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Jamie ignores me, grabbing each piece of Elliot’s clothing we pass, then stuffing the pile behind a log just before we reach the circular pool of clear water that’s our destination.
Garrett gives him a surreptitious high five.
I strip off my sweaty shirt and pants, then dive into the cold water. It’s colder than it was a month ago, washing away the dust and dirt from practice immediately. I float on my back, staring up at the cloudless blue sky.
My ears bob below the surface occasionally, muffling any sound. It’s peaceful. Or it was, until Jamie starts calling my name.
“What?” I call back, giving up on floating and treading water instead.
“Come on, man, we’re getting pizza!”
Everyone else is already out. I swim over to the edge and pull myself onto the shore.
“No one brought towels?” Drew asks.
“Did you?” I counter.
“We’re going to need to stop by the house before pizza,” Jamie decides. “No way am I going out in public like this.”
Garrett makes a face as he pulls his sweaty shirt back on. Reluctantly, the rest of us do the same. Except for Elliot, who’s looking for his clothes.
“No one say anything,” Jamie threatens in a low voice.
Drew snorts as he pulls on his pants.
“Have you guys seen my clothes?” Elliot calls, wandering back toward us. “I swear I left them all on the path. Do birds take that shit for nests? Or deer?”
Garrett looks constipated, he’s trying so hard not to laugh.
“I don’t think there are any deer around here,” Jamie says as we reach him. “You were tossing things off toward the bushes. Just go look around.”
“In the bushes?” Elliot replies, looking dismayed. “Guys, I’m not even wearing boxers. No way am I about to climb around in the bushes. What if there’s poison ivy and it touches my junk?”
“Get over it and hurry up,” Drew says. “Cops hang around here sometimes. You don’t want to get arrested for public indecency.”
“Yeah, you could end up on some sex offender registry,” Garrett chimes in with.
“What the fuck am I supposed to do if I can’t find them?” Elliot glances around, wildly.
“No clue. But you’re not getting your naked ass in my car,” Drew says.
He walks toward the parking lot, essentially a small clearing. The rest of us follow.
Elliot sighs and turns back toward the swimming hole.
Drew starts wheezing as soon as he disappears. “How has he not realized we’re fucking with him?”
Jamie doubles over laughing as soon as he’s in the car.
The rest of us all climb inside too, waiting for Elliot to emerge from the woods. Hopefully clothed.
“I’m starving,” Garrett finally announces after twenty minutes have passed. “Do we leave and come back for him later?”
“I can’t believe he hasn’t found them,” Jamie says. “They’re barely hidden.”
“Maybe he jumped back in the water,” Drew states. “Seems like something he’d do.”
Elliot suddenly appears, fully dressed and scowling.
