8
Steve
The cool wind whipped across Steve’s face as he exited the coach’s house. It only served to remind him of how hot and bothered he probably looked. But no matter how relaxed Steve tried to appear, he knew his best friend could see right through it.
The nippy breeze swept up autumn leaves in his face while he walked toward the beat-up red Toyota parked in front of the house.
“Dennis, what’s up?” he asked, forcing a smile as he made sure to keep his voice level. He stuffed his hands in his pockets to wipe the sweat from them as his best friend got out of his car and leaned against it.
At first, Dennis didn’t say a word as he took his best friend in. His eyesight floated down to Steve’s crotch area. “Your…uh…” Dennis said, pointing to his unzipped zipper.
Steve, eyes widening in shock, zipped it up. He didn’t even know how that happened? Had he done it in the moment without even noticing? Had Coach James? “Just took a piss,” he said, his octave going up as he spoke. At least he wasn’t hard. He shrugged, acting like it was no big deal.
“Right. Did the tracking app on you. Tried to reach you,” said Dennis, sounding unconvinced.
Steve hated the invasion of privacy, but he wasn’t going to bring it up now. He had to continue acting like he didn’t have a care in the world and hope that his friend bought the act.
Steve cleared his throat. Damn technology. He wouldn’t have even thought to be able to do that. His best friend was such a computer nerd that it had probably taken him less than a second to track him down. He should have been more upset, but really, he couldn’t be. Had it not been for him, he wouldn’t have even made it out of high school.
“Yeah, I…uh, my phone volume was…” Steve said, scrambling for a quick excuse but unable to find one.
“You leave your little brother with me for the last few days and then I don’t even see you. What’s up with that?”
“I…just needed to figure some things out,” said Steve, averting his eyes from Dennis. The blond guy knew Steve like the back of his hand, and he wasn’t in the mood for any lectures.
“Figure some things out? Dude, did he beat you again?” asked Dennis, his jaw clenching.
“He was drunk. It was nothing,” Steve said dismissively. The last thing he wanted was Dennis trying to get in the middle of it again.
“That motherfucker,” Dennis said, banging on the roof of his car. “Why don’t you call the cops?”
“On my dad? Dude, you know I can’t do that. He’s all we got,” said Steve, making sure to emphasize that final point.
It was all so ridiculous. On the one hand, he knew that he shouldn’t be defending the man that had done so much damage to him and his little brother. But on the other, he felt a strange obligation to. He was constantly reminded of the man that his dad used to be, and couldn’t pull that image from his head.
Dennis sighed and shook his head. “I’m not going to fight with my best friend. You do what you want. But he hits you again, and I swear to God, I’ve got a baseball bat with his name on it.”
Steve smiled at him. He loved how Dennis, as small as he was, was always ready to go to bat for him. Really, half the reason he had to keep Dennis at bay was because he was worried that he might even get hurt trying to intervene. “What are you going to do? Read him to death? You little cockroach.”
Dennis laughed. “Ant, more like. And ants can carry 5,000 times their body weight,” said Dennis.
“I’d like to see you bench press even ten pounds sometime,” Steve said.
They both laughed before Dennis pointed toward the car. “So, come hang with us.”
Us? That meant all the dudes on campus. Steve automatically knew that that meant they would be doing something they’d probably regret later. Usually involving drugs, drinks, and women.
As much as he would have normally jumped at the shot to hang with Dennis, he had other priorities now. And besides, he wasn’t in the mood to fake it in front of all the other guys today. Not when he had a certain coach on his mind. “Can’t. I’m kind of in the middle of something.”
Dennis looked at him strangely, as if not really believing what he was hearing. As if it was some sort of prank. Steve never gave a rat’s ass about anything, and his current attitude was definitely unusual. “In the middle of what? Dude, the babes there are unbelievable.”
Every time Dennis brought up the word ‘babes,’ Steve cringed, feeling like such a phony. He hated pretending he was into women when they didn’t do a thing for him. When he was a little younger, it was so much easier. But now as he got older, well, it was getting harder and harder to fake it. “I…next time, okay?”
Dennis crossed his arms and looked at him like he was from Mars. “When have you ever turned down women?”
Steve forced a chuckle and back peddled toward the house. He was itching to get back inside and see what was waiting for him. “I’ll take a raincheck, all right? I need to make some extra cash.”
“Doing what?” Dennis asked with a wink.
The expression made his heart jump, and at the same time, there was no way Dennis could know anything. He realized how stupid he was being. Dennis was obviously just playing around. There was only one way to react to this, really.
Steve cracked a smile. “Fuck you.”
Dennis laughed, then hopped in his car. “Alright, man. See you around.” As his best friend pealed off, Steve couldn’t shake how close of a call it was or how close Dennis had been to catching on to something. He made a mental note to be more careful in the future. But this only lasted for a second, as James’s voice called out from the house.
“Who was that?” James asked, his booming voice startling Steve. Steve stammered, feeling the jealous, accusatory gaze of the older man.