Page 33 of Wingmen

Which was embarrassing. He’d tried to play it off like he was looking for his phone as he practically ran away down the street.

And then he thought about Bennet. And something very different happened inside him. A full-body heatwave came upfrom his toes and shook him so hard he actually shivered under the hot water. He saw Bennet’s strong hand tented on the felt of the pool table. His squint and his smirk, and the way he saidalright, Amigo. Elliot wanted to hear him say it a thousand different ways. He wanted him to always be saying it.

He did his best to think about Drew as he got himself off.

But he didn’t.

“And then sheleft,”Diego was saying. “Left, bro. Didn’t say a word,slammedthe screen door–”

“Where was she going?”

“That’s what I’m saying! We don’t know! Could be the same dude, could be a different dude. She doesn’t have a car, sosomeonepicked her up.”

Elliot put the phone on speaker and set it beside him on the bed. Diego had been going off about his sister’s love life for what felt like forty-five minutes. He bent his arm behind his head and watched the people walking around on the muted TV. He’d never admit to anyone – not even Diego – that he was watchingGolden Girlsin his room at two in the afternoon on a Saturday, when he could’ve been day-drinking, like a normal person. But he was so out of sorts about this Bennet situation, he couldn’t even get his head straight forbooze.

“She gets dropped off at the curb like an Uber Eats!” Diego was saying.

On the TV, Golden Girl Sophia put her back to the living room door and mouthed,Fasten your seatbelt, slut-puppy. This ain’t gonna be no cakewalk. Elliot chuckled. Classic.One of Abuela’s favorite episodes. He knew it even without the sound.

“Hello?” said Diego. “Bro, are you evenlistening?”

“I’m listening. Sorry. Sorry.” He sat up and clicked off the TV.He swung his feet onto the floor, picking up the phone. “I don’t know what to tell you, man. I’m not an expert on this.”

“Yeah, me neither,” Diego sighed.

“Tell her to make the guy come to the door. Tell her he’s disrespecting you.”

“I did! Why do you think she stormed out?”

“Right.”

Diego covered the phone to talk to someone. He was at the Motor Enclave in the custom Honda Civic he’d spent pretty much all his savings on two years ago. The car was his pride and joy.

“Anyway, what’s up with you?” said Diego when he came back. “How’s Portland? How’s Bennet? You see him around? Like at the gym or whatever?”

Elliot remembered what he’d done in the shower that morning, and his face got so hot, he had to get up and go to the window. The blackouts were drawn for theGolden Girls, and when he flung one open, the sun made him squint. He closed it again and went back to the bed.

“Yeah, I see him,” he said.

“For real? What’s he like?”

For Diego, Elliot hanging out with Dustin Bennet during the off-season was a big deal. Diego was almost as big a fan of Bennet as Elliot was.Almost.He probably didn’t think about him in the shower.

“He’s fine,” said Elliot. “Actually, we – ah – went to a bar last night.”

“Dog,what?Are you serious? How was it?”

“He came up with this game…”

“Drinking game?”

“No, like…competing for chicks. We made a bet to see who can take down the most girls this summer.”

A small silence. Then Diego apparently lost his mind. Elliotheard, “Whaaaaat?” and then Diego laughing, and then yelling at someone to come hear this. It sounded like he wasn’t even talking to someone he knew. He was so excited he was just flagging down a stranger: “Yo, yo! Listen to this.Listento this. You. Yes,you!Come here.Ven aqui, Mano.Listen: my boy Elliot – myman, Elliot Rodriguez – is hanging withDustin Bennet–”

“Diego–”

“DustinBennet!” A pause.“Bennet!”Another pause. “What do you mean ‘who’?!” Diego was outraged. “The Dust Buster? The Great Bendito?Hockey!Oh you don’t watch hockey.” A scoff. “Alright, walk on, my man. What?” A pause. “It’s a Honda Civic. Twenty seventeen.Tss, ofcourseit does–”