Love & Other Curses, 1985 | bxb | ONC 2024

CHAPTER 7 - Getting Naked

I ought to be thy Adam, but I am rather the fallen angel.

~ Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.

Thomas showered with the team—not because he wanted to but because that's what everyone did. Why the girls had individual shower stalls while the boys stood shoulder to shoulder under the spray of water never made sense to Thomas Harding. The high school ritual required a stiff shot of courage his freshman year, but now he didn't think twice about getting naked with a bunch of boys.

Only today, he did.

Because Adam was on the team, the boy who wanted to kiss him. The boy who pressed Thomas against the blackboard and whispered into his ear and made his knees weak. The boy who didn't play anything but could probably play everything and should with how hot he looked in a uniform. Maybe he'd recommend wrestling. But he dreaded discovering what would happen if they got in the shower together, with the whole team watching. Just the thought of Adam Lawson naked made his manhood stir.

He washed faster.

The communal experience of nude boys and water always included extracurricular activities: shoving, singing, spitting, slapping, dancing, and even an occasional fight. So, when Thomas felt Randy's heavy stream hit the back of his legs and heard the ensuing laughter, he didn't react. The asshole peed on everyone, but no one messed with the grossly obese boy despite, or maybe because of, his inability to see his penis.

No one tangled with that.

"Ain't no way Harding kissed some chick he saved," Justin said, shampooing his mullet. The stocky senior with thick eyebrows and a square jaw joined Randy in challenging Tony and Jon. "Look at him. The dude's so high-strung he's probably never jerked off."

"You're assuming he knows how to," Randy quipped, grabbing his crotch.

"Dude, you're disgusting," Jon said, washing his lean body for the second time. The party boy didn't mind getting dirty but was obsessed with becoming clean. "And who are you to talk? I'd believe Thomas' story any day before I'd believe half the shit you do if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes."

"That's cause there be no one like me." Randy spun around on his feet in the water, doing the Michael Jackson slide as smooth as butter, even with layers of fat rippling around him. That's how Randy rolled. He owned every pound he carried.

"How the hell do you move like that," Tony asked. "You're like Jabba the Hutt with legs."

Everyone laughed except for Thomas. Even Jon couldn't resist the easy chuckle, and he hated looking at the fat boy because he made him want to wash all over again. But Thomas missed it all. The anxious player stepped out of the shower with his mind on one thing, and as soon as he wrapped a towel around his waist, that one thing walked through the door.

Adam and Demos laughed like old buddies as they entered the locker room. Their mood caught everyone by surprise, so it didn't seem out of place when Adam and Thomas stopped, their cheeks flushing for different reasons as they connected for the first time since their unexpected encounter in the morning. Adam couldn't help himself with water dripping down Mud Boy's chest and into a loosely held towel while Thomas lost himself in the blatant desire Goth Boy blinked away as he bit his bottom lip.

"What the hell, Demos?" Tony walked out of the shower without bothering to cover up. "He fucking broke Wally's shoulder, and now you're acting like best friends?"

The showers emptied as everyone wanted to catch the action.

"Collar bone," Demos corrected. "And no, we're not best friends. But I was wrong to jump so hard on Adam. Today was his first practice at anything, and Coach D rode him hard to see what he could do."