"Alright man, here's your stop," Kyle told me.
"Thanks for the ride," I replied, fumbling around in my bag. And fumbling. And fumbling. "Uh oh."
"What's wrong?"
"I can't find my key," I told him, still rummaging around the pocket in my bag where I always put it. "Where could it-
dammit
."
"What?"
"I just remembered where it is. It's on my dresser. I was kind of in a rush to leave on Friday and left it there. Damn."
Kyle raised an eyebrow. "Well, can't your roommate just let you in?"
"He's on a retreat or something this weekend," I explained. "He said he won't be back until, like, eight tonight." I shook my head and stared out the window at the dorm building. "Guess I'll just have to wait until then."
"Smelling like ass?" asked Kyle. I turned to look at him. "You played four games of ultimate frisbee today, dude. You're sweaty and muddy. You really want to wait five hours to shower? To eat dinner? To pass out?"
I looked down. "I don't really have much of a choice."
"Come crash at my place for a while. You can shower and stuff."
My eyes went wide. "R-really?"
Kyle laughed. "You're acting like this is some incredible act of kindness. It's no big deal at all." He put the car in drive and started towards his apartment.
My anxiety, however, had nothing to do with the act itself - it was the source of the act that gave my stomach butterflies. I had never admitted it to anyone, not Kyle, not any of our teammates, but from the moment I'd joined the ultimate team I'd had a massive crush on Kyle. He was maybe the cutest guy I'd ever seen, and there were times at practice I'd have to ask someone what was going on because I'd been staring at Kyle's butt rather than listening to our coaches. And now he wanted me to come over and chill for a few hours? I knew in Kyle's mind it must have been completely platonic, but it made my heart jump nonetheless.
We arrived at his apartment, hopped out of his car, climbed the stairs, and entered. It was a typical small college man apartment, though there was a mountain of Coors light cans taking up half the couch.
"Sorry," Kyle said when he noticed me looking at the cans. "Those are Gerry's. My roommate." He looked at me and smiled. "He also is gone for the weekend - with his girlfriend in Colorado or something - so it's good that
I