Page 78 of Dire Straights

“Oh, I did that all on my own, huh?” I asked flatly. “You should be thanking me. Now that I’m off the team, I won’t be making the rest of you look bad by having the best times when I don’t even give a shit about swimming.”

“You think you’re better than me, you little cocksucker?” O’Conner asked, puffing up and moving toward me. Garrison slapped a hand on his chest, nudging him back.

“Calm down,” he ordered, before turning to face me. “You could have come to me if you had that much of a problem. You made the team look really fucking bad.”

“You did that on your own,” I argued. “You act like some big shot leader, but then you let your dumbass friends talk to peoplelikethat,” I said, gesturing toward O’Conner. “You seriously think I’m the only guy in the world who doesn’t want to be called a fag?”

“Hey, I didn’t say that,” Garrison protested. It reminded me of how at the beginning of the year, I’d listen to them talk shit about Arie in the locker room and call him all kinds of terrible names. I never said anything because I didn’t want to get involved and it wasn’t my problem. That was probably how he felt, too. Not that it made it right or anything.

“But you didn’t have a problem with it either,” I said. “That’s not how a leader acts. And Coach Larson is a piece of shit, whether you want to admit it or not.”

I saw the truth of my words flicker in his eyes, for just a second, and knew that he knew I was right. It didn’t really matter to me. I didn’t want anything to do with any of them, regardless.

“You’re just mad he didn’t coddle you like the triggered little snowflake you are,” O’Conner spoke up. “What you really need is your ass beat.”

“You want me to kick the shit out of you?” I asked incredulously, squaring up when he raised his fists toward me.

“Hey, guys?” Cyprian’s deep voice rang out from a few steps away as he hurried up, Caelyx right behind him. “Everything good?” He asked, glancing between the two of us.

O’Conner might have been a homophobic moron, but he wasn’t stupid enough to keep talking shit with Cyprian here. The dude was absolutely ripped, and huge, even compared to us.

“Everything’s fine,” I said, keeping my eyes locked straight on O’Conner’s.

“Whatever,” he spat at me. “We’re out of here.”

He shoulder checked me as he walked past, which I should have been expecting. I’d done it enough times to him, after all. But I didn’t expect it and wasn’t prepared, so I stumbled back into Aspen, knocking him against his car. It wasn’t very hardand it probably wouldn’t even leave a bruise. But when he made impact with the door, he hissed out ashitand rubbed his arm.

And then Caelyx went fucking nuts for some reason and lunged forward, slugging O’Conner in the mouth. And then Cyprian and I and Garrison all had to jump in the middle of it to keep them apart. Because as much as I appreciated the gesture, Caelyx was no athlete. O’Conner would have absolutely flattened his ass, without question. And I didn’t really want to see that happen, as annoying as he was sometimes.

“Fucking freaks!” O’Conner spit the word out at us, along with a good bit of blood. It shined red on the asphalt between us in the bright streetlights.

“Enough!” Garrison snapped, shoving him back another full step. “You said what you had to say. We’re done with all this.”

I had more I wanted to say, but I knew it would only reignite the fight and that wouldn’t be fair to anyone. It was over, and I wanted to move on, so I just watched them walk away, back into the building.

“Are you okay, Aspen?” Che asked. He’d skittered over to Aspen’s side during the almost-fight.

“I’m fine,” Aspen answered, his brow furrowed and his mouth twisted into a mild scowl. “It was nothing. I barely bumped it.”

I had a feeling he probably didn’t like having another guy leap to his defense like that. Which was fair. I had no fucking clue what Caelyx was even thinking with that dumbass caveman stunt.

“That could have been really bad, you know,” Cyprian said, echoing my thoughts.

“I don’t know, I was kind of hoping for another dramatic moment to write about in my diary tonight,” Arie sighed.

“Well, if no one else is potentially getting beat up and no one needs to go to the hospital, I don’t really want to keep Maddy’s parents waiting anymore,” Ren piped up.

“Aw, you’re trying to be a good son-in-law already, huh,” I pointed out, my heart nearly jumping out of my chest at the ridiculously adorable, pleased look he gave me.

“Of course. I want your parents to like me.”

“I think my dad might already like you.”

I wasn’t going to tell him the part about us leaving a condom in the bedroom trash. I’d spare him the agony of that knowledge. Because that’s what a good boyfriend would do.

Our friends waved us off as we made our way over to my parents’ car. As we walked, he laced his fingers together with mine.

“So where do you think your mom and dad are going to take us?” He wondered, and I chuckled lightly.

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