“Me,” I called back – and so did Jason, Davies, Harvey, and Xavi.
Yeah… we were going to have enough beers to last the weekend. I chuckled.
“What about the keys?”
“Oh!” Keaton exclaimed, unwrapping himself from Harvey’s side and starting to dig through a bag he was carrying with him. “I’ve got them all here. I have room assignments, itineraries, and some local info as well – I made up little packets for everyone.”
Davies laughed, slinging an arm over his girlfriend’s shoulders. “Glad someone brought their housewife!”
There was an awkward silence as most of the guys glared at him. Even his girlfriend looked uncomfortable. I was glad I wasn’t the only one putting my foot in my mouth.
“Are we waiting for anyone else?” Jason asked, glancing around.
“Yeah, my little bro,” Caleb said, glancing over towards the road as if to check whether he was coming. “He’s usually quicker than me. I’m surprised he’s not here already.”
“What’s that car over there at the end of the lot?” I asked, curious. “It was there when we parked up.”
Caleb turned and looked, and a big grin spread over his face. “I’ll go get him,” he said. He paused and looked back at the group. “Look, I mentioned this before at school, but just so everyone’s clear – you lay off Cade, okay? He’s been through a lot this year.”
“What do you think we’re going to do?” Davies asked with a grin. “Haze him?”
Caleb stared right at him. I remembered the epic hazing Davies had carried out on us when we all joined the team. “Yeah,” he stated.
Davies chuckled and raised a beer in salute. How did he have an open beer already? I wanted a beer. “That’s fair. I’ll lay off your little baby brother.”
Caleb shot him a dark look, but apparently, it was enough to satisfy him – because he turned and jogged off in the direction of the cabins.
“We should get the supplies and start carrying them to the chalets,” Keaton said. He moved to the trunk of the car he’d driven here in with Harvey and popped it, revealing crates piled high with bottles of water and packets of food.
“Wow,” I grinned. “Someone actually brought something other than alcohol.”
Keaton gave me a horrified look. “You didn’t actually just bring beer, right?”
“No, no,” I told him, lifting up my hand to count off the fingers. “I also brought vodka, rum, some juice for the ladies…”
“Straight guys,” Xavi muttered, and I looked over in time to see him shake his head and look away.
“What?” I said. I looked at Harvey, my heart hammering in my chest at the thought I’d messed up again. “Did I say something wrong again?”
“Maybe lay off the gender stereotypes for the weekend,” he said, a smile itching at the corners of his mouth. Even so, I felt like a jerk. It was just supposed to be funny. We talked like that all the time at football practice, but this wasn’t the same group of people, and I was giving them the wrong impression of who I really was. “He doesn’t mean it, Xavi. He’s just a big dumb football player.”
Keaton looked up at Harvey with a fake-inquisitive expression. “Aren’tyoujust a big dumb football player?”
“Yup,” Harvey said, leaning down to kiss him.
I sighed and looked away, my loneliness stinging me right in the heart.
Unfortunately, that had me looking right at Xavi, who looked even less impressed at my sigh than he had at my words.
“Uh,” I said, whispering loudly to him. “I’m not, like, a homophobe or whatever. Just. Chronically single.”
Xavi narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, well,” he said. “If you do get any homophobic thoughts, maybe remember that all of the gay people here could probably crush you if we got together as a group. And keep them to yourself.”
I swallowed. “Yup,” I nodded. “No homophobic thoughts. Honestly. I’m an open book. No queer fear here, heh…” The laughter died off on my lips as he turned his back.
He thought I was an idiot.
Which was kind of fair, because I had this bad habit of coming off as an idiot.
