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“I’m benched,” I said.
“You’re what?”
“I’m not allowed to exercise.” I swallowed, not really sure what kind of excuse to give him.
Justin waited me out a little too patiently. I had a feeling once he was on to something, nothing would be able to distract him from it. He’d dig and dig until he had all the information he wanted.
I sighed. “I was silly and hurt myself over the summer. The doctor wants me to wait a little longer before he lets me take part in gym.”
“Are you okay?” he asked, scanning over my body.
I nodded, hoping Justin wouldn’t pick up on the lie. “I will be.”
I expected him to ask for more details, but instead he turned and walked away, joining the others on the soccer field. Relief flooded through me, and I relaxed. Thinking there wasn’t anyone who’d really give a shit, I never took the time to come up with adequate explanations. Stupid of me, really. Hopefully, he wouldn’t say anything to the others, but also, I could see him doing it too. They were too close to not share things with each other.
Paxon hopped on Justin and tugged him to one side of the field. The others groaned, including some of the girls who joined them.
They jumped into the game, and it didn’t take me long to realize how deadly the combo of Paxon and Justin was. The coach watched them with calculating eyes, as if he were grading them. They didn’t seem to care as they whooped and hollered after making the first goal.
Justin got the ball and quickly ran it down the field. Once the other team got too close, he passed it onto Paxon, who had no trouble getting around the other players and smoothly bringing the ball farther down the field.
The deadly duo dominated. It was like the two of them had a conversation with each other through glances, something only achievable after knowing each other for so long. I knew Paxon played soccer, but I didn’t think Justin did. But he was good, so why didn’t he?
By the time the class finished and the teacher had us all go back to the locker room, they had destroyed the other team. Other students surrounded Paxon and Justin as they screamed their victory. They acted like they won the championship. It was absolutely adorable seeing them carefree like that.
Smiling, I went to the bottom of the bleachers where Justin managed to join me after slipping away. Paxon was still chatting with the others.
“You’re good,” I said. “Why don’t you play soccer?”
Justin glanced away as he ran his hand through his sweat-soaked hair. “I did in junior high and my first year of high school.”
“Why did you stop?”
He glanced at me briefly before leading the way back to the school building. Was I asking too many questions? My nerves tingled, telling me I needed to back off. What if I were stepping into something too personal?
But then Justin answered, still casual about it all. “I started taking swimming more seriously and didn’t want to split my focus between the two sports.”
I nodded like that made sense. It didn’t though. Weren’t they during different sport seasons?
“Off season training,” Justin said, smiling a little. “I swim in the mornings and oftentimes after school when they have the pool open. There’s a swim club that I’m in too.”
“Ah, so lots and lots of swimming.”
“Seth won’t say it, but I think that’s why he and Bryan invested in the pool at his house.”
“Bryan helped?” I raised an eyebrow.
Justin grimaced. “He tries to help us a lot. It’s always a battle with him.”
When I learned he wasn’t going to expand on that, I wanted to ask what he meant, but then Paxon joined us, still high off his goals.
“What did you think?” Paxon asked, gently nudging me with his shoulder.
“You’re good,” I said. “Looks like you’ll be going to the championship this year after all.”
Paxon’s grin widened as a nice blush filled his cheeks. “We will.”
“Of course you will,” Justin said as he yanked him toward the set of doors that led to the boys’ locker room. I went to a different set, changing in the girls’ locker room. This was a good last class of the day.
