“Jesus, dude. Slow down. You’re gonna choke.”
I roll my eyes at Travis’s warning as I inhale the stack of pancakes in front of me.
“Can’t help it. I’m starving,” I say around a mouthful. I drain the rest of the orange juice in my glass. “That workout kicked my ass today.”
“Yeah, me too, but you don’t see me eating like a barbarian.” Travis makes a grossed-out face at me before digging back into his grilled chicken breast.
Travis, Blake, and I are sitting at our usual booth at the Mile High Diner, eating an early dinner after finishing our team conditioning session. The trainers had us doing deadlifts, sled pushes, box jumps, and broad jumps, and now all my leg muscles are dead.
When I finish my pancakes, I dig into the corned beef hash I ordered.
“Remind me never to enter into an eating contest with you,” Blake says to me.
I chuckle as I take a massive bite of hash. A second later, our teammate and roommate Leo walks over to our table and joins us. He sits down next to Travis and grabs a fork.
“What took you so long?” Blake asks.
Leo runs a hand through his black-brown hair that’s even messier than mine.
“Had to return a bunch of books at the library. Thanks for ordering for me,” Leo says before digging into his chicken fried steak.
Blake looks at him. “Sure thing. But now you have to clean the upstairs bathroom.”
Leo glares at him. “No way.”
“Fair’s fair,” Blake says, flashing a smartass grin at Leo.
“You ordered my food for me. Not like you donated your kidney. Don’t act like you’re some hero and I owe you,” Leo says.
Blake holds up a hand. “Have you seen you when you’re hangry? You’re a monster. I just saved the entire diner from the wrath of hangry Leo. That definitely makes me a hero.”
I laugh while Leo rolls his eyes.
“Besides, you and I share the upstairs bathroom. I’m neat. It won’t be so bad to clean,” Blake taunts.
Leo tosses his spoon at him, but Blake just laughs.
We’ve lived together in our house near campus since sophomore year. We were lucky to find a decent place at a good price. There’s a lot of student housing near the Hollis U campus, but some places are trash. Others are nice but overpriced.
We’re lucky too that we all get along so well. But I think that’s because we’re teammates. Playing together and living together, we know each other pretty well. We know each other’s moods, when to give each other space, and when to check in with each other.
The server drops off the check right as we finish up eating. We all toss cash onto the table and thank the server when she comes by to clear our plates.
“I should get going,” Leo says. “I’ve got a ton of reading to finish for tomorrow.”
“Yeah, me too,” Blake says.
They slide out of the booth, along with Travis.
“You coming?” Travis asks.
I shake my head. “Nope. I’m meeting my girlfriend here soon.”
The three of them whip their heads to me and gawk at me.
Travis frowns at me. “What?”
Blake chuckles. “Very funny.”
