Page 16 of Swim Crush

“That’s vague. Was this your first time?”

Logan laughed. “No, we’ve done this a few times.”

Another coy answer. I was fine with him keeping secrets. It’s not like I told him everything. I certainly wasn’t going to tell him about awkwardly waving my boner in Hayden’s face today.

CHAPTER 6

“Oh God.” I murmured as I approached Danny. We were in between heats, keeping warm in oversized team hoodies.

“What?”

I grabbed him by the elbow and steered him into a corner where we wouldn’t be overheard. There was enough noise in the natatorium anyway. The meet against the local high schoolers was well underway.

“What is it? You’re scaring me.”

“What if PillowByter is one of these guys?”

“One of what guys?”

“The high schoolers!” I hissed, still clutching his arm.

Danny laughed at me. “None of these guys would have the balls to do that. They’re kids.”

“Hilarious, Danny, and untrue. Some of them are eighteen, maybe nineteen, and one of them just said he liked my Speedo. I said thanks, walked a few steps, then turned around. I caught him staring at my ass.”

Danny shrugged. “It’s a great ass.”

“Be serious!”

“So what if it’s one of these guys? Take the compliment that someone would go out of their way to make you feel good about yourself. Both PillowByter and the random toddler that just checked out your ass.”

I tried not to pout, but Danny was not seeing how awkward this would be.

“Hey, I don’t want to be sitting on your porch fifty years from now sipping unsweet iced tea and hear you whining about how you wish you got more ass in college. Eighteen year-old ass is still ass.”

“Now that’s a bumper sticker.” I took a breath, trying to calm down.

“I’m serious, man. Have a fit when you find out it’s an eighteen year-old. No use having one now. He’s probably someone that’s right in front of your nose and you don’t even know it.”

I tried to ignore the feeling that it was one of the random nearby teenagers.

“Where’d you get that Speedo?”

I turned to find a rather tall boy smiling at me. A glance told me he was from Smithfield Academy and before I could answer, he pulled off his swim cap and shook out his wavy brown hair. It was almost down to his shoulders.

“Green’s my favorite color. Wish we didn’t have to wear the school’s colors. Navy blue is so drab.”

I answered, “I actually got this online. International Jock, I think.”

“It suits you.”

I elbowed Danny beside me. He had started giggling.

“I’m Tom, by the way.” He held out his hand.

“Mike. This is Danny.” Danny, who had finally quieted down, shook his hand as well. “Enjoying the meet?”

“It’s getting better.”