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I nodded and turned away to peel the Speedo off my body and pull on the joggers instead. I didn’t often wear underwear. I didn’t like the way they felt against my skin.
And no, I wasn’t shy about stripping to change in front of Kruger. We were swimmers. We all walked around mostly naked all the time. Besides, it wasn’t like we were a bunch of peeping Toms.
After the sweats were on, I reached for my T-shirt. “Did you also tell him that I’m gay?”
“No.”
“I think everyone knows,” I whispered.
“Even if they think it, they won’t push you into saying so,” Kruger said. “You don’t have to tell anyone if you don’t want to.”
He thinks they all know too.
I fell quiet.
“P. Do you want to tell them?” He was perceptive. Good at reaching into the very heart of what I was thinking and feeling.
“No,” I said quickly.
He grunted.
My shoulders slumped. “Maybe.”
“This about him?”
I glanced up at my friend. His two-toned eyes regarded me seriously.
“Who?”
His tongue slid over his teeth. I was being a brat and making him fish, but I couldn’t help it. “Arsen.”
“Maybe,” I whispered.
“What happened in that jail cell?”
“Why don’t you like him anymore?”
Kruger made a choked sound and dropped onto the bench beside me. We both sat there with our feet flat on the floor, staring at my open locker while I clutched a hoodie in my hand. “Do I really even need to say it?”
“Yeah.”
“He got you arrested. For drugs. Now you have to go back to the police station. I should have listened to you in the first place. He’s not right for you. I shouldn’t have pushed it. This is my fault.”
“Whoa,” I said, standing from the bench with my back to the lockers. “This is not your fault. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it got me arrested. Same with Arsen. Those weren’t his drugs. The reason I had to spend the night was I lost it and punched a cop.”
He made a noise as if the information hurt him. It made my chest ache. He took on so much care of me. I didn’t want to be a burden.
“And Arsen? He punched a cop so I wouldn’t be in there alone. He’s the reason I made it through the night,” I admitted, forcing the words out. It was hard to say out loud. Hard to admit I’d needed Arsen that night.
“I should have been there,” Kruger whispered, staring at his shoes. “The cops raided the place, and all hell broke loose. I grabbed Jess and then turned back for you, and you were gone. I looked for you, bro. I couldn’t find you. So I got Jess outside and then came back.”
My back slid down the wall of lockers as I crouched in front of my best friend. Tapping on the side of his knee, I said, “You did the right thing getting Jess out of there. I’m a grown man, Ben. I know you feel responsible for me, but you aren’t. I went under the bleachers because it was quieter under there. I was going to run out when some of the chaos died down.”
“But Arsen found you first.”
“Are you jealous?” I teased.
When he didn’t clap back with a ridiculous line, I realized he was. Oh. “This whole conversation falls under bro code.”
