The back of my throat burned, and I hacked and coughed as I changed. Chip stood right next to me, radiating body heat and a faint scent of sweat and deodorant as he pulled his shirt over his head.
I slipped my joggers on and got out of there as fast as I could, because I didn’t want anyone to see my erection.
What was wrong with me?
It was dark when the bus pulled back into the student parking lot at Chapel Hill High School.
“Good job today, guys. Get some sleep.”
A row of cars lined the curb, parents picking up their sons. Some of the seniors headed deeper into the lot to pick up their cars and give their friends rides. I grabbed my bag and one of Coach’s and helped her inside.
“Good work today, Darius,” she said.
“Thanks, Coach, but I didn’t do much.”
She smiled.
“You never give yourself enough credit.”
“Well.”
“Your parents waiting for you?”
“I rode my bike.”
“All right. See you tomorrow.”
“Yeah. See you.”
I grabbed my messenger bag and helmet out of my locker and went out to the bike racks.
Chip Cusumano was there too. He’d unlocked his bike, but it was lying on its side in the grass next to the curb, where he was sitting with his chin in his hands.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey.”
I sat down next to him, but with a good foot between us, because I was still feeling weird about getting an erection when I was changing next to him, and the way my skin hummed when he was close to me.
I didn’t like it.
I didn’t like that my body responded to him the same way it did to Landon. Like it didn’t matter who it was I actually liked.
Like it didn’t matter who I wanted.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. I guess.”
He looked out into the parking lot. Orange cones of light dotted the empty asphalt, catching the misty rain that had begun to fall.
I ran my hands through my hair at the same time Chip did, trying to get the damp bits out of our eyes.
Chip made a popping sound with his lips. “It just sucks.”
“What does?”
“My sister is mad I couldn’t take care of Evie. Like it wasn’t my brother’s night in the first place. And my mom is taking her side.”
