiah could wait.