"Whew! What a run, huh, buddy?" Lee swung his arm around my shoulder.
Immediately I felt the sticky heat from his arm soak my neck, and I recoiled. "Lee, quit it! You're all sweaty!"
"What are you so worked up about?" Lee laughed, giving my shoulder a squeeze and pulling me tighter to his body. I wriggled and squirmed, getting myself free and shooting him a disgusted look.
"Um, what do you think? Gross." The two of us had finally arrived at the door to my house, panting from our weekly run. I'd had to try my best to keep up with him today, as Lee was much more in shape than me, and it had taken a lot out of me. My chest still hurt. Still, it was better than falling behind and having my eyes inevitably drop to his butt as he ran. I did not need that.
"You know," Lee was saying as I unlocked the door and let him inside, "we just had a damn good workout, man. It shoulda worked all the prissiness out of you."
My jaw dropped. "Prissiness? What am I, a fifteen-year-old girl?!"
"You tell me!" Lee chortled, grabbing my shoulder for balance as he pulled off his dirty sneakers. I tried to push him off, but his muscular arm tightened and became hard as iron. I quickly gave up, embarrassed I'd tried. "Sometimes you're just as uptight as a prep school girl, boy, and you've even got that prissy girl face down too."
"Excuse me? Girl face?!" I spluttered, feeling a flush come over me. The heat from Lee's body against mine wasn't helping. I couldn't believe he was teasing me about my looks again. My mind flashed back to the week before, the bet we'd made, and the weird way things had gone. No, don't think about that. Don't fucking think about it.
"Look, I'm just messing with you!" Lee laughed, giving my back a slap. "I knew you'd get pissed at that. You're too predictable, man!" He pushed his way past me and into the kitchen, heading straight for the fridge. "You have to admit that you are pretty anal, though."
"D-don't say that word," I muttered.
Lee looked up and our eyes met. I blushed instantly. Fuck.
But his face split into a sudden smile. "See, there you go! Shit, man, you really are uptight! Lighten up, bro! It's our day off, isn't it? What's there to worry about?" He opened a gatorade and drank greedily, but meanwhile my heart was still pounding in my chest. I'd thought for a second that he was going to bring up last week.
Shit, I'd made things worse by calling attention to that fucking word. He hadn't meant anything by it. I'd been so paranoid the past week that it was going to come up that any reference—anything close to a reference—made me flush and my heart beat faster. It was so hard to act normal around Lee, despite the fact that he hadn't even made a single mention of it.
Like we agreed, we were forgetting it. It was just that it was so weird for him to actually honor an agreement like this that I couldn't help feeling on edge. It had happened. I certainly remembered every detail. He couldn't have forgotten it either, and I kept worrying that he'd make a joke out of it—but, nothing. Somehow he was better than me at this too.
Lee gave a sigh of satisfaction and offered me the gatorade he'd just been drinking from. "Whew. Needed that. You want some too, man?"
I looked into his eyes, hesitating. I wanted to say no, but wouldn't that just call more attention to what was on my mind? Fuck, just take it.
"Y-yeah," I murmured breathily. "Thanks, man." I put the bottle to my lips and took a drink. Ugh. It was no illusion this time—I'd forgotten to wipe the rim off and so I tasted the salty tang of the sweat from Lee's lips. I gulped, feeling thrills of nausea dance in my stomach. I'd just tasted his lips. My fucking friend's. My tongue curled and stuck to the roof of my mouth.
"You good?"
The question from Lee made me jump and I hastily wiped my lips, forcing the bottle of gatorade back into his hands. "Yeah, here." He raised his eyebrows pointedly. I looked away, feeling hot. "W-what? I was fucking thirsty too."
He let out a laugh. "No, no, it's good! You're lightening up, buddy, just like I said!" He chucked the bottle in the garbage as there was nothing left but backwash, and let out a groan as he stretched. "Well, gotta get to work soon. You said I could use your shower so I could go straight over, right? I have my clothes in my bag."
"Yeah, whatever. But I need one too, alright? I'm not sitting in my own sweat any longer than I need to. I'm drenched."
"Running makes you wet, huh?"
"Ha, ha," I replied hotly, for some reason trying not to think of his ass when he ran. It wouldn't be so difficult to keep my mind out of the gutter, except this cocksucker made so many sexual jokes.
"Did you two go running?" My mom suddenly called from the other room, and I flinched. I hadn't realized she was home. For some reason I felt guilty, as if Lee and I were doing something other than just hanging out. Why?!
