We'd had a cheerleader's practice after school and for one reason and another it went on a bit longer than intended. Long enough that some of the younger girls were getting a bit antsy, having things they needed to do and places they needed to be. At eighteen I was the oldest on the team and I took pity on them and volunteered to do the clean-up work. Not surprisingly my offer was accepted with alacrity, the rest of the girls hurrying off to shower and change. It's amazing how sweaty and grotty you get doing some of those routines.
I took my time tidying up, quite happy to fill in some time while the rest of the girls had their showers and got out of the way. I drifted into the change room just as the last of the team was heading elsewhere.
Stripping off, I stepped under the shower, pleased to find that the water was still reasonably warm. I didn't linger because with our showers reasonable warm could turn into damned cold very quickly.
I was drying myself off when I received a bit of a shock.
"How you going, Meghan?" said a voice.
The salutation didn't shock me. The fact that the voice was masculine did. I spun around to face the speaker, wrapping the towel around myself as I did so, wondering just how much he'd already seen.
"Brad! What the hell are you doing here? No, don't tell me. I don't want to know. Just leave, now."
As usual Brad didn't do what someone told him. He's like that. He just casually leaned against a locker and smiled at me.
"I'm doing janitorial work," he said, indicating the mop and bucket next to him. "Why am I doing janitorial work, you ask?"
"I didn't ask," I quickly pointed out. "The door's over there. Go through it."
"It was like this. I didn't know that they'd installed some new CCTV cameras in the school. I was just doing a little harmless graffiti when I was pounced on and hauled up before the Principal. He was not happy."
"Neither am I. Go away."
"He said he should hand me over to the cops but what with me being eighteen and an adult he didn't want to see me with a criminal record for a first offence."
"A first offence where you've actually been caught," I pointed out, but Brad just waved that away as of no consequence.
"Anyway, as a first time offender he gave me a choice. Two weeks of janitorial duties or explain to the cops why I was doing graffiti. I opted for the mop brigade."
"Well you can go and mop elsewhere. You're not supposed to come into the girl's room until we've all gone."
"I thought you had all gone. I saw the team departing and came on in. How was I to know that there was a straggler?"
"You could have knocked and called out. Now that you know the room is still occupied, why are you still here?"
"I'm waiting for you to lose the towel. Not actually lose it. More toss it to one side where you can reclaim it later."
"Not going to happen."
"Um, yes, it is. Willing or un, you're going to lose the towel for a while."
"You wouldn't!"
"This is me we're talking about. Care to lay a bet on whether I would or not?"
Not where he was concerned. It occurred to me that I was going to have to flash him before he'd leave.
"So you're saying that you're not leaving unless I flash you?" I asked, undoubtedly sounding a little bitter.
"Not exactly," he said.
"Then what, exactly are you saying?"