1
TOBY
“You know that place is gay, right?” Cole says, cracking open a soda can.
“Which place?” Diesel asks from the beanbag, peeling off his dirty socks.
“Lumen.”
“No shit, genius,” Diesel responds, tossing a smelly sock at Cole. It smacks his chest before sliding onto my worn couch. “That place is basically one big orgy on a Saturday night.”
Cole grabs the sock off the couch, sniffs it, then pulls a disgusted face and hurls it back at Diesel. Everyone laughs.
“How do you know, bro?” he shoots back. “Ever visited?”
“Fuck off, Cole.”
“What? Just asking a simple question. Have you ever been inside Lumen?” He smirks. “How else do you know what goes down there?”
“Everyone knows.”
“I didn’t know, dude. I knew it was gay, yeah. But orgies and shit... no. Didn’t know that.”
Diesel gives him the finger.
My eyes flick between my two teammates. We just got back from football practice and everyone’s still in their sweaty gear, taking up every inch of space inside my tiny dorm. Cole’s wearing his practice jersey, dark stains under his arms, hair matted to his forehead. His brown eyes carry that mischievous glint I know too well. When he looks like that, he’s baiting Diesel. The two of them never stop trying to one-up each other.
Diesel, with his big bare feet propped on the coffee table, is wearing nothing but his white athletic shorts and his favorite red snapback. He’s the tallest guy on the team at 6’4”, towering over the rest of us, and I think that’s part of why Cole loves pushing his buttons. That extra inch of height bothers Cole, even though he’s a solid 6’3” himself.
Meanwhile, I shift uncomfortably on the couch. Just hearing them mention Lumen makes my stomach twist. It’s an infamous gay bathhouse on the edge of the city, a regular topic at college parties. Everyone knows the place, but no one I know has actually been inside.
I’ve never shared this with anyone, knowing my teammates wouldn’t let me live it down. But sometimes I imagine what it would be like to visit Lumen. Not in a gay way, obviously. More like... curiosity. A fascination with what goes on behind those big black doors. Is it true that everyone strips naked in the locker room and then wanders around checking each other out? That men fuck each other in plain sight?
“I drive past it every day on my way to campus,” Omar says. He’s sitting on the floor with his back against the couch. “It looks shady as fuck.”
“Yeah, it does, doesn’t it?” I agree, adding absolutely nothing to the conversation. I can’t be the only quiet one, though, or the guys might think I’ve got something to hide. And it’s true—the placedoeslook shady, with its big black exterior, those huge tinted windows, and its spot tucked away at the back ofan industrial parking lot. But that makes the idea of going there even more intriguing.
“And you never saw Diesel walk out of there covered in jizz, did you, Omar?” Cole chuckles.
We all crack up, but out of the corner of my eye, I see that Micah, the freshman who joined the team this season, isn’t laughing. His eyes are locked on his phone, and there’s a slight blush on his smooth cheeks.
Maybe he doesn’t feel comfortable talking about Lumen either. He doesn’t fit the typical jock mold, with his slim build and nerdy glasses. But the guy’s good. A real asset to the team. He’s got the quickest reflexes I’ve seen and speed that rivals my own.
I took Micah more or less under my wing during the season, helping him get acquainted with the rest of the team. Guys like Cole and Diesel can be intimidating, especially for a 5’9” freshman, and I wanted him to feel welcome.
“That’s funny, Cole,” Diesel says with a sneer. “You’d love to see that, wouldn’t you? I bet that’s what you’re jerking off to in secret, my big, hard cock. That’s what gets you going at night, huh?”
Omar howls with laughter, and even Micah cracks a smile, but I can see that Diesel is getting under Cole’s skin. His lips are pressed in a thin line, and his knuckles are turning white around the soda can.
“You wish, Diesel. You wish. I’ve got exactly zero interest in seeing your big, hard anything. Got plenty of girls lined up around the block. Don’t need to stoop that low.”
“And these girls... do they know they’re lined up around the block? Because I never see them, buddy. Are they real, or just some figment of your imagination?”
“I get more pussy in a week than you do all year, my friend.”
Diesel barks out a sharp laugh and sinks deeper into the beanbag. “You’re funny, man.”
The two of them stare daggers at each other. They have this weird dynamic. Sometimes things between them turn sour, so I never really know if it’s just playful banter or the start of a serious argument.