"Yeah, we did!" Lee called back before I could answer.
"Honey, I thought I told you they were shutting off the water today. Those pipes next door burst, remember?"
My blood turned cold. "Wait, what? That was today?!"
"They sent out the note days ago! I told you like three times!" My mom emerged into the living room, fastening her earrings and obviously in a bit of a hurry.
"Hey, mom," Lee said with a grin, and she shot him a smile as she passed.
"Hi, Lee. Look, I have to head out, but I filled up the tub before they shut the water off so there's enough for a bath, at least. Best I could do. Sorry, honey." She kissed my cheek and started pulling on her heels.
"H-how long will it be?" I sputtered, unable to come to terms with this.
She frowned at me. "If you'd read the note, you'd know, dear. Could be a few hours, could be the rest of the day. But they need to install all-new pipes, so I'm guessing it'll be a while. Have a good day."
And she was out the door, with only the scent of perfume in her wake. My arms dropped to my sides and I stared at the floor in furious disbelief. How could they do this?! Who cares if I forgot when it was—who shuts off the water, period?!
Lee clapped my shoulder ruefully. "Well, bro, sorry!"
I gave him a suspicious look. "What the fuck are you sorry about?"
He spread his hands. "Well, look, I've got work and you don't. We know who's getting that bath."
"You can just go home!" I exclaimed.
"I live thirty minutes away, man, you know that. I'm not getting to work an hour late when my boss is already pissed at me just because you want to sit around feeling refreshed."
"W-wait, so I'm supposed to stew in my own sweat and filth for the whole rest of the day?! Sleep in my bed like this? I've got to get to bed early tonight!" I was talking faster, unable to keep the desperation from creeping into my voice. I couldn't believe we were fighting over a bath. And somehow, I was already losing the argument.
"I can't exactly show up to work like this, can I?" Lee chuckled. "Dibs on that water, okay?"
"Hey, this is my place, remember!" I yelped. "You're not using my bath instead of me!"
Lee shot me a smirk. "Watch me."
"H-hey, what are you—stop!" I struggled to catch him as he went for the bathroom but with his strong arms he easily slapped my hands away and escaped.
"Bro!" He laughed in disbelief. "Your mom said one of us could take a bath, and she owns the place, not you! If you want to use my bathwater after I've used it, be my guest!"
"I'm not going after!" I insisted, hot and flustered now as I followed him into the bathroom. Was this really happening—was I going to be stuck sweaty and miserable all day. I couldn't let it happen. Lee might have had the upper hand, but I would totally be his bitch if I let him take a bath in my own house instead of me. "Look, you can't just take all the water," I said with exasperation. "We have to, like, share at least."
"Share?" Lee got out, his eyes wide with mirth. "You want to share a bath? That's gay as fuck, dude!"
"Th-that's not what I meant!" I managed, blushing madly.
"Look, bro, I'm taking one either way. If you're set on it and won't make it weird, you can come too. But bet you won't."
I recoiled. "Come too—in the bath with you?! What, you want to bet on that?"
"Yeah. Bet you won't."
I stared back, feeling my cheeks burn. He was going to make this about me being uptight? Something this weird? "What'll you give me if I do it, then?" Fuck, what was I doing? I couldn't stop myself.
"How about that hundred bucks you want?" Lee answered. "You owe me when you back out, though."
I folded my arms. "Deal. I'll prove you wrong." Fuck, I'd driven myself into a corner again. What was I doing?! That sick, nervous feeling in my stomach was back, and I felt a slight tremble in my legs. Was I really considering this? Taking a bath with him? No way was I going to make this mistake again. I couldn't. "J-just shut the door, okay?"
"You shut the door."
I made a noise of annoyance but somehow did as he said and shut the bathroom door. Fuck, why couldn't I refuse him? The sound of the lock clicking seemed to seal my fate. My pulse had only quickened now that we were alone in the bathroom together. It was a small room, and just nearby sat the bathtub of water, calm and limpid. Waiting.
Lee was watching me with a grin. "Well? You out yet?"
I seized my sweaty shirt and pulled it off, incensed by his patronizing way. "You want this, f-fine. Let's do it."
My friend let out a laugh. "Okay, dude! If you're that open about stuff! But, hey, you gotta be cool, you know."
"You be cool," I retorted, my voice already getting high. But this idiot was acting like we weren't doing weird shit again.
