Page 7 of Warm and Dry

The conversation continued, and I tried to keep up. I commented on my burger between bites and listened to Briggs talk about the chick he was meeting up with later, but my mind was mostly fixated on Scott.

Was that guy for real or was I making him out to be better than he really was?

I kept turning the details of the morning over in my head.

Scott genuinely seemed worried about my ability to play after being upset and brought me electrolytes. That was beyond thoughtful. And then he went out of his way to feed me without making it feel like charity. The sandwich was incredible and the chips were a nice touch, but thinking ahead to what my body was gonna need before I went out and played was too much.

Nobody did that. Not for me, and definitely not without being asked.

"Yo, Forest." Reynard snapped his fingers in front of my face.

I blinked and turned to him. "Sorry, what?"

"You want another round?"

I looked down, and my glass was almost empty. "Yeah. Sure."

Kowalski was watching me closer than I wanted him to. "You've been somewhere else since warmups. What's going on?"

Fuck. I’d hoped I was covering well enough that no one noticed. "Nothing. Just tired."

"You're always tired." He leaned back in his chair and took a drink with his eyes still on me. "This is something else."

"There’s nothing." I held up my glass as evidence. “I'm just celebrating.”

"You're staring into your beer like it owes you money." He kicked my foot under the table and shook his head. "Is this about the late start? Drew really wasn't actually pissed, ya know. We already did those drills before you got there."

"It's not Drew." I chuckled and sighed.

The way I said it was apparently enough to give me away. "Ooh, it's not Drew, but it’s someone. Who is it?"

Fucking hell. This was what I was hoping to avoid. "There’s no one."

"There’s absolutely someone." He turned to Reynard for agreement. "There’s someone, right?"

Reynard held up both hands and leaned away from us. "I'm staying out of this."

"There's nothing to stay out of." I took a drink of my fresh beer and then inhaled. "I met someone this morning, but it was nothing. He was just nice to me, and I'm not used to it, apparently. It's a personal problem and I'm working through it."

The table went quiet for a second and then Kowalski nodded slowly, like he was processing what I’d said. "So this guy was nice to you, and that’s freaking you out?"

I laughed despite myself. "Pretty much."

Reynard, who had committed to staying out of it for all of ten seconds, was back in. "Where'd you meet him?"

"The laundromat. He owns it and had to help me figure out how to pay…and then he bought me a sandwich and a Gatorade before the game." I shook my head and tried to play it off as no big deal. "It sounds stupid when I say it out loud."

"It doesn't sound stupid." Reynard looked at me and gave me a supportive smile. "It sounds nice."

"That's the problem." I ran my fingertip through a line of condensation on the table and avoided eye contact with everyone. "Nice guys don’t usually pay attention to me. Guys want something from me and that’s it. But he didn’t want anything. He just…gave without taking. I can't figure out what to do with that."

Briggs finally put his phone down and was looking at me with an expression I hadn't seen in a while. "What’s he look like?"

I picked up my beer and took a drink. "Tall. Solid. Dark hair and a friendly face. Oh, and he smells like vanilla."

"Vanilla?" Kowalski cocked his head and grinned. “Like a candle?”

"He was frosting a cake when he saw me on his security camera and came downstairs to help." I tried to keep my face neutral, but it wasn’t easy.