Todd scrabbled around, woozy as a drunk, collecting his clothes. His eyes screamed with terror. He and Matt would be expelled. Their families would be shamed into disowning them. Ruination would stalk them. God would spit-roast them for eternity—as if that hadn’t been the plan all along.
Matt felt the same fears gnawing at him, churning his stomach. But they had not been caught—yet.
“Take your stuff and get in one of the toilet stalls,” Matt hissed. “Lock the door. Sit on the tank. Prop your feet on the seat. And don’t make a peep. I’ve got to let my friend in. Hopefully, he’ll think I’m alone.”
Matt was already half dressed. He had no time to tuck into his boxer briefs. He handed those to Todd for safekeeping. Ditto for socks.
Matt made one last sweep of the room before heading out into the hall, and to the door, on the other side of which Idabel was pounding.
Matt unbolted the lock, opened the door.
“Dude, what took you so long? Choking the chicken?” Idabel joked.
“Caught red handed,” Matt fake laughed. The question was too close to the truth to be funny. He worried that his unholstered still-hard cock might snake out of the leg hole of his shorts.
Idabel breezed past Matt into the hall. “It’s eight o’clock on a Saturday night! I saw your Jeep outside. Said to myself ‘self, see if Mustang wants to go get a pizza.’ So here I am,” he said.
“Sorry. I already ate.”
“Wanna catch a movie?” Idabel asked.
“Raincheck. I have to finish up here, then go study. No rest for the wicked, you know.”
Idabel loped towards the locker room. “I’ll keep you company then. It’s too early to go back to my room.”
Shit! Fuck! Damn! Matt had no choice but to follow his friend.
Todd was nowhere to be seen when Matt and Idabel entered the locker room.
Matt eyed the toilet stalls, saw one door securely closed. The other hung slightly ajar. Matt worried that Idabel would notice the difference. It seemed glaringly obvious that one stall was occupied.
“You know that Hayley girl?” Idabel asked. “Red hair? I think I told you that I’ve been chatting with her lately, working up to asking her out. Tonight, she invited me to go bowling with her and some friends…”
“That’s awesome!” Matt interjected, trying to hurry the conversation along. Yes, Idabel had talked about Hayley. Been obsessed about her, one could say.
A soft noise came from the toilet area, the unmistakable sound of a porcelain toilet lid scraping against its tank.
Idabel shook his head. “I thought so, too. Turns out she was trying to fix me up with some friend of hers. Hayley flirted with another dude the whole time.”
The scraping noise sounded again. This time Idabel heard it. He swiveled towards the sound, peered into the shadowed stalls.
“Ava?” Idabel mouthed the name soundlessly. His face sported the universal, goofy grin middle school straight boys use to mask jealousy of their friends who are “getting some”—tail, that is.
Matt shrugged. It was all he could think of doing. It felt wrong to pull Ava into his lie, sully her reputation vicariously just to save his own.But outright denial would lead to more questions. Awkward questions as to who was behind door #1, the implication being he was cheating on Ava, the truth being he was a fag. A noncommittal shrug, then, was the best he could offer.
Idabel steeled one last look towards the locked stall, then back to Matt.
“Crap!” Idabel said, overloudly, an actor chewing up the scene. “I just remembered I have to work on my paper for Old Testament class. Guess I’d better be going.”
Matt nodded. “I’ll show you out.” It was a dumb phrase. Like Idabel didn’t know his way out of the building.
Back at the side door, Idabel paused, looking out towards the parking lot. Matt’s Jeep, Todd’s Camry, and Idabel’s pickup were the only vehicles there. The outside air seemed cooler than the stale air in the building.
“Funny,” Idabel said. “I would have sworn Ava drives a Subaru.” He didn’t wait for Matt to answer and headed towards his pickup.
Matt sighed. There would be time later to replay this conversation, parse every word, fret about what Idabel might or might not know. For now, Matt and Todd were safe.
Matt bolted the side door. Returned to the locker room. Coaxed Todd out of the stall. Led him to one of the benches.
